Japan considers public-private body to eradicate malicious online retailers
In an effort to root out malicious online retailers, the government has been considering creating a system to share information with private enterprises.
The internet has made shopping convenient, but this form of shopping has also caused trouble for consumers as they cannot see the sellers in person.
Reports of cases in which fake brand-name products or defective items are sold online continue. In many cases, consumers who buy these have no recourse, as they usually have no way to contact the sellers or cannot reach them.
The government will form a public-private consultative body as early as 2021 with the participation of onilne shopping site operators such as Rakuten Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The government is also considering revising the Specified Commercial Transactions Law to crack down on malicious and illegal sales through online shopping and auction sites, and the new body will be formed based on the revised law.
The consultative body will impose confidentiality on the participating companies and share information such as the contact numbers and addresses of unscrupulous merchants and sellers. The companies will also mutually report on how they responded to affected consumers. Some major IT companies have already joined forces, and the government hopes to use the information in consumer administration.
According to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, the online shopping market saw a 2.5-fold increase from 7.79 trillion yen in 2010 to 19.36 trillion yen in 2019. In recent years, the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan has annually received more than 200,000 consultations regarding online shopping, and many of the complaints include being unable to reach the seller.
In addition to forming a consultative body, the government will ask online shopping site operators to strictly check and manage information on sellers. The government is considering imposing penalties on sellers if their addresses and other information are found to be false in order to create an environment in which consumers can shop safely online.
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