Japan: Announced implementation date and scope of Act on Improving Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms

On 26 January 2021, a Cabinet Order "for Stipulating the Business Category and Scale under Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Improving Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms" established that the "Act on Improving Transparency and Fairness of Digital Platforms" will enter into force on February 1, 2021. The Cabinet Order further defined the criteria for "specified digital platform providers”. The following entities fall within such a category: - businesses operating online shopping platforms that produce sales of over 300 billion yen per fiscal year in Japan; - businesses operating application stores that produce sales of over 200 billion yen per fiscal year in Japan.