April 25, 2021 | less than a minute read

Small Businesses should be protected from Amazon, Rakuten, Yahoo, Apple, and Google?

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Arimi Yamada

Partner

Get in touch

Arimi Yamada

Partner

Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms Act (TFDPA) enacted in Japan is designed to prevent large digital platform providers from forcing small-to-medium-sized enterprises having no bargaining power to accept unfavorable conditions to use their platform.

In April 2021, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) designated five platform providers (online shopping malls and application stores) as regulations under TFDPA. The designated digital platform providers are Amazon Japan, Rakuten Group, Yahoo Japan, Apple Inc. and Google.

METI set up a consultation desks that provide advice to small-to-medium sized business when they encounter conducts that might violate the law.

In April 2021, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) designated five providers of online shopping malls and application stores as subject to the regulations under TFDPA. These providers will now be required to give advance notification of any changes to their terms and conditions, disclose the scope of use of the data obtained from digital platform users, develop systems to ensure fair transactions, and submit a report to METI every fiscal year with an overview of the measures they have taken, along with self-assessments.