JAPAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Norihiro Sekiguchi, Daisuke Mure, Yuki Kuroda and Ryosuke Sogo, Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners
ment should be included within the scope thereof. As a result, personnel transfers and reassignments have initially been excluded from the scope, but this point is to be reviewed in three years, as stipulated in the supplementary resolutions of the National Diet. In Japan, where employment is predominantly based on a membership-type system rather than a job-based system, personnel transfers are carried out routinely and are considered to fall within the employer’s broad discretion. It was therefore determined that including personnel transfers within the scope of items 4 and 5 would have an extremely significant impact on busi - ness practices; and, for this reason, such inclusion was deferred on this occasion. From a practical perspective, it is not uncommon for problematic employees to make whistle-blower reports for the purpose of advancing their own inter - ests – for example, to avoid strict supervision, seek more favourable personnel treatment, or evade unde - sirable assignments or workplace relationships. It is important to be mindful that such potentially abusive or opportunistic whistle-blowing may increase in the future. Mandatory measures against customer harassment (amendment to the Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labour Policies) On 4 June 2025, the Act Partially Amending the Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labour Policies and Related Laws was passed, and it was promulgated on June 11 of the same year. The Act defines customer harassment as “conduct by customers, business partners, users of facilities, or other persons having a relationship with the busi - ness activities of the employer (hereinafter referred to as ‘customers, etc.’) that, in light of the nature of the duties in which the employed workers are engaged and other relevant circumstances, exceeds the range considered acceptable under social norms and there - by harms the working environment of workers.” With respect to such customer harassment, the Act establishes guidelines setting forth the measures that employers are required to take. Specifically, the guide - lines provide for the following obligations of employ - ers:
• clarification of the employer ’ s policy and dissemi- nation / awareness - raising , including informing work - ers (including managerial and supervisory person - nel) of the content of customer harassment and the predetermined methods of response; • establishment of a system necessary for appropri- ately responding to consultations from workers , including setting up a consultation desk, informing workers of its availability, and ensuring that the personnel in charge respond appropriately; • prompt and appropriate post - incident responses to customer harassment , including swift and accurate fact-finding, measures to give due consideration to the affected worker, and the implementation of measures to prevent recurrence; and • deterrence measures necessary to ensure the effectiveness of responses to customer harass - ment , including establishing and disseminating policies for dealing with particularly malicious cases. These provisions are scheduled to come into force on 1 October 2026. Japan’s APPI Amendment Bill: Key Changes The Personal Information Protection Commission (PPC) began its triennial review of the Act on the Pro - tection of Personal Information (APPI) in November 2023 and the cabinet submitted a formal amendment bill to the Diet on 7 April 2026. The bill was passed by the Diet on July 10th. Promotion of proper data utilisation Statistical processing exception ( AI development ) Under the current APPI, acquiring publicly available sensitive personal data or providing personal data to a third party generally requires prior consent. The bill introduces a new exception: consent will not be required where personal data is used exclusively for “creation of statistical information”, expressly includ - ing AI model development classifiable as statistical processing. To qualify, parties must: • publicly disclose key information (identities and nature of processing); • enter into written agreements; and • strictly refrain from any use or transfer beyond the permitted purpose.
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