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Act on Specified Commercial Transactions

特定商取引に関する法律（とくていしょうとりひきにかんするほうりつ）

Makes seven kinds of trade fair — door-to-door sales (訪問販売), mail order sales (通信販売), telemarketing sales (電話勧誘販売), multilevel marketing (連鎖販売取引), specified continuous services (特定継続的役務提供), business opportunity sales (業務提供誘引販売取引) and door-to-door purchases (訪問購入) — and protects the customers of these businesses from harm.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles
157
Amendments on the way
1
Read the textOpen on e-Gov

What this law does

  • Before soliciting, the business must tell the person its name, that it is soliciting a contract, and what kind of goods or services are involved — in door-to-door and telemarketing sales, multilevel marketing, business opportunity sales and door-to-door purchases; a telemarketer must also give the caller's own name. In door-to-door and telemarketing sales and door-to-door purchases, it must not solicit a person who has said they will not contract. A door-to-door buyer may not solicit, or even ask whether it may solicit, anyone away from its premises who has not asked to be solicited.(Art. 3(1), Art. 16(1), Art. 33-2(1), Art. 51-2(1), Art. 58-5(1), Art. 3-2(2), Art. 17(1), Art. 58-6(1), Art. 58-6(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Read the full overview
  • In door-to-door and telemarketing sales and door-to-door purchases, when the business takes an offer or makes a contract it must give the customer, at once or without delay, a document stating what is sold or bought, the price, when and how payment is made, when delivery or the service takes place (for a door-to-door purchase, also how delivery is made and the right to refuse it), the rules on withdrawing or cancelling, and matters a Ministerial Order (主務省令) sets. In specified continuous services it must give the customer a document outlining the deal before the contract and, without delay, one setting out its terms, including the cancellation rules, after it — and in multilevel marketing and business opportunity sales it must do the same for individuals who do the selling or the work without a store or office. With the customer's consent, the business may send the contents electronically instead of on paper.(Art. 4(1), Art. 5(1), Art. 18(1), Art. 19(1), Art. 58-7(1), Art. 58-8(1), Art. 37(1), Art. 37(2), Art. 42(1), Art. 42(2), Art. 55(1), Art. 55(2), Art. 4(2), Art. 5(3), Art. 18(2), Art. 19(3), Art. 37(3), Art. 42(3), Art. 42(4), Art. 55(3), Art. 58-7(2), Art. 58-8(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The customer can withdraw the offer or cancel the contract — the so-called cooling-off; in multilevel marketing, specified continuous services and business opportunity sales, only cancel it — by notice in writing or as an electronic record, until 8 days have passed counting from the day they received the document — in door-to-door and telemarketing sales, specified continuous services and door-to-door purchases — or 20 days in multilevel marketing and business opportunity sales (in multilevel marketing, counted from the first delivery of goods bought for resale, if that comes later). The notice takes effect when it is sent. If the business lied about this right or intimidated the customer, and the customer let the period pass because of it, the period runs again from the day they receive a new document from the business saying they can still do so.(Art. 9(1), Art. 9(2), Art. 24(1), Art. 24(2), Art. 48(1), Art. 58-14(1), Art. 40(1), Art. 40(2), Art. 58(1), Art. 58(2), Art. 48(3), Art. 58-14(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • When a customer does this, the business cannot claim damages or a penalty for it and bears the cost of taking back the goods (in a door-to-door purchase, the buyer bears the cost of returning the price, with interest), and any term worse for the customer than these rules is void. In door-to-door and telemarketing sales and specified continuous services, the business cannot charge for services already provided and must promptly refund any money received in connection with the contract — and in door-to-door and telemarketing sales it also cannot charge for use of the goods, and must, if the customer asks, restore free of charge land or buildings the service altered. A person selling to a door-to-door buyer may refuse to hand over the article while the period runs, even if a delivery date was agreed, and can assert the cancellation against a third party the buyer passed the article to, unless that party acted in good faith and without negligence.