JAPAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Masayuki Atsumi and Yuhei Sakao, Miura & Partners
Recommendations of the OECD Convention The WGB is responsible for overseeing and pro - moting the implementation of the OECD Con - vention and conducts peer reviews among the parties to the Convention. It has conducted peer reviews of Japan on four occasions and pub - lished the results in the form of an “Assessment Report” with recommendations for Japan. On 27 June 2019, the WGB published its fourth review report on Japan. It expressed its concern about Japan’s attitude towards investigation of bribery of foreign public officials, as follows. • Twenty years after the Convention came into force, the WGB remains concerned that Japan has still not given full effect to its for - eign bribery prevention measures. • Overall, Japan has only detected 46 allega - tions of foreign bribery, half of which the WGB brought to Japan’s attention. Japan has investigated 30 of the 46 known allegations, resulting in the conviction of 12 individuals and two legal persons in five foreign bribery cases. These numbers are particularly low given the size of Japan’s economy and the high-risk regions and sectors in which its companies operate. • The police and the prosecution lack proactiv - ity in their foreign bribery investigations. • The role of theMinistry of Justice (MOJ) in transmitting or clarifying certain allegations may have contributed to unnecessary delays (from one to nine years) in the opening of investigations. The WGB remains concerned by the police’s continued lack of involvement in foreign bribery cases. In addition, the report made 17 recommenda - tions, in particular urging Japan to submit a writ - ten report in one year regarding the following key recommendations.
• Take urgent steps to further extend the statute of limitations on foreign bribery to an appropriate period, to ensure the effective prosecution of foreign bribery or to introduce the possibility of suspending the limitation period during the investigation with the aim of achieving the same goal. • Enact legislation to substantially increase the statutory maximum fine for natural persons convicted of foreign bribery. • Urgently review its legislation to ensure that Japan has jurisdiction over foreign bribery offences, including when bribes by Japanese companies operating abroad are paid by non- Japanese employees. • Raise the statutory maximum or provide alternative grounds to impose higher fines (eg, the amount of the bribe given or the unlawful benefit obtained) to ensure that the fine imposed will be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, even in large-scale corruption cases Amendment of the UCPA in 2023 In response to the above recommendations of the OECD, the Working Group on Bribery of Foreign Public Officials of the Subcommittee on Unfair Competition Prevention of the Intel - lectual Property Section of the Industrial Struc - ture Council of METI released the Report on Strengthening Disciplinary Rules for the Crime of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in March 2023. The report proposed the following four amendments to the UCPA: • sanctions against natural persons; • sanctions against legal persons; • a statute of limitations of prosecution; and • applicable jurisdiction (punishment of foreign crimes) over corporations.
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