Act on Ensuring Proper Transactions Involving Specified Entrusted Business Operators

特定受託事業者に係る取引の適正化等に関する法律（とくていじゅたくじぎょうしゃにかかるとりひきのてきせいかとうにかんするほうりつ）

Fair dealing for self-employed people and one-person companies with no employees who take on work from businesses: terms stated in writing or electronically, payment on time, no unfair treatment, and a working environment free of harassment, among other rules.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 26
Amendments on the way: 0

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What this law does

Any business that entrusts work to a specified entrusted business operator (特定受託事業者), even a business with no employees of its own, must immediately state the content of the work, the amount of remuneration (報酬), the payment date and the other matters Rules of the Fair Trade Commission (公正取引委員会規則) set, in writing or by electronic means. A matter that for good reason cannot yet be decided is stated immediately once it is decided. Where the terms were given electronically and the contractor asks for them on paper, the business must hand over a document without delay, except in cases those Rules set as leaving the contractor's protection unaffected.(Art. 3(1), Art. 3(2), Art. 2(5)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

A specified entrusting business operator (特定業務委託事業者) — a client that employs employees, or a corporation with two or more officers — must set the payment date within 60 days of the day it receives the work (for services, the day they are provided), as early as possible and whether or not it inspects the work, and must pay by that date. If no date was set, the day of receipt is the payment date; if a later date was set, the last day of those 60 days is.(Art. 4(1), Art. 4(2), Art. 4(5), Art. 2(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where an engagement lasts at least a period a Cabinet Order (政令) sets, counting renewals, a specified entrusting business operator must not, unless the contractor is at fault, refuse to accept the work, cut the remuneration, or make the contractor take back goods after accepting them. Nor may it unjustly set remuneration far below what is usually paid for similar work, force the contractor to buy goods or use services it names without good reason such as keeping the work uniform or improving it, or unjustly harm the contractor by making them provide money, services or other economic benefits for its own benefit, or by making them change or redo the work when they are not at fault.(Art. 5(1), Art. 5(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
When a specified entrusting business operator advertises for contractors — in newspapers, magazines or other publications, by posting or handing out documents, or by other means an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省令) sets — it must not give false or misleading information about the work and the other matters a Cabinet Order sets, and must keep that information accurate and up to date.(Art. 12(1), Art. 12(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
In a continuing entrustment (継続的業務委託) — one lasting at least a period a Cabinet Order sets, counting renewals — a specified entrusting business operator must, when the contractor asks, give the consideration their situation needs so that they can do the work alongside pregnancy, childbirth, childcare or nursing care. For shorter engagements it must try to do so. Where the contractor is a one-person company, it is the representative's situation that counts.(Art. 13(1), Art. 13(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
A specified entrusting business operator must set up a way to take and properly handle consultations from the contractor, or a one-person company's representative (特定受託業務従事者), and take other needed measures, so that they do not suffer sexual conduct that harms their working environment or worsens the terms of the engagement when they respond to it, conduct about pregnancy or childbirth matters an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets that harms their working environment, or conduct that relies on its stronger position in the business relationship and goes beyond what the work needs. It must not end the contract or treat them unfavourably in any other way because they sought such a consultation or stated facts while helping it handle one. Where the contractor is a one-person company, the worse terms and the unfavourable treatment these rules guard against include those done to the company itself.(Art. 14(1), Art. 14(1)(i), Art. 14(2), Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
To end a continuing entrustment (継続的業務委託), or not renew it when its term ends, a specified entrusting business operator must give the contractor at least 30 days' notice, in the way an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets, except where a disaster or other unavoidable cause makes notice difficult or in other cases that Order sets. If the contractor asks for the reason between the notice and the end of the contract, the business must disclose it without delay, unless that risks harming a third party's interests or in other cases that Order sets.(Art. 16(1), Art. 16(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 states the law's own purpose

Who counts as a protected contractorWritten terms of the workPayment within 60 daysUnfair dealing bannedRecruitment adsPregnancy, childcare and nursing careHarassmentNotice of termination

26 63 22 1 14

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 amendment history is below. The amendments this site has read the changes of are on this law's amendments page, provision by provision, in Japanese and English.

1 amendments already in force

1 November 2024
The text on this site
e-Gov gives no title for this amendment
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Specified entrusted business operators (特定受託事業者), the contractors whose dealings the Act sets out to make fair: a business taking on entrusted work that is either an individual who employs no employees, or a corporation with a single representative, no other officers and no employees. The harassment rules protect the individual, or that corporation's representative (特定受託業務従事者, specified person engaged in entrusted business), and in part the corporation itself.(Art. 1(1), Art. 2(1), Art. 2(2), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Work counts as entrusted (業務委託) when a business, for its own business, has another business make or process goods, create an information-based product (情報成果物) — software, films, broadcasts and other works of images or sound, works made of letters, figures or symbols, and similar things a Cabinet Order sets — or provide services.(Art. 2(3), Art. 2(4)) (the provisions it rests on)

