January 7, 2026
Japan Fair Trade Commission
FY2026 Draft Budget, Organization and the Number of Officials
Since the government’s draft budget for FY 2026 was approved by the Cabinet on December 26 last year, I will outline the JFTC’s budget, organization, and the number of officials.
The total amount of the JFTC’s FY 2026 draft budget, including the portion jointly appropriated by the Digital Agency, is 13.144 billion yen. While this represents a decrease of 2.701 billion yen compared with the initial budget of the previous fiscal year, when the budget is adjusted to exclude special factors—namely, expenses related to the relocation of the JFTC’s office building—it reflects an increase of 377 million yen from the previous fiscal year’s initial budget.
The details of the main measures are as follows.
“Promoting initiatives to ensure fair transactions” includes addressing both the abuse of superior bargaining positions—such as maintaining transaction prices without consultation on increases in labor, raw material, and energy expenses—and violations of the Act on Proper Transactions with Small and Medium-Sized Entrusted Business Operators (Fair Transactions Act), in a strict and prompt manner and with a view to preventing such conduct in advance. A budget of 1.232 billion yen has been allocated for these purposes. We will continue to make every effort to facilitate the smooth price pass-through for SMEs and other businesses.
Regarding the “Improving the competitive environment,” a budget of 232 million yen has been allocated to cover expenses necessary for conducting market studies and making proposals on improving business practices across various fields, including digital markets, as well as for the effective implementation of the Mobile Software Competition Act, which was fully enforced on December 18 last year.
Finally, I will provide an overview of the organization and the number of officials. As part of efforts to promote initiatives to ensure fair transactions, the JFTC headquarters will newly establish a Senior Officer for Fair Transactions Inspection (Tentative Translation) post at the director level. In addition, three existing positions at the same level will be reassigned and one new position will be created, resulting in a total of four positions under the title of Senior Fair Transactions Inspector (Tentative Translation). Furthermore, while these positions do not strictly fall under organizational restructuring, one semi director–level position titled Senior Officer for Fair Transactions (Tentative Translation) will be newly established in each of the Chubu Office, the Kinki–Chugoku–Shikoku Office, and the Kyushu Office, for a total of three new positions.
As for the number of officials, the JFTC plans to increase the total number by 63, including 59 additional officials related to efforts to promote initiatives to ensure fair transactions. As a result, the total number of officials in the Secretariat will reach 995 by the end of FY 2026.
With the budget and the organization mentioned above, the JFTC will continue to strive to improve a fair and free competitive environment.
（Tentative translation）
