Japan’s outgoing antitrust chief has urged his successor to continue scrutinising major tech companies while blending soft-law guidance with formal enforcement, as the country prepares to implement a new law targeting smartphone software platforms.
In an interview with GCR ahead of his departure tomorrow, Kazuyuki Furuya said Japan’s Fair Trade Commission must keep a close eye on digital platforms that function as essential infrastructure – but noted that the agency’s “first approach is grounded in dialogue”, encouraging companies to take the lead in building more open and competitive markets.
He said his nearly five-year tenure as chair was marked by efforts to “coordinate and strengthen” the watchdog’s dual roles as an enforcer and policy advocate, particularly in the context of the country’s digital and sustainability agendas.
Furuya cited the enactment of the Smartphone Software Competition Promotion Act as a major step forward. The law, which aims to restore competition in core digital infrastructure, such as app stores and browsers, is “well-balanced” and reflective of input from regulated companies, he said.
Google and Apple were designated under the new law in March, with those rules kicking in from mid-December.
Furuya said the agency has already seen early signs of sectoral change as a result, including Epic Games’s plans to enter the app store market and a shift by some businesses toward web-based payment systems.
The outgoing chair also called for the continued use of soft-law tools – such as guidelines and consultations – to help the agency tackle novel competition issues.
Meanwhile, Japan is now applying competition law more explicitly to matters in the green economy, he said.
The agency published sustainability guidelines in March 2023, which provide legal certainty for businesses that want to collaborate on such initiatives. It revised them a year later, with further updates expected as new consultation cases arise.
The agency has already reviewed joint decarbonisation activities by petrochemical companies, which it cleared as they were unlikely to harm competition given the expanding nature of the biomass and ammonia markets, Furuya said.