(Art. 9(3), Art. 9(4), Art. 9(5), Art. 9(6), Art. 9(7), Art. 9(8), Art. 24(3), Art. 24(8), Art. 40(1), Art. 40(3), Art. 40(4), Art. 48(4), Art. 48(5), Art. 48(6), Art. 48(7), Art. 48(8), Art. 58(1), Art. 58(3), Art. 58(4), Art. 58-14(4), Art. 58-14(5), Art. 58-14(6), Art. 58-15(1), Art. 24(4), Art. 24(5), Art. 24(6), Art. 24(7), Art. 58-14(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Mail order has its own rule: a buyer of goods or specified rights can withdraw the offer or cancel the contract until 8 days have passed counting from delivery, paying the cost of return themselves — unless the seller's advertisement stated its own terms on this (for an electronic consumer contract (電子消費者契約) as a separate Act defines it, and other cases a Ministerial Order (主務省令) sets, stated in the advertisement and also in another way a Ministerial Order sets). A mail order advertisement must state the price (with shipping, if not included), when and how to pay, when the goods arrive, any time limit for offers, these return terms and matters a Ministerial Order sets, though some may be left out if it offers to supply them on request; an order form or screen in the seller's format must show the quantity and those terms, and must not mislead the buyer about them or about the fact that sending it places an order.(Art. 15-3(1), Art. 15-3(2), Art. 11(1), Art. 12-6(1), Art. 12-6(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • In mail order, multilevel marketing and business opportunity sales, a business may not send email advertisements — nor, in mail order, fax advertisements — to anyone who has not consented to or asked for them, except in cases the Act and a Ministerial Order (主務省令) allow, nor to anyone who has said they do not want them. Unless one of those cases applies, it must keep a record of the consent or request and show in each advertisement how to refuse further ones.(Art. 12-3(1), Art. 12-3(2), Art. 12-3(3), Art. 12-3(4), Art. 12-5(1), Art. 12-5(2), Art. 12-5(3), Art. 12-5(4), Art. 36-3(1), Art. 36-3(2), Art. 36-3(3), Art. 36-3(4), Art. 54-3(1), Art. 54-3(2), Art. 54-3(3), Art. 54-3(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • A customer can rescind () their offer or acceptance if, in soliciting it, the business told them something untrue about matters the Act lists — the goods or service, the price, payment, delivery, cancellation, why they needed the contract and other important matters — or deliberately kept back a fact about the first five of these, and the customer contracted because they believed it (a general distributor's conduct in multilevel marketing counts only if untrue); this covers door-to-door and telemarketing sales, multilevel marketing, specified continuous services and business opportunity sales, and in mail order an order made because the order form or screen was false, incomplete or misleading. The right ends one year after the customer could first ratify (追認) their declaration, or five years after the contract was made, and cannot be used against a third party who acted in good faith and without negligence. In multilevel marketing it is lost where the business the member contracted with did not know, when the contract was made, that this had been done.(Art. 9-3(1), Art. 9-3(2), Art. 9-3(4), Art. 24-3(1), Art. 40-3(1), Art. 49-2(1), Art. 58-2(1), Art. 15-4(1), Art. 15-4(2), Art. 24-3(2), Art. 40-3(2), Art. 49-2(2), Art. 58-2(2), Art. 6(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • In door-to-door and telemarketing sales, a customer can also withdraw or cancel, within one year of the contract, a contract for goods, rights or services far beyond what their daily life normally needs — or one the business made knowing it would take the customer, or had already taken them, far beyond that — unless the customer had a special reason to need it.(Art. 9-2(1), Art. 9-2(2), Art. 24-2(1), Art. 24-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • After the 20 or 8 days have passed, a multilevel marketing member or a customer of specified continuous services can still cancel the contract for the future — the latter together with related goods (関連商品) bought for the service. A member who cancels in this way within a year of joining can also cancel purchases of goods made before the cancellation, unless 90 days have passed since delivery, they have resold them, they have used or consumed them (unless the seller had them do so), or a Cabinet Order excludes the case. The business then cannot claim more than the amounts the Act or a Cabinet Order sets plus late interest at the statutory rate, even where the contract fixes damages or a penalty; the same kind of cap applies when a door-to-door, telemarketing or business opportunity contract is cancelled or not paid for, and when a door-to-door purchase is cancelled or the article is not handed over.(Art. 40-2(1), Art. 40-2(2), Art. 40-2(3), Art. 40-2(4), Art. 49(1), Art. 49(2), Art. 49(3), Art. 49(4), Art. 49(5), Art. 49(6), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 25(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 58-3(1), Art. 58-3(2), Art. 58-16(1), Art. 58-16(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • A seller that sends goods, along with an offer to sell them, to someone who has not ordered them — or sends a customer goods other than those ordered — cannot demand their return, and nor can a seller that sends goods pretending a contract was made.(Art. 59(1), Art. 59-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Article 1 states the law's own purpose
Cooling-offMail order returnsRescission for untrue statementsUnordered goods sent to youMultilevel marketingSpecified continuous servicesDoor-to-door purchasesBusiness suspension orders

