Costco Wholesale Japan Ltd.

Privacy Statement

Last Updated: March 2010

This privacy statement explains the privacy practices of Costco Wholesale Japan Ltd. (Costco) in Japan for those who: (1) visit or purchase from our Costco warehouses in Japan or (2) use our Web site (www.costco.co.jp) or (3) otherwise provide information to Costco.

Costco's Commitment to Privacy

We respect your right to privacy. Your ability to make informed choices about the uses of your information is important to us. This privacy statement explains our policy regarding the collection, use, disclosure and protection of personal information. The terms of this privacy statement apply to information collected from you. These terms apply unless otherwise specified.

This privacy statement applies to both members and non-members who provide Costco with personal information. Costco treats non-member information in the same manner and under the same policy stipulated below.

See below for more detailed information about our privacy practices:

A. What is Personal Information?

B. Collection of Personal Information

C. Use of Personal Information

D. Sharing of Personal Information

1. Order Fulfillment

2. Member Services

3. Disclosure for our Contractors

4. Sharing with Affiliates and Subsidiaries of Costco Group

5. Disclosure for manufacturers etc.

6. Other Disclosures

E. Protection of Personal Information

F. Choice

G. Costco Optical

H. Online Specifics

1. What Are Cookies and Are You Required to Accept Them?

2. Online Links to Other Websites

3. Retention of Information We Collect Online

I. Disclosure, Correction or Ceasing Use of Personal Information

J. Questions or Concerns

K. Changes to this Statement

A. What is Personal Information?

Personal information is information that relates to living individuals and which can be used to identify specific individuals by name, date of birth, or other description (including that which can be easily compared with other information and thereby used to identify specific individuals). Personal information also includes information such as your medical history and prescription profile for fulfillment of optical orders (see Costco Optical below) or the information for processing of Member Services (see Member Services below) when you use those services. As a convenience to our members, we allow the primary cardholder to add his/her spouse or others to membership. In all circumstances, reference in this privacy statement to "you" or "your" also includes your spouse and the others added-on to your membership by you. Reference in this statement to "information you provide" includes information provided by you, your spouse or others added on.

Our definition of personal information does not include "aggregate" information. Aggregate information is data we collect about a group or category of products, services or customers, from which individual customer identities have been removed. In other words, information about how you use a service may be collected and combined with information about how others use the same service, but no personal information will be included in the resulting data. Likewise, information about the products you purchase may be collected and combined with information about the products purchased by others. Aggregate data helps us understand trends and customer needs so that we can better consider new products and services, and tailor existing products and services to customer desires.

B. Collection of Personal Information

We collect the personal information that you provide us, such as when you:

• sign up for or renew your Costco membership;
• place an order or purchase products or services at our warehouse locations, online, by telephone, mail or facsimile;
• contact us for any reason, such as by replying to inquires by mail, fax or through our Web site, by telephone through member service or in person at one of our locations or off site events or marketing campaigns; or
• sign up for or participate in our various Member Services (see Member Services below).
• visit or shop at Costco as a guest or shopping non-member

We may automatically collect some information when you visit our Web site, such as your computer's network address and operating system, the site from which you linked to us, and the time and date of your visit. This information is not linked by us to personal information, but rather is only used to compile aggregate information. This information may be collected through the use of "cookies" (see Online Specifics below). We also receive information from third parties who provide Member Services or special promotions or products (see Member Services below) and we may combine this information with the other personal information we maintain about you. In either case, this privacy statement governs this information.

C. Use of Personal Information

The personal information we collect is generally used to process your requests or transactions, provide you with high-quality service, tell you about opportunities we think will be of interest, and understand your needs so that we can serve you better. For example, we may use your telephone number, your e-mail or your postal address to: (1) alert you about product recalls or safety issues; or (2) communicate membership opportunities and programs. We also may use personal information we collect to provide you with promotional information, which is information we believe will add value to your membership, such as coupon savings booklets, promotions, or information about Member Services ("Promotional Information").

D. Sharing of Personal Information

We do not sell, rent, share or disclose personal information to third parties without your prior consent, except in the limited circumstances described below:

1. Order Fulfillment
We may provide to a third party certain information that is necessary to fulfill an order you have placed with us. For example, if you request shipment for a purchase, we may provide your address to the shipping carrier, and if you pay by a credit or debit card, your card number and sales transaction information are passed on to the card processor, issuer and/or the personal credit information agency. However, we give vendors, suppliers, and others involved in the commerce distribution chain only the information needed to provide you the products or services you order, such as shipping and/or billing address, e-mail address, telephone number and product orders. Moreover, we require them to keep the information confidential and not to use it for other purposes. We are not responsible for any additional information you provide directly to these parties, and we encourage you to become familiar with their privacy and security practices and policies before disclosing information directly to them.

2. Member Services
We offer special products and services to our members that are provided by third parties. We may share your name, postal address, e-mail address and membership status, number and type ("Member Information") with these third parties in order to notify you of their offerings, to determine whether, or at what level, you qualify for the products, offerings or services, and to evaluate new and existing products, offerings or services.

However, if you apply for or request certain products, offerings or services, information you provide will be shared directly with the third parties who will be providing the requested products, offerings or services. If you apply for an American Express Card or Orico Card through Costco, we will provide American Express International Ltd. or Orient Corporation with all of the information you provide on the application and membership information.