2 more

Any business that entrusts work to such a contractor (業務委託事業者), including one with no employees of its own: it must state the terms in writing or electronically, and must not act against a contractor who reports a breach.(Art. 2(5), Art. 3(1), Art. 6(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Specified entrusting business operators (特定業務委託事業者): a business entrusting such work that is an individual who employs employees, or a corporation that has two or more officers or employs employees. The payment deadline, the bans on unfair dealing, and the rules on recruitment ads, childcare, harassment and termination notice are duties the Act places on them.(Art. 2(6), Art. 4(1), Art. 5(1), Art. 12(1), Art. 13(1), Art. 14(1), Art. 16(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (3)

Where a specified entrusting business operator passes on to a contractor work another business entrusted to it, and has stated in the terms that it is doing so, the original client's name, the payment date set for the original work (元委託支払期日) and other matters Rules of the Fair Trade Commission set, the payment date is instead set within 30 days of that date, as early as possible. With no date set, that date is the payment date; with a later date set, the last day of those 30 days is. If it received an advance from the original client, it must give due consideration to paying the contractor, as an advance, the costs of starting the work.(Art. 4(3), Art. 4(4), Art. 4(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where the contractor's own fault prevented payment by the payment date, the business must pay within 60 days (30 days for passed-on work) of the day that cause ends.(Art. 4(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where the work entrusted is providing services, the bans on refusing to accept the work and on making the contractor take back goods do not apply.(Art. 5(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (8)

A contractor facing a breach of the rules on written terms, payment and unfair dealing (Chapter 2) may report it to the Fair Trade Commission (公正取引委員会) or the Commissioner of the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency (中小企業庁長官) and ask for measures. A contractor, or one seeking the work, facing a breach of the rules on recruitment ads, childcare, harassment or termination notice (Chapter 3) may report it to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働大臣). Whoever receives the report must investigate and, if it is true, take measures under the Act or other appropriate measures.(Art. 6(1), Art. 6(2), Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
A business must not reduce the volume of work, stop dealing with a contractor, or treat them unfavourably in any other way because they made such a report.(Art. 6(3), Art. 17(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Commissioner of the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency may investigate whether a business has breached the rules on written terms, payment or unfair dealing, or acted against a contractor for reporting, and on finding it has, ask the Fair Trade Commission to take measures under the Act.(Art. 7(1), Art. 7(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Fair Trade Commission may recommend (勧告) that a business which breached the rules on written terms, payment or unfair dealing, or acted against a contractor for reporting, put it right — for example state the terms, pay promptly, accept the work, repay an amount it cut or raise the remuneration. If the business does not take those measures without good reason, the Commission may order (命令) it to and may publish the order. For the order, the Commission follows provisions of the Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade (Act No. 54 of 1947), a separate Act, which Article 10 applies.(Art. 8, Art. 9(1), Art. 9(2), Art. 10(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may recommend that a business breaching the rules on recruitment ads, harassment or termination notice, or acting against a contractor for reporting, correct or prevent the breach; the childcare rule of Article 13 is not among them. If a recommendation is not followed without good reason, the Minister may order it followed and publish the order, but for harassment the Minister may only publish that it was not followed. An Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare may delegate part of the Minister's powers to directors of Prefectural Labour Bureaus (都道府県労働局長).(Art. 18(1), Art. 19(1), Art. 19(2), Art. 19(3), Art. 23(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
As far as these steps need, the Fair Trade Commission, the Commissioner and the Minister may require reports from the businesses, the contractors and others concerned, and have officials enter their offices to inspect books and other items; officials carry and show identification, and the power is not one of criminal investigation. For harassment, the Minister may only require the client business to report.(Art. 11(1), Art. 11(2), Art. 11(3), Art. 11(4), Art. 20(1), Art. 20(2), Art. 20(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Breaking an order of the Commission or the Minister, failing to report or reporting falsely, or refusing, obstructing or evading an inspection is punished with a fine of up to 500,000 yen, and the corporation or individual in whose business it was done is fined as well. Failing to report, or reporting falsely, to the Minister about harassment brings a civil fine (過料) of up to 200,000 yen.(Art. 24(1), Art. 25(1), Art. 26(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Fair Trade Commission, the Commissioner and the Minister may, where they find it necessary for enforcing the Act, give guidance and advice (指導及び助言) to any business entrusting work to a contractor. The Minister publishes guidelines for businesses on the recruitment-ad, childcare and harassment rules, and the State is to set up a system to take and handle contractors' consultations.(Art. 22(1), Art. 15(1), Art. 21(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

It does not cite, and is not cited by, any other law held here.

It also names 1 law 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)特定受託事業者に係る取引の適正化等に関する法律 — the text in force from 2024-11-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)特定受託事業者に係る取引の適正化等に関する法律 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeAct on Ensuring Proper Transactions Involving Specified Entrusted Business Operators — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
Machine translation, not official
Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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