November 20, 2020 Administrative Guidance to JIT Inc. on Inappropriate Solicitation of Telecommunications Services with Leaflets that Give Tenants a Misunderstanding as a Contact from Their Condominium Management Companies

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has today instructed JIT Inc. (a company headed by INOUE Keita, Representative Director) to ensure its compliance with the Telecommunications Business Act (Act No. 86 of 1984). The company was recognized to have violated Article 27-2, Paragraph 2 of the Act, which shall apply mutatis mutandis according to Article 73-3 of the Act to prohibit solicitation without telling the fact of its solicitation, its name, and other identities.

1. Outline of the case and content of administrative guidance

• 1.
  MIC received complaints about leaflets posted by JIT Inc. (hereafter referred to as “JIT”) to those living in condominiums. The complaints contained many inappropriate cases. These cases included those in which it was probable that JIT did not give its name before soliciting telecommunications services managed by JIT. Furthermore, although the leaflets were intended to solicit telecommunications services, there were cases in which the leaflets mislead people and they misunderstood that the leaflets were office memos from their condominium management companies.
• 2.

  In light of the above complaint consultations, MIC checked JIT’s legal compliance system. A new fact became known that at least one million leaflets entitled [Important] Contact regarding Building Internet Facilities to Residents with the following descriptions were posted from September through October 2020 to those living in condominiums.

  • We are pleased to inform you that we can provide a Wi-Fi environment at this condominium.
  • If you are having trouble with the communications speed of the Internet at this condominium, or if you would like to improve the Internet and Wi-Fi environment in the future, we will inform you about the use of our service at this condominium. Please contact us at the following.
• 3.
  If users scan the QR code on the leaflets, the account on the social networking service called Internet Support Window appears. The fact became evident that a solicitation for telecommunications services managed by JIT begins on a chat screen if they register their accounts. Still, JIT did not give its company name at the beginning.
• 4.
  From these facts, the company was recognized to have violated Article 27-2, Paragraph 2 of the Telecommunications Business Act (Act No. 86 of 1984), which shall apply mutatis mutandis according to Article 73-3 of the Act to prohibit solicitation without telling its name and the fact of its solicitation.
• 5.
  Furthermore, the description in the leaflets described in 2. may give a misunderstanding to those who read the leaflets about telecommunications services that were not originally requested and may lead to the conclusion of contracts under such misunderstanding. Therefore, it was recognized that distributing the leaflets by JIT can infringe on users’ interests, thus violating the purpose of Article 1 of the Act to protect users’ interests.
• 6.

  Under these circumstances, MIC instructed JIT to ensure thorough compliance with the law (with the following main contents of guidance for JIT).

  • 1.
    Thorough compliance with the provisions of Article 27-2, Paragraph 2, which shall apply mutatis mutandis according to Article 73-3 of the Act to prohibit solicitation without telling its name and the fact of its solicitation, and the purpose of Article 1 of the Act to protect users’ interests.
  • 2.
    Report on the implementation of recurrence prevention measures―take recurrence prevention measures promptly based on the above administrative guidance so that such inappropriate cases will not occur in the future, and report the details of the measures in writing to MIC by December 19, 2020.

2. Calling consumers’ attention

MIC received complaints regarding the posting of leaflets from companies disguised as management companies of condominiums (or could give such a misunderstanding). For such leaflets, pay attention to whether the publishers are the condominium management companies and be careful when contacting the leaflets’ contact information.
MIC will continue to strive for the strict enforcement of the law to secure consumers’ interests.