These third parties are required not to use your personal information we share with them for any purposes other than providing the requested services. We are not responsible for any additional information you provide directly to these parties, and we encourage you to become familiar with their privacy and security practices and policies before disclosing information to them. If you provide additional information to third parties, they, subject to applicable laws and their privacy policies, may share with us the information you provided and information about your use of the services. In some cases, these third parties may require as a condition of providing services to you that you authorize them to share information with us. In addition, if we terminate our relationship with the third party, information you provided to them may be returned to us, and we may provide that information to a new third party offering the same or similar services.

3. Disclosure for our Contractors
We may contract with others to perform tasks or services on our behalf. For example, we might retain a company to process credit card payments, to email information about special offers, or to analyze data. If any of our contractors need access to your personal information, we require that they promise to use the information only to perform the tasks we have engaged them to perform. We also require that they maintain the confidentiality of the information and return the information to us when they no longer need it.

4. Sharing with Affiliates and Subsidiaries of Costco Group
We provide to our affiliates or subsidiaries personal information you provide to an extent necessary to achieve the purpose of use as described above (see Use of Personal Information by Costco).

5. Disclosure for manufacturers etc.
.We may disclose your personal information to manufactures of any goods or providers of any services about products you purchased (manufactures, etc.) in order that the manufactures, etc. are able to contact you directly to recall products, to eliminate any product defects, to make any necessary repairs, to get more specific information about issues or problems, etc.

6. Other Disclosures
In addition, we may disclose personal information in the good faith belief that we are lawfully authorized to do so, or that doing so is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process or authorities, respond to any claims, to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Costco, our members, our employees or the public, or pursuant to a law or ordinance. We may share your name, address and membership level (Gold Star, or Business), but no other personal information, with your employer if your membership was purchased for you as an employee benefit. Information about our members, including personal information, may be disclosed or transferred as part of, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets or acquisition.

E. Protection of Personal Information

We have put into place security measures in an effort to protect personal information from loss, misuse or alteration while it is under our control. Personal information we collect is stored electronically and may be combined with other membership information. We use technical, contractual, administrative and physical measures in an effort to protect against unauthorized access.
When you enter personal information online, that information is encrypted using a security protocol called SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), which encrypts all information prior to transmitting it over the Internet. We also use SSL to allow you to securely view your online account and registration information.

F. Choice

Opting in to receive information from Costco and for Costco to use your membership information are conditions of Costco Japan membership. If you choose not to opt in, Costco will not be able to register you as a member of Costco Japan.

G. Costco Optical

We safeguard the privacy of your personal health information. Personal health information includes your prescription information, your Optical Patient Profile and other related information.

H. Online Specifics

1. What Are Cookies and Are You Required to Accept Them?
Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer. At costco.co.jp, we use cookies to help optimize your experience. Costco.co.jp does not store any personal information in cookies. Cookies for browsing costco.co.jp are optional.

2. Online Links to Other Websites
Through the Member Services and selected other portions of our website, you can link to other websites of third parties who have agreed to offer goods and services to our members. Any personal information you provide on the linked pages is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party's privacy policy. Except as described above, we are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of websites to which we link. Links from our site to third parties or to other sites are provided for your convenience. We encourage you to learn about their privacy and security practices and policies before providing them with personal information.

3. Retention of Information We Collect Online
Information we automatically collect as a result of your online activity is generally not retained in a personally identifiable form, or if the information is personally identifiable, we retain it only long enough for us to perform studies and analyses related to our website. The exception would be information we need in order to investigate fraud or problems associated with particular transactions or events.

I. Disclosure, Correction or Ceasing Use of Personal Information

If we are requested by you (i) to disclose your own personal information; (ii) to correct the content of your own personal information; (iii) to cease using your own personal information; or (iv) to cease providing your own personal information to a third party (“Request for Disclosure”), we respond to your request pursuant to the following procedures:

1. Items of Personal Information subject to Request for Disclosure.
The items of personal information that Costco will disclose to you are as follows:
(i) name; (ii) business and home address; (iii) telephone number; (iv) fax number; (v) membership ID; (vi) company name; (vii) e-mail address; (viii) Business category (type of business); and (ix) ID number and type (Drivers License, Passport number etc.).

2. Request for Disclosure.
Please make all Requests for Disclosure in person at the membership counter of any Costco Japan warehouse.

Members wishing to request cease of use of their personal data, please see our policy on Choice.

3. Methods for receiving Request for Disclosure including written forms.
Please apply for disclosure, correction, or ceasing of use or providing to a third party in person at the membership counter of any Japan warehouse. We will disclose the information in printed format only.

In order to protect your data from fraud, we will not accept mail, facsimile, telephone or e-mail requests.

4. Methods for identifying the principal or agent who makes Request for Disclosure.
Driver’s license, passport or other photo identification and your Costco membership card are required for any of the above requests.

J. Questions or Concerns

If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy statement or would like to contact us for any reason, you can do the following:

1. Visit us at the membership counter at any Japan warehouse;
2. E-mail us at info@costco.co.jp
3. Call us at 044-281-2600
4. Write to us at: Privacy Officer, Costco Wholesale Japan,
    3-1-4 Ikegami Shincho, Kawasaki Ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Ken 210-0832, Japan

K. Changes to this Statement

We reserve the right to change this privacy statement at any time. We encourage you to review our privacy statement to make sure you understand how information you provide will be used.