Contents

157 586 398 28 128

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . This law has 1 amendment on the way — , but . 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.

By 22 July 2027

at the latest, in 10 months

Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act

金融商品取引法及び資金決済に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

The whole text as it will read, on e-Gov

On a day set by , no later than 22 July 2027 — the amending law allows up to one year from . The exact day is not fixed yet.

See what it changes (1 provision)
21 amendments already in force

  • 12 August 2026

    The text on this site

    Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act

    金融商品取引法及び資金決済に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 21 May 2026

    Act Partially Amending the Code of Civil Procedure, etc.

    民事訴訟法等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 21 May 2026

    Act Partially Amending the Basic Act on the Formation of a Digital Society, etc. to Promote Regulatory Reform for the Formation of a Digital Society

    デジタル社会の形成を図るための規制改革を推進するためのデジタル社会形成基本法等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 1 June 2025

    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 2024

    Act Partially Amending the Basic Act on the Formation of a Digital Society, etc. to Promote Regulatory Reform for the Formation of a Digital Society

    デジタル社会の形成を図るための規制改革を推進するためのデジタル社会形成基本法等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 16 June 2023

    Act Partially Amending the Basic Act on the Formation of a Digital Society, etc. to Promote Regulatory Reform for the Formation of a Digital Society

    デジタル社会の形成を図るための規制改革を推進するためのデジタル社会形成基本法等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 1 June 2023

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions, etc. to Prevent Consumer Damage and Promote Recovery Therefrom

    消費者被害の防止及びその回復の促進を図るための特定商取引に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 1 November 2022

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Special Measures Concerning the Handling of Legal Services by Foreign Lawyers

    外国弁護士による法律事務の取扱いに関する特別措置法の一部を改正する法律

    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 June 2022

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions, etc. to Prevent Consumer Damage and Promote Recovery Therefrom

    消費者被害の防止及びその回復の促進を図るための特定商取引に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 25 May 2022

    Act Partially Amending the Code of Civil Procedure, etc.

    民事訴訟法等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 6 July 2021

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions, etc. to Prevent Consumer Damage and Promote Recovery Therefrom

    消費者被害の防止及びその回復の促進を図るための特定商取引に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 16 June 2021

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions, etc. to Prevent Consumer Damage and Promote Recovery Therefrom

    消費者被害の防止及びその回復の促進を図るための特定商取引に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 1 April 2020

    Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code

    民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 1 April 2020

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions

    特定商取引に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 16 December 2019

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Use of Information and Communications Technology in Administrative Procedures, etc., and Other Acts to Improve Convenience for Persons Concerned in Administrative Procedures, etc. and to Simplify and Streamline Administrative Operations through the Use of Information and Communications Technology

    情報通信技術の活用による行政手続等に係る関係者の利便性の向上並びに行政運営の簡素化及び効率化を図るための行政手続等における情報通信の技術の利用に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 1 April 2018

    Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act

    金融商品取引法の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 1 December 2017

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions

    特定商取引に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 2 June 2017

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions

    特定商取引に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 24 May 2017

    Act Partially Amending the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act

    金融商品取引法の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

  • 3 June 2016

    Act Partially Amending the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions

    特定商取引に関する法律の一部を改正する法律

    The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

  • Sellers and service providers (販売業者, 役務提供事業者) selling goods, specified rights (特定権利: rights to use facilities or receive services that a Cabinet Order names, bonds and other money claims, and shares or members' interests in companies) or services in three ways. Door-to-door sales take the offer or make the contract away from the business's office or other premises a Ministerial Order (主務省令) names — or at the office, with a customer stopped elsewhere and brought there, or drawn in by another method a Cabinet Order sets. Mail order sales take the offer by post or other means a Ministerial Order sets and are not telemarketing sales, which are those where the business phones the customer, or gets them to phone by a method a Cabinet Order sets, solicits the contract in that call, and then takes the offer or makes the contract by post or those means.(Art. 2(1), Art. 2(2), Art. 2(3), Art. 2(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Buyers (購入業者) — businesses that buy articles as a trade — when they take an offer or make a contract to buy an article away from their office or other premises (door-to-door purchases, 訪問購入). Articles a Cabinet Order excludes, as unlikely to harm the seller or as ones whose trade these rules would seriously hinder, are outside it.(Art. 58-4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
3 more
  • In multilevel marketing (連鎖販売取引), a business draws in a person who is to resell the goods or provide the same service with the prospect of a specified profit (特定利益) — such as fees paid by the others who resell the goods or provide the same service, as a Ministerial Order (主務省令) defines it — and has them take on a specified burden (特定負担): buying the goods, paying for a service, or paying a joining or similar fee. The rules bind the one who in substance runs the whole chain (統括者, the orchestrator), those it has soliciting for it (勧誘者, solicitors) and every other distributor (一般連鎖販売業者); the duties to give documents and the right to cancel protect individuals who do the selling without a store or similar premises.(Art. 33(1), Art. 33(2), Art. 33(3), Art. 33-2(1), Art. 37(2), Art. 40(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Providers of specified continuous services (特定継続的役務提供) and sellers of the right to receive them. These are paid, continuous services in everyday transactions, named by Cabinet Order, offered on the promise of beautifying the body, improving knowledge or skills or another aim concerning the person's mind, body or circumstances, where that result is not certain — contracted for longer than a period a Cabinet Order sets for each service and above an amount a Cabinet Order sets.(Art. 41(1), Art. 41(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • In business opportunity sales (業務提供誘引販売取引), a business draws a person in with the profit they can earn from work using goods or services it sells them — work the business itself provides or arranges — and has them take on a specified burden (特定負担) such as buying the goods or paying a registration or similar fee. The duties to give documents and the right to cancel protect individuals who do that work without an office or similar premises.(Art. 51(1), Art. 51(2), Art. 55(2), Art. 58(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

