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消費者庁関連三法（しょうひしゃちょうかんれんさんぽう） (the three Consumer Affairs Agency Acts) names this Act together with the Act for Establishment of the Consumer Affairs Agency and the Consumer Commission and the Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts for the Enforcement of the Act for Establishment of the Consumer Affairs Agency and the Consumer Commission.

Consumer Safety Act

消費者安全法（しょうひしゃあんぜんほう）

Protects consumers from harm in their daily lives and keeps them safe: the Prime Minister () sets a basic policy (基本方針), prefectures and municipalities give consumer advice and set up Consumer Affairs Centers (消費生活センター), information on consumer accidents is gathered, the Consumer Safety Investigation Commission (消費者安全調査委員会) investigates them, and measures are taken to stop consumer harm happening or spreading.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 86
Amendments on the way: 0

Read the text Open on e-Gov

What this law does

Each prefecture (都道府県) must handle consumers' complaints against businesses that need a view wider than one municipality, by consultation and mediation, and must set up a Consumer Affairs Center (消費生活センター) whose consumer affairs consultants (消費生活相談員) do that work. It also surveys and analyses the state and trends of consumer accidents where expert knowledge is needed, gives residents information gathered from a view wider than one municipality, and supports the municipalities.(Art. 8(1), Art. 10(1), Art. 10-2(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

Each municipality (市町村) takes consumers' complaints against businesses, gives advice on them and mediates to settle them, and gives residents information on consumer safety. It must try to set up a Consumer Affairs Center where needed; a municipality without one must try to have consumer affairs consultants do that work.(Art. 8(2), Art. 10(2), Art. 10(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
A consumer affairs consultant must have passed the consumer affairs consultant examination, held by the Prime Minister or by a body the Prime Minister has registered (登録試験機関), or be recognised by the prefectural governor or mayor as having expertise at least equal to it.(Art. 10-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
When the head of a national administrative organ, a prefectural governor, a mayor or the president of the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan (国民生活センター) learns of a serious accident, or a situation likely to cause one (重大事故等), in the use of goods or services, they must notify the Prime Minister at once; for other consumer accidents and incidents (消費者事故等) they notify where the harm may spread or similar cases may follow. The Prime Minister gathers and analyses the information, and must publish the results and report them to the Diet ().(Art. 2(5), Art. 2(7), Art. 12(1), Art. 12(2), Art. 13(1), Art. 13(3), Art. 13(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Consumer Safety Investigation Commission (消費者安全調査委員会), set up in the Consumer Affairs Agency (消費者庁), investigates the causes of accidents in the use of goods or services businesses supply that harm life or body to a degree a Cabinet Order (政令) sets, and of uses of unsafe goods or services likely to cause one, where it finds this needed to prevent further harm. When it finishes an investigation it must submit a report to the Prime Minister and publish it, and where needed it may then recommend measures to the Prime Minister, who must tell it what was done. Throughout, it must take full account of the feelings of victims and their families or bereaved, and give them information on the investigation in good time and in a suitable way.(Art. 2(5), Art. 2(6), Art. 15(1), Art. 16(1)(i), Art. 23(1), Art. 31(1), Art. 32(1), Art. 32(2), Art. 34(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Anyone (何人も) who thinks an investigation is needed to prevent harm to life or body may ask the Commission for one, in writing; the Commission must consider it and investigate where needed. Where the request concerns an accident with serious harm and is made by its victim, or, where the victim died or is seriously disabled, by their spouse, a lineal relative (直系の親族) or a sibling, the Commission must promptly tell them whether it will investigate and, if not, why. No one may be dismissed or otherwise treated unfavourably for making such a request or for complying with the investigation's demands, whether made by the Commission or by the Prime Minister's officials.(Art. 28(1), Art. 28(2), Art. 28(3), Art. 37(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 states the law's own purpose

Consumer Affairs CentersConsumer complaints and mediationReporting consumer accidentsConsumer Safety Investigation CommissionAsking for an accident investigationRecommendations and orders to businessesBans on selling unsafe goodsPenalties

86 215 102 4 46

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . No amendment to this law is waiting to come into force. Its latest amendments are below. This law's amendments page lists every amendment e-Gov records and, for those whose changes this site has read, shows them provision by provision, in Japanese and English.

