Reference
Japanese regulatory guideline index
In Japan, a great deal of what actually governs compliance is not in the statutes. It sits in guidelines, administrative notices, public notices and Q&A documents issued by individual ministries and commissions — the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Personal Information Protection Commission, the Consumer Affairs Agency, the Financial Services Agency and others. Each publishes separately, in its own format, and there is no single place to look.
I maintain an index of 343 such documents, filterable along two axes: industry (who you are) and function (what you are doing right now). It is the fastest way I know to get a rough but reliable answer to "which rules attach to a business like mine".
The index and the documents it links to are in Japanese. Almost none of these guidelines have an official English translation, which is precisely why they are hard for a company outside Japan to find and read. If you would like a particular area explained in English — what the guideline requires, and what it means for your product — that is the kind of question I am useful for.
Coverage
Areas covered
Each area below has its own page in the Japanese index, with the documents issued in that field.
- Employment and HR
- Harassment and whistleblowing
- Occupational health and safety
- Data protection
- Cybersecurity
- AI and system development
- Intellectual property
- Contracts and e-signature
- Subcontracting and fair trading
- Competition law
- Advertising and representations
- Consumer transactions
- Internal control and governance
- AML and organised crime exclusion
- Economic security and export control
- Environment and sustainability
- Tax and invoicing
- Cross-border matters
Which of these applies to you?
How a guideline applies depends on the business model. If you would like to know which rules attach to your product, and how far you need to go to meet them, please get in touch.