It does not apply to

  • Door-to-door, mail order and telemarketing sales, specified continuous services and door-to-door purchases where the customer contracts for or as a business; those to people outside Japan; those by the State or a local government; those by cooperatives set up under a special Act (and their federations and central associations), public servants' bodies or labor unions to their members — or to non-members they may let use their services or facilities; and those by a business to its own employees.(Art. 26(1)(i), Art. 26(1)(ii), Art. 26(1)(iii), Art. 26(1)(iv), Art. 26(1)(v), Art. 50(1), Art. 58-17(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Door-to-door, mail order and telemarketing sales of newspapers published by anyone other than a stock company, services of lawyers and registered foreign lawyers, and the business of financial instruments firms, real estate brokers and travel agencies as the Acts governing them define it, along with other sales a Cabinet Order names because another Act can protect the customer.(Art. 26(1)(vi), Art. 26(1)(vii), Art. 26(1)(viii)) (the provisions it rests on)
Special rules and exceptions (8)
  • Where a service a Cabinet Order names, because it is usually performed in full straight after the contract, is sold door-to-door or by telephone and performed at once in cases a Ministerial Order (主務省令) sets, the document duties and the right to withdraw or cancel (Articles 4, 5, 9, 18, 19 and 24) do not apply.(Art. 26(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The door-to-door and telemarketing right to withdraw or cancel (Articles 9 and 24) does not apply to goods or services a Cabinet Order names whose terms are usually negotiated over a long period, or to services a Cabinet Order names that would seriously harm the customer if not provided promptly.(Art. 26(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The door-to-door and telemarketing right to withdraw or cancel also does not apply once the customer, after receiving the document, has used or consumed goods a Cabinet Order names whose value falls sharply with use (unless the seller had them do so), or has been delivered perishable goods a Cabinet Order names, or where the goods were handed over or the service provided, and paid for in full, at the contract and the total is below an amount a Cabinet Order sets. With specified continuous services, related goods of a kind a Cabinet Order names that the customer used or consumed after receiving the document cannot be cancelled either, unless the business had them do so.(Art. 26(5), Art. 48(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The door-to-door rules in Articles 4 to 10 (documents, banned conduct, instructions, suspensions and bans, withdrawal, cancellation of contracts for far more than daily life needs, rescission and damage limits) do not apply where the customer asked the business to come to their home to make an offer or contract, nor to customary forms of trade a Cabinet Order names. Likewise the telemarketing rules in Articles 18, 19 and 21 to 25 do not apply where the customer asked the business to call them to make an offer or contract — unless the business's own phone solicitation, or a method a Cabinet Order names, led them to ask — nor to customary forms of trade a Cabinet Order names.(Art. 26(6), Art. 26(7)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • For door-to-door purchases, the ban on unsolicited approaches and the rules from documents through cancellation to damage limits (Article 58-6, paragraph (1) and Articles 58-7 to 58-16) do not apply where the person asked the buyer to come to their home to make an offer or contract, nor to customary forms of trade a Cabinet Order names.(Art. 58-17(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The damage limits for door-to-door and telemarketing sales, multilevel marketing, specified continuous services and business opportunity sales do not apply to installment sales (割賦販売) as the Installment Sales Act defines them. The mail order advertising and notice duties (Articles 11 and 13) and the telemarketing notice duty (Article 20) do not apply to installment and credit sales (割賦販売等) as that Act defines them.(Art. 26(8), Art. 26(9), Art. 26(10), Art. 40-2(7), Art. 50(2), Art. 58-3(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The right to withdraw or cancel, the mail order return rule and rescission do not apply to sales of specified rights made as subscriptions for shares or capital, or as fund contributions, that the Companies Act or another Act says cannot be rescinded for fraud or duress.(Art. 26(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The rule that a seller who sends goods with an unsolicited offer cannot demand them back (Article 59, paragraph (1)) does not apply where the contract offered would be one the recipient makes for or as a business.(Art. 59(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it is enforced (10)
  • The Act is enforced by the competent ministers (主務大臣) — the Prime Minister, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and the minister responsible for the goods or services concerned. The Prime Minister's powers within the Consumer Affairs Agency's remit, except those a Cabinet Order sets, are delegated to the Commissioner of the Consumer Affairs Agency, and part of the ministers' work may be given to prefectural governors as a Cabinet Order provides.(Art. 67(1), Art. 67(3), Art. 68(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Where a business breaks the Act's duties — or refuses or unduly delays performing the contract or a refund, or does other acts the Act or a Ministerial Order (主務省令) lists — and the minister finds the fairness of the trade and customers' interests at risk, the minister may instruct (指示) it to take corrective and protective measures, and must publish the instruction.