【Public Consultation】Submission of Comments on the “Mobile Software Competition Act Guidelines (Draft)”

On June 13, 2025, the Japan Association of New Economy (JANE; Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Mickey Mikitani) submitted its comments regarding the “Mobile Software Competition Act Guidelines (Draft)” and the “Draft Policy on the Commitment Procedures under Mobile Software Competition Act” in response to the call for comments on the “Draft Cabinet Order for Partial Amendments to the Cabinet Order for Determining the Scale of Business under Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software(Mobile Software Competition Act)” and other documents conducted by the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

[Summary of Comments]

1.Main Comments on the “Mobile Software Competition Act Guidelines (Draft) ”

■ It should be clarified that “browser” includes in-app browsers and Web View, etc.

■ Regarding the justifiable grounds under Articles 7 and 8 of the Act, the following points should be clarified:

・For review items that include cases not covered by justifiable grounds such as public order and morals, preventing dark patterns, or achieving a certain level of uniformity, those items themselves should not be recognized as justifiable grounds.

・Convenience resulting from ensuring efficient OS/app operation or UI/UX consistency should not be recognized as a justification

・Compliance with initiatives outlined in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ “Smartphone Privacy Security Initiative” (SPSI) should not automatically be recognized as a justification

■ Designated operators should be prohibited from one-sidedly imposing conditions that obligate individual app operators to purchase the designated operator’s products or services.

■ Designated OS operators should be prohibited from the following actions:

・ Requiring financial burdens on providers of alternative payment management services (external payment services) for using such services.

・Imposing financial burdens (core technology fees) on individual app operators for using alternative app stores or alternative payment management services (external payment services)

・Restricting OS functionality so that call logs within voice call apps provided by other operators can only be retained between users of that specific app

■Designated OS operators should be required to:

・Provide individual app operators with the functionality available to the designated operator on its own OS free of charge as a general rule, as stipulated in the EU’s DMA.

・Allow individual app operators to freely choose between Secure Elements (SE) and Host Card Emulation (HCE) when using NFC.

・Even when outsourcing NFC or SE development/operation to other operators, ensure that such operators do not hinder individual app operators’ use of these functions.

■ Designated app stores operators should be prohibited from the following actions:

・Requiring individual app operators providing apps that use alternative payment management services (external payment services) to disclose revenues associated with using such services

・Forcing any disadvantageous display when users choose to use alternative payment management services (external payment services)

・Imposing restrictions on the destination, transition path, process, or method when linking out from an app, or imposing fees on transactions at the destination

・Displaying pop-ups or similar elements that cause undue anxiety to users when linking out from an app

■ Designated app stores operators should be required to:

・Recommend measures appropriate to the app’s circumstances and reliability, such as preventing the re-display of pop-ups shown during link-outs from the app once the user has consented.

2. Comments on the “Draft Policy on the Commitment Procedures under Mobile Software Competition Act”

■The approach to expediting commitment procedures and standard timeframes should be clearly stated.

※The full text of the submitted comments is available here. (Japanese only)

※The details on this public consultation are available here. (Japanese only)

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