4 amendments already in force

1 June 2025
The text on this site
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
17 June 2022
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2019
Act Partially Amending the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, etc., and Other Matters
不当景品類及び不当表示防止法等の一部を改正する等の法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2016
Act Partially Amending the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, etc., and Other Matters
不当景品類及び不当表示防止法等の一部を改正する等の法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Businesses (事業者): anyone running a commercial, industrial, financial or other business, and an individual only when acting in that business. They must try to ensure consumer safety themselves, and are subject to the Prime Minister's recommendations, orders, bans and inspections.(Art. 2(2), Art. 5(1), Art. 40(1), Art. 41(1), Art. 45(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Consumers (消費者): individuals, except when acting in a business. They are to try to learn what they need to know about goods, services and the contracts they make.(Art. 2(1), Art. 5(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

3 more

Prefectures and municipalities, which carry out the consumer consultation work; prefectures must set up Consumer Affairs Centers, and municipalities must try to where needed.(Art. 8(1), Art. 8(2), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Registered examination bodies (登録試験機関) that hold the consumer affairs consultant examination: they must run it fairly, have their examination rules approved by the Prime Minister, keep books, and may lose their registration.(Art. 11-9(1), Art. 11-13(2), Art. 11-15(1), Art. 11-22(2), Art. 11-23(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Those the Act binds to keep secrets learned in their work, even after it ends: those doing consultation work under contract, those doing the work of a local council for consumer safety (消費者安全確保地域協議会), officers and staff of registered examination bodies, those doing work the Commission has contracted out, and the officers and staff of consumer affairs support groups (消費生活協力団体) and the supporters (消費生活協力員) a local government's head appoints, the last two without a penalty.(Art. 8-2(3), Art. 11-5(1), Art. 11-7(1), Art. 11-8(1), Art. 11-19(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 53(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (4)

The duty to notify the Prime Minister of a consumer accident does not apply to someone another Act already requires to report it to the body named for them, to someone who learned of it from another person who must notify, or to others a Cabinet Office Order (内閣府令) names as like them.(Art. 12(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Commission does not investigate aircraft, railway or marine accidents as the Act to Establish the Japan Transport Safety Board (運輸安全委員会設置法), a separate Act, defines them.(Art. 16(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Commission need not investigate itself where it has or expects the results of another administrative body's investigation that it thinks can find the cause; once it has them it evaluates them, and investigates itself if they fall short.(Art. 23(1), Art. 24(1), Art. 24(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Prime Minister's recommendations, orders and bans against businesses are only for cases where no measure under another Act is available, and an order or ban is withdrawn once such a measure becomes available or it is no longer needed.(Art. 40(1), Art. 40(3), Art. 40(4), Art. 40(6), Art. 41(1), Art. 41(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (10)

