JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Rintaro Hirano, Yutaro Fujimoto, Yurika Masakane and Yutaro Kato, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
OCCTO As a part of the recent reforms of the electric- ity industry, the Organisation for Cross-Regional Co-ordination of Transmission Operators (OCC- TO) was established in 2015. All licensed opera- tors of electricity businesses must join OCCTO, which has the power to give directions to opera- tors in order to achieve its mission. While OCCTO has been expanding its mis- sion since its establishment (eg, monitoring the demand and supply of electricity at national level, operating the capacity market, providing access to the power grid network, managing the FIT surcharge), the fundamental purpose of OCCTO is to co-ordinate the transmission networks in Japan in accordance with the Net- work Codes (which are issued by OCCTO and approved by METI), so that the transmission net- works are integrated and operated, maintained and developed in a consistent manner. The Network Codes provide the rules on how network operations are to be performed (includ- ing the procedures required by a network user in relation to accessing the networks). All electricity business operators, as members of OCCTO, are required to operate their business in accordance with the Network Codes and directions from OCCTO. EGC The Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission (EGC) was established on 1 Sep- tember 2015. EGC’s primary mission is to moni- tor trades made in the energy market and pro- pose better regulations to promote competition. In order to achieve its mission, EGC, as an advi- sory body to METI:
Regime”), since 1 April 2024, the seller and the purchaser have been required to conduct brief- ing sessions for local residents pursuant to the Renewable Energy Special Measures Act (see 1.6 Recent Changes in Law or Regulation ). Nuclear Power Plant The Act on the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material and Reactors (Act No 166 of 1957, as amended) provides that an operator of a nuclear plant may not imple- ment an amalgamation or merger or a corpo- rate split without the prior written approval of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). In addi- tion, a person who intends to acquire a nuclear power plant must obtain the permission of the NRA before the transfer. Anti-Monopolisation More generally, under the Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolisation and Maintenance of Fair Trade (Act No 54 of 1947, as amended), if a merger, amalgamation, company split or transfer of a business substantially restricts competition in a particular field of trade, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) may issue an order forbid- ding such actions or changing the terms of such actions. 1.5 Central Planning Authorities METI and ANRE The ministry responsible for the energy policy is METI. The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE), a government organisation under METI, is in charge of proposing and implement- ing the energy policies adopted by the govern- ment. ANRE also has independent authority to promulgate rules to implement those policies. As such, except for safety regulations, most regula- tory aspects of the electricity industry are del- egated to ANRE.
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