Japan government considers imposing 30% sales fine on Google and Apple

Preparations are underway to introduce a bill that would allow global companies such as Google and Apple to be fined up to 30% of their sales if they engage in unfair practices in the Japanese smartphone market.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Japanese government will establish a "Smartphone Competition Promotion Bill" with such content in order to regulate the monopoly practices of multinational IT companies and promote competition.
The bill appears to be aimed at smartphone operating system monopolies Apple and Google.
It prevents these companies from disrupting the provision of other companies' app stores, and allows users to
The purpose of the law is to provide a mechanism for easily changing the initial settings of the service. It is prohibited to display your own service in priority over third parties in search results.
If the law is violated, the Japan Fair Trade Commission will impose a fine of 20% of the company's sales in the relevant sector in Japan.
For repeated violations, the penalty can rise to 30%, far exceeding the 10% penalty imposed by the existing Antimonopoly Act.
The bill also includes an emergency suspension order requiring the Fair Trade Commission to suspend violations by IT companies.
The bill also includes provisions allowing companies to apply to the courts for requests to suspend or cancel the use of the internet. It also requires large IT companies to submit annual reports, and the Japan Fair Trade Commission will monitor compliance with the regulations.
The Japanese government has warned that Google and Apple have acquired a de facto monopoly in terms of smartphone operating systems and other aspects.
In a report released in February, the Fair Trade Commission said that Google and Apple had violated antitrust laws, such as by putting some app makers at a disadvantage due to their monopoly on the smartphone OS market.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that "the Japanese government must prevent (global companies) from making unfair profits by violating the law, and must impose high fees to ensure compliance with regulations."
The European Union also passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA) last month to regulate the abuse of monopoly market positions by companies such as Apple, Google, and Meta.
Businesses that the EU finds to be in violation of DMA obligations must pay fines of up to 10% of their total annual global turnover, with this increasing to 20% for repeat offenders.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government plans to approve the bill at a cabinet meeting this month and have it passed by the Diet.