Where the Prime Minister learns of a consumer accident or incident and finds consumers need to be warned to stop the harm spreading or recurring, the Prime Minister gives the information to prefectures and municipalities and publishes it.(Art. 38(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where goods or a service that are not safe to use (消費安全性を欠く) have caused a serious accident, no measure under another Act is available, and it is needed to stop the harm spreading or recurring, the Prime Minister may recommend that the business supplying, providing or making available those goods (and goods sharing the faulty part or manufacturing method) or that service inspect, repair or modify them, label how to use them safely, or take other needed measures. If the business does not follow the recommendation without a legitimate reason and it is particularly needed, the Prime Minister may order it to, after hearing the Consumer Commission (), and must publish the order.(Art. 40(1), Art. 40(2), Art. 40(7), Art. 40(8)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a business's unfair dealings — such as showing goods, services or terms far different from the real ones — harm or may harm the property of many consumers (多数消費者財産被害事態), and no measure under another Act is available, the Prime Minister may recommend that it stop them. If it does not follow the recommendation without a legitimate reason and it is particularly needed, the Prime Minister may order it to, after hearing the Consumer Commission, and must publish the order.(Art. 2(8), Art. 40(4), Art. 40(5), Art. 40(7), Art. 40(8)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where goods not safe to use have caused a serious accident, there is imminent danger of more harm, and no measure under another Act is available, the Prime Minister may, where particularly needed and only as far as needed, after hearing the Consumer Commission and by notice in the Official Gazette (官報), ban or restrict for up to six months selling, delivering or using in services those goods, and goods sharing the faulty part or manufacturing method, as or for a business. A business that breaks the ban may be ordered to recall what it sold or delivered, or to take other needed measures.(Art. 41(1), Art. 41(3), Art. 41(4), Art. 42(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
As far as needed to enforce the Act, the Prime Minister may require a business to report, and have officials enter its offices and other places of business, investigate, ask questions and take samples of the goods it supplies, paying their market price. The officials must carry identification, and the power is not one for criminal investigation.(Art. 45(1), Art. 45(2), Art. 11-24(2), Art. 11-24(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
In an investigation the Commission may require reports from anyone involved in the accident, enter the scene and the offices of those linked to its cause to inspect goods and records and ask questions, call people in for questioning, have items produced and kept, order them preserved or not moved, and close the scene to others; before it finishes it must give those linked to the cause a chance to state their views. The Prime Minister may have officials use these powers too: entry, inspection and questioning when the Commission asks for help, and all of them where needed so that the Commission can start an investigation smoothly. None of these powers is for criminal investigation.(Art. 23(2), Art. 23(5), Art. 27(1), Art. 27(2), Art. 27(3), Art. 27(4), Art. 27(5), Art. 30(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Breaking a ban or restriction on selling goods, or a recall order, is punished by imprisonment () of up to three years, a fine of up to 3 million yen, or both; breaking an order to follow a recommendation, by imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to 1 million yen, or both. Where a representative, employee or agent did it in their employer's business, a corporate employer can also be fined up to 100 million yen, and an individual employer the same fine as the offender.(Art. 51(1), Art. 52(1), Art. 56(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
Anyone who fails to make a report the Prime Minister requires or reports falsely, refuses, obstructs or evades the entry, investigation or sampling, or fails to answer or answers falsely can be fined up to 500,000 yen. Giving the Commission, or the Prime Minister's officials acting for it, a false report or false statement, refusing, obstructing or evading their inspection, or failing to produce or preserve an item, or moving it, against their order can be fined up to 300,000 yen. Where a representative, employee or agent does this in their employer's business, the employer, corporate or individual, can be fined the same.(Art. 54(2), Art. 55(1), Art. 56(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
Prefectural and municipal staff doing consumer consultation work, those doing it under contract, those working for a local council for consumer safety (消費者安全確保地域協議会), officers and staff of a registered examination body, and those doing work the Commission has contracted out must not disclose secrets learned in that work, even after leaving it. Doing so is punished by imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 8(4), Art. 8-2(3), Art. 11-5(1), Art. 11-19(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 53(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Prime Minister's powers under the Act, except those a Cabinet Order (政令) keeps, are delegated to the Commissioner of the Consumer Affairs Agency (消費者庁長官). A Cabinet Order may have prefectural governors, or mayors of municipalities with a Consumer Affairs Center, do part of the work of requiring reports and entering business premises.(Art. 47(1), Art. 47(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

Cites this lawLawThis law cites it

It also names 7 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.

Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.

Sources

Everything this page rests on

e-Gov (Digital Agency)消費者安全法 — the text in force from 2025-06-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)消費者安全法 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeConsumer Safety Act — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
Machine translation, not official
Machine translation, corrected on review, not official
Written for this site with AIEnglish titles of amending laws, written for this site
Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
Written for this site with AINames for groups of laws, and the laws each names
Written for this site with AICorrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of the Consumer Safety Act
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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