Japan: Closed consultation on draft guidelines regarding abuse of a superior bargaining position in B2C transactions concerning personal information

On 30 September 2019, the Japan Fair Trade Commission closed its consultation on the draft of the "Guidelines Concerning Abuse of a Superior Bargaining Position in Transactions between Digital Platform Operators and Consumers that Provide Personal Information, etc" after opening the consultation period on 29 August 2019. Specifically, the draft prohibits behaviour that may result in an "impediment to competition", extending the reach of oversight. Similar to the "abuse of a dominant position", the draft prohibits certain abusive conduct by companies in a superior bargaining position. But contrary to the "abuse of a dominant position", it does not require market power.