(Art. 7(1), Art. 7(2), Art. 14(1), Art. 22(1), Art. 38(1), Art. 46(1), Art. 56(1), Art. 58-12(1), Art. 14(3), Art. 22(2), Art. 38(2), Art. 38(3), Art. 38(5), Art. 46(2), Art. 56(3), Art. 58-12(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Where the harm risked is serious, or the business ignores an instruction, the minister may order it to suspend all or part of that line of business for up to two years, and must publish the order. An individual trader can at the same time be barred for that period from becoming an officer of a company in the same business, and ordered to stop the same business in its specified related corporation (特定関係法人: one that it or its officers or managers substantially control, or another a Cabinet Order names).(Art. 8(1), Art. 8(2), Art. 8(3), Art. 15(1), Art. 23(1), Art. 39(1), Art. 47(1), Art. 57(1), Art. 58-13(1), Art. 15(2), Art. 15(4), Art. 23(2), Art. 23(3), Art. 39(4), Art. 39(6), Art. 47(2), Art. 47(3), Art. 57(2), Art. 57(4), Art. 58-13(2), Art. 58-13(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • When suspending a business, the minister may also bar its officers and its managers and other staff a Cabinet Order names (使用人) — including those who held the post in the year before the order — from starting the same business, or becoming an officer of a company doing it, for the same period, where they meet criteria a Ministerial Order (主務省令) sets by their responsibility for the facts, and order any of them already doing that business, in a related corporation or on their own account, to stop; these orders are published too.(Art. 8-2(1), Art. 8-2(3), Art. 15-2(1), Art. 23-2(1), Art. 39-2(1), Art. 47-2(1), Art. 57-2(1), Art. 58-13-2(1), Art. 8(2), Art. 8-2(2), Art. 39-2(2), Art. 39-2(3), Art. 39-2(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • To judge whether what a business said about its goods or services or the profits to be had was untrue, or whether an advertisement is exaggerated, the minister may require it to produce, within a set period, material giving a reasonable basis for the claim. If it does not, it is treated as having made the untrue statement or exaggerated advertisement when instructions and suspension orders are decided.(Art. 6-2(1), Art. 12-2(1), Art. 21-2(1), Art. 34-2(1), Art. 36-2(1), Art. 43-2(1), Art. 44-2(1), Art. 52-2(1), Art. 54-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • The minister may require reports and documents from businesses, and send officials to enter their premises, inspect books and question staff; this power is not for criminal investigation. Refusing, or answering falsely, is punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 1 million yen, or both, and the same powers and penalty reach persons closely connected with the business that a Cabinet Order names, such as sellers of related goods. The minister may also inspect those the business contracts its work to, and order reports from anyone who trades with it, and refusal there is fined up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 66(1), Art. 66(7), Art. 66(8), Art. 71(1)(iii), Art. 66(2), Art. 66(3), Art. 66(4), Art. 71(1)(iv), Art. 73(1)(ii), Art. 73(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Breaking the Act's bans on untrue statements, deliberate concealment, intimidation and luring people to a private place to solicit them, leaving out or falsifying what the final mail order form or screen must show, and breaking a suspension or ban order are punishable by up to three years' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 3 million yen, or both. Where staff commit these in a company's business, the company is also fined — up to 300 million yen for breaking an order and up to 100 million yen for the others.(Art. 70(1), Art. 74(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Failing to give the required documents, or giving incomplete or false ones, and breaking an instruction are punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 1 million yen, or both. Exaggerated advertising, sending email advertisements without consent, a misleading order screen and similar breaches carry a fine of up to 1 million yen. Sending an email advertisement without consent that also leaves out what the advertisement must show, or exaggerates, is punishable by up to one year's imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 2 million yen, or both.(Art. 71(1), Art. 72(1), Art. 72(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • A qualified consumer organization (適格消費者団体), as defined in the Consumer Contract Act, may demand that a business stop or prevent — and remove what it used for — conduct such as untrue statements, deliberate concealment, intimidation, exaggerated advertisements or misleading order screens, or contract terms that the Act's cancellation and damage rules make void or forbid, where the business is doing it toward many unspecified people or is likely to.(Art. 58-18(1), Art. 58-18(2), Art. 58-19(1), Art. 58-20(1), Art. 58-21(1), Art. 58-22(1), Art. 58-23(1), Art. 58-24(1), Consumer Contract Act Art. 2(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
  • Anyone who believes the fairness of these trades or customers' interests is at risk may report it to the competent ministers (主務大臣) and ask for measures; the ministers must investigate and, if the report is true, take the measures the Act provides or other appropriate ones.(Art. 60(1), Art. 60(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

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Where the translation comes from

  • 954
  • 237
  • 52not translated

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)特定商取引に関する法律 — the text in force from 2026-08-12Original
  • e-Gov (Digital Agency)特定商取引に関する法律 — revision historyOriginal
  • Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeAct on Specified Commercial Transactions — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
  • Machine translation, 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
  • Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text