JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Koichi Saito, Wataru Shimizu, Suguru Yokoi, Ai Tanaka and Mai Kurano, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune
2.2.7 Soft Law on Business and Human Rights As stated in 2.2.2 Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence Legislation , METI published “Guide- lines on Respecting Human Rights in Respon- sible Supply Chains” in September 2022. METI also released the Reference Materials on Prac - tical Approaches for Business Enterprises to Respect Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains in April 2023 to provide practical guide - lines on how business enterprises should con - duct human rights DD. These guidelines would function as soft laws regarding human rights ini - tiatives, including human rights DD. The Working Group has pointed out that the current response to BHR is limited to a soft law approach rather than legislation and that consideration should be given to legislation. In addition to the guidelines published by METI at the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Japan’s National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights in April 2023, it was decided that the government would work to ensure that compa - nies bidding for government contracts respect human rights. Specifically, the government has decided that the bidding instructions and con - tracts for public procurement should include a clause that “the bidder/contractor shall endeav- our to respect human rights in accordance with the Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains.” Although it is not a government guideline, the Japan Textile Federation, one of Japan’s indus - try associations, has published its “Guidelines for Responsible Corporate Behaviour in the Tex- tile Industry” . This document has been prepared considering the characteristics of the Japanese textile industry, which is made up of many small and medium-sized enterprises and is meant to ensure that the Japanese textile industry takes
action to respect human rights and fulfil its social responsibilities. Further, the Center for International Economic Collaboration published its “Human Rights Due Diligence Guidelines for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises” in December 2022. SMEs generally have limited resources and information, and it is often difficult for them to take sufficient actions in relation to protecting human rights. In fact, the Working Group pointed out a gap between the large and the small and medium-sized compa - nies in terms of understanding and implement - ing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These guidelines explain specific examples and workflows to enable such compa - nies to immediately promote action on human rights and are written in clear language. 2.2.8 Regulatory Change As stated in 2.2.1 National Action Plan , the Inter- Ministerial Liaison Conference on the Imple - mentation of the NAP on Business and Human Rights approved the start of the NAP revision work for next year. This revision is in progress with the relevant authorities and is scheduled to be released by the end of 2025. 3. Corporate Liability 3.1 Criminal and Civil Corporate Liability As mentioned in 2.2 National and Regional , some human rights laws prescribe criminal penalties (mainly fines for corporate entities) and administrative penalties for human rights violations. Extra-contractual (tort) liability may arise for human rights violations in private law.
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