JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Hiromi Hayashi, Daisuke Tsuta, Masaki Yukawa and Keiichi Bando, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
Mori Hamada & Matsumoto Marunouchi Park Building 2-6-1 Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-8222 Japan
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1. Digital Economy 1.1 Key Challenges
The designated digital platform providers are required to disclose their conditions for accept - ing business operators, reasons for request - ing the purchasing of certain services, factors affecting rankings, and other essential informa - tion. They are also required to annually report to METI on their handling of complaints, dispute resolution, disclosure and self-assessment. User Protection of Digital Platforms The Platform Service Study Group administered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Com - munications (MIC) published its third report in January 2024. The report recommends that the government requires providers of large digital platforms, where unspecified users can distrib - ute content: • to take measures to protect people from defamation, including having a complaint win - dow, a procedure to accept complaints, and a staff member familiar with Japanese culture and society; • to complete the investigation within one week; and • to notify the complainant of the results of the investigation.
The key regulations regarding the digital econ - omy in Japan are the Act on Improving the Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms (as follows) and the Digital Platform Consumer Protection Act (see 1.4 Consumer Protection ). Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms The Act on Improving the Transparency and Fair - ness of Digital Platforms was enacted in June 2020 and took effect in February 2021. Under the Act, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will designate specific digital platform providers with a business scale based on certain sales sizes for certain platform cat - egories, such as: • an e-commerce marketplace with annual sales of JPY30 billion or more; • app store with annual sales of JPY20 billion or more; • advertisement media with annual sales of JPY10 billion or more; and • digital advertising platforms with annual sales of JPY5 billion or more.
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