• 
• 

 
On November 12, 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 33rd Council on Investments for the Future at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, a discussion was held on the development of rules for the digital market, and the review of the legal system for the fields of Fintech and financial sector.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Today, we continued our discussions from the previous meeting over related topics towards the formulation of the Growth Strategy.
 
Firstly, we held a discussion on the development of new rules for the digital market. With regard to regulations on digital platformers, a hearing with the representatives from the Headquarters of the four GAFA companies (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon), led by the Chief Cabinet Secretary, was held at a meeting of the Headquarters for Digital Market Competition.  Regarding large-scale online shopping malls and app stores that are trading on the Internet, several problems, including unilateral changes in registration fees and prioritized listings of private-label products, have been pointed out. We intend to seek greater trade transparency in a new law, such as the disclosure of reasons for the refusal of trading. In doing so, we will establish rules that value individual efforts as much as possible, without spoiling innovation.
 
As for the protection of privacy, there are inquiries to service providers, including requests to delete personal information. We intend to expand individuals’ rights to request service operators delete or suspend the use of personal information. In addition, from the perspective of encouraging innovation, we will consider flexible treatment and usage of data and the enforcement of relevant laws over foreign entities.
 
Furthermore, as there are concerns over the increasing monopoly power in the rapidly expanding digital advertising market, we will commence a review of the status of competition in these markets. As for the development of the relevant laws, we intend to obtain a specific conclusion before the end of this year at the Headquarters for Digital Market Competition and submit a bill to the Diet as early as possible.
 
Secondly, we discussed the revision of the legal framework in the field of financial services. With regard to payment, we will ease the regulations under certain conditions to allow service providers other than banks to transfer money, regardless of the amount. We will also further loosen the regulations for the transfer of small amounts of money. Moreover, regarding financial intermediaries, it is required to obtain authorization and register for each sector, such as banking, securities, and insurance, making it difficult to offer a wide variety of products. By relaxing regulations to enable service providers to offer products from all sectors, we intend to let user choose products that suit them, by comparing interest rates and fees with their smartphones.   
 
I would like to submit a bill to the Diet as early as possible, while Minister of Finance Aso takes the lead in advancing concrete reviews by the end of this year. I ask for your cooperation.”