November 5, 2025
Japan Fair Trade Commission
FY 2025 Survey on Transactions Conducted with Freelancers
Today, I would like to talk about the FY 2025 Survey on Transactions Conducted with Freelancers.
The Freelance Act (the Act) came into effect on November 1, 2024, and one year has passed since its enforcement as of November 1 this year.
Since the enforcement of the Act, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has been making efforts to detect suspected violations of the Act and will continue to take prompt and appropriate action against businesses found to have committed such violations.
In FY 2024, the JFTC, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — the three authorities responsible for enforcing the Act — made active efforts to gather information and jointly conducted a survey on transactions with freelancers, covering 30,000 ordering parties, to assess whether ordering parties were in compliance with the Act. From November 2024 to September 2025, the JFTC issued and published four recommendations and provided guidance in 441 cases.
In FY 2025, the three authorities will again jointly conduct a survey on transactions with freelancers, covering 30,000 businesses, starting today to gather information on potential violations of the Act. The survey will cover the one-year period from November 1, 2024, to October 31, 2025.
This survey is not a so-called market study but is conducted to gather information on potential violations of the Act. Based on the information obtained through this survey, further investigations will be conducted and if any violations are found, prompt and appropriate action will be taken.
In addition to the active gathering of information conducted by the three authorities, freelancers who have experienced acts that may constitute violations of the Act may request the three authorities to conduct an investigation. Such requests can be submitted online as well as in writing. Confidentiality will be strictly maintained, and freelancers who believe they have been subjected to possible violations of the Act are strongly encouraged to report such cases to the authorities.
The JFTC will continue its efforts to ensure fair transactions with freelancers by combining public awareness activities to prevent violations with strict enforcement actions against any breaches of the Act.
（Tentative translation）
