Japan has amended the provisions on the crime of bribing foreign public officials under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (UCPA), effective 1 April 2024, and updated the Guidelines for the Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in February 2024.
Key changes to the UCPA include increased fines and longer terms of imprisonment for individuals or corporations who bribe foreign public officials, expanded corporate liability and a longer statute of limitations.
A law amending the Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations came into effect on 1 October 2024. The Consumer Affairs Agency has broadly divided the amendments into three categories: “promotion of voluntary efforts by entrepreneurs,” “strengthening violation deterrence” and “developing regulations to ensure smooth enforcement, etc.”
The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (ICRR) was amended effective on 31 March 2024 to introduce a new visa category so-called Digital Nomad Visa, the guidelines for which became clearer in recent months. The Digital Nomad Visa essentially allows foreign nationals to stay in Japan up to six months (within a one-year period) and remotely work for foreign companies subject to certain conditions.
On 27 June 2024, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PPC), Japan’s data protection authority, released the “Interim Report on Considerations for the Triennial Review of the Act on Protection of Personal Information” (“Interim Report”). The Interim Report summarizes discussions within the PPC on issues surrounding the Act on Protection of Personal Information (APPI) from November 2023 to June 2024. The Interim Report is in accordance with amendments made to the APPI in 2020 requiring the PPC to review the provisions of the APPI every three years.
On 28 May 2024, the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) announced that it had issued an order to pay an administrative fine (called a “surcharge” under Japanese law) in the amount of JPY 1,655,940,000 to the Chugoku Electric Power Company, Incorporated (“Chugoku Electric”) under Article 8, Paragraph 1 of the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations (“Act”). The CAA alleged in its order that Chugoku Electric had violated the Act by displaying advertising messages regarding household electricity rate plans on its website that appeared to be cheaper than they were in reality.
The Labor Standards Act (LSA) includes a deemed working time system for discretionary work under which the working hours of employees engaged in certain duties can be predetermined rather than calculated on the basis of their actual working time. The Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act and a government notification detail the scope of the duties to which the Discretionary Work System can be applied and the relevant procedures.
The Labor Standards Act requires employers to provide clear notice of certain terms of employment set forth under the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Labor Standards Act (“LSA Ordinance”). An amendment to the LSA Ordinance will become effective on 1 April 2024 changing the terms covered by this notification requirement.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Long-term Roadmap Working Committee published its Final Report on the implementation of CCS in Japan in March 2023. This followed the Japanese Cabinet’s approval of the “Basic Strategy for the Realization of GX (Green Transformation)” a month earlier, which stated that legislation and a regulatory framework for CCS should be developed as soon as possible. METI began its deliberations in September 2023, resulting in the publication of its “Draft Interim Summary of the CCS Regulatory Framework” on 15 December 2023. This alert summarizes the clarified Japanese legal regime for CCS projects.
On 29 November 2023, the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan and the Japan Fair Trade Commission jointly issued the Guidelines Concerning Price Negotiation for Appropriate Shifting of Labor Costs (“the Guidelines”). Rapid price inflation has made it particularly important to create a business environment in which small and medium-sized companies can secure resources for wage increases. The Japanese government has been working on price-shifting measures and established the Guidelines as one of its efforts to improve the business environment.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange launched Japan’s first exchange-based carbon credit market on 11 October 2023. Registered participants in the market now have a more efficient platform for carbon credit trading in Japan and improved carbon pricing transparency.