Diet passes bill to regulate tech giants

May 28, 2020 | News On Japan

May 28, 2020 (NHK) - Japan's Diet has enacted legislation to tighten regulations on IT giants by requiring them to ensure transparency of their online business transactions with their business partners.

The legislation was approved at the Upper House plenary session on Wednesday.

Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple, known as GAFA, and Rakuten of Japan operate online mail order sites and mobile app stores.

The new law will require such companies to disclose the terms of their contracts with their business partners in online businesses as they are in a stronger position than their business partners. If they change the terms of a contract, they will be required to give advance notice.

The new restrictions include preventing those companies from altering contracts in a way that would be advantageous to them or from unilaterally raising commissions.

The law enables the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry to offer advice or issue orders to any company that does not comply with the requirements.

If a company is suspected of violating the anti-monopoly law, the Fair Trade Commission will be asked to respond.

The law also obliges the IT giants to submit annual reports evaluating their operations to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry.

The European Union is planning to introduce similar regulations for IT giants this year.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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