February 7, 2022 Results of Appeal for Opinions on Drafts of Revised Regulations, including Draft Ministerial Ordinance to Partially Revise Regulations for Enforcement of the Telecommunications Business Act and Report from Information and Communications and Posts Administrative Council

Based on an inquiry (Inquiry No. 3146 dated November 19, 2021) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to the Council for Information and Telecommunications Administration and Postal Administration (Consultation No. 3146, November 19, 2021), MIC recently made an appeal for opinions on drafts of revised regulations. These drafts included a draft of the Ministerial Ordinance to Partially Revise Regulations for Enforcement of the Telecommunications Business Act.
On February 2, 2022, MIC received a report from the Council considering the results of the appeal for opinions. Accordingly, MIC has decided to open the received opinions, MIC’s views on the opinions, and the report to the public.

1. Outline of revision

Based on the discussions of a Study Group on Consumer Protection Rules (Chief investigator: NIIMI Ikufumi, professor emeritus, Meiji University), the necessary institutional development will be made for the following items.

• 1.
  Mandatory explanation of terms and conditions using written explanation in telemarketing
• 2.
  Obligation to take measures to enable users to cancel without delay.
• 3.
  Restrictions on penalties for term-binding contracts

2. Results of appeal for opinions and report

Concerning the draft of the Ministerial Ordinance to Partially Revise Regulations for Enforcement of the Telecommunications Business Act, etc., MIC made the appeal for opinions from November 20, 2011 through January 7, 2022, and received 11 opinions.
About the partial revision of the Regulations for Enforcement of the Telecommunications Business Act, MIC received the report on February 2, 2022, from the Council for Information and Telecommunications Administration and Postal Administration to the effect that it was deemed appropriate to enact the proposed revision with some modifications.

3. Future plans

MIC will promptly make institutional development considering the results of the appeal for opinions and the report.