January 28, 2026
Japan Fair Trade Commission
Proactive Development of Competition Policy for Promotion of Innovation
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has prepared a statement entitled “Proactive Development of Competition Policy for the Promotion of Innovation,” which sets out its policy direction for the operation of competition policy going forward.
In recent years, the roles and responsibilities expected of the JFTC have continued to expand. Most recently, there have been a number of significant developments: the Act on Ensuring Proper Transactions Involving Specified Entrusted Business Operators entered into enforcement in November 2024; the Mobile Software Competition Act followed in December last year; and the SME Transactions Act entered into enforcement in January this year. Accordingly, at the beginning of 2026—approximately six months after the current Chair Chatani assumed office in May last year—and in light of these recent developments surrounding the JFTC, we decided to prepare and publish this statement. Through this statement, the JFTC aims to clarify the roles it is expected to fulfill and to set out the direction of its legal operation and enforcement in order to fully carry out those roles.
I will now turn to the specific points of this statement.
Japan is facing a wide range of challenges in a rapidly changing environment, including the advancement of a digital society and the realization of a green society, alongside issues such as a low birthrate, an aging population, and a population decrease. In this context, promoting innovation—such as the development of innovative products and the creation of new markets—is critically important for Japan to achieve sustainable economic growth and to enhance its competitiveness in the international economy.
The JFTC has long worked to promote fair and free competition through the enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act (AMA) and other related laws. By promoting fair and free competition and fostering an environment in which enterprises can demonstrate their ingenuity to the fullest extent, the JFTC seeks to contribute to the promotion of innovation.
Based on this understanding, the statement organizes the measures that the JFTC has implemented to date into three pillars: ensuring “a fair trading environment” by ensuring fair transactions, “promoting a competitive market environment” through dialogue with stakeholders, etc., and “strict law enforcement” against violations. Building on this framework, the JFTC makes clear that it will operate competition policy with the aim of promoting innovation by organically linking these three pillars, thereby fostering an environment in which enterprises can demonstrate their ingenuity to the fullest extent.
For example, with respect to the first pillar—ensuring “a fair trading environment” by ensuring fair transactions, to promote innovation, it is necessary to eliminate conduct that unfairly disadvantages small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), etc., such as abuse of a superior bargaining position, and to ensure a fair trading environment in which compensation commensurate with added value is paid under appropriate conditions. To this end, the JFTC will continue to vigorously advance measures such as the prompt and effective enforcement of the SME Transactions Act and the Act on Ensuring Proper Transactions Involving Specified Entrusted Business Operators, as well as the dissemination of the Guidelines on Price Negotiation for Appropriate Pass-through of Labor Costs with the aim of securing a fair trading environment that supports innovation.
Next, the second pillar set out in the statement is “promoting a competitive market environment” through dialogue. As the Japanese economy faces a wide range of changes, including structural changes in market driven by digitalization and growing needs to promote the initiatives toward the realization of a green society that the Japanese economy faces, it is indispensable to engage in close dialogue with a broad range of stakeholders and other relevant parties and to accurately grasp the actual state of competition in each sector for the development of a market environment that fosters innovation.
Based on an accurate understanding of these competitive conditions, it is then necessary to implement measures that stimulate innovation by diverse market participants through competition, and thereby further develop the market environment. In this regard, the JFTC will work to ensure predictability for enterprises and to foster a market environment conducive to innovation by deepening dialogue with stakeholders such as market participants, while effectively operating the Mobile Software Competition Act and merger review processes, and by proactively responding to consultations from businesses and other parties.
Finally, the third pillar set out in the statement is “strict law enforcement,” which constitutes the most fundamental mission entrusted to the JFTC. Law enforcement has the power not only to eliminate violations but also to break unfairly entrenched business relationships and practices and provide a powerful boost to innovation. Moreover, strict law enforcement underpins, at a fundamental level, both “a fair trading environment” by ensuring fair transactions and “promoting a competitive market environment” through dialogue. The JFTC will continue to proactively engage in law enforcement against conduct such as abuse of a superior bargaining position that unfairly disadvantages SMEs, including startups; unfair exclusionary conduct against competitors; and price-fixing cartels involving goods closely related to the lives of citizens.
Through the publication of this statement and the implementation of various measures in line with it, the JFTC aims to promote innovation and contribute to improvements in business productivity, thereby supporting the realization of a strong Japanese economy capable of achieving sustainable growth and, ultimately, prosperous lives for the people.
（Tentative translation）
