On 11 November 2026 the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) announced that it had approved a commitment plan submitted by Amazon Japan G.K. ("Amazon Japan"), under Article 48-3(3) of the Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade (the "Antimonopoly Act").
This page sets out what the JFTC published, together with the statutory wording.
Overview
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Date of announcement and approval | 11 November 2026 |
| Authority | Japan Fair Trade Commission |
| Applicant | Amazon Japan G.K. (Minato-ku, Tokyo) |
| Provision suspected to be violated | Antimonopoly Act, Article 19 (Unfair Trade Practices, Paragraph 12: trading on restrictive terms) |
| Notice of commitment procedures | 4 November 2026 (Article 48-2) |
| Approval of the commitment plan | Article 48-3(3) |
| Duration of the main measure | Five years from the date operation begins |
The JFTC states that the approval is not a finding by the JFTC that Amazon Japan's conduct violated the Antimonopoly Act.
The JFTC also explains that approval of a commitment plan is an administrative disposition under the Antimonopoly Act, by which the JFTC approves a commitment plan submitted by a business that has received a notice of commitment procedures.
The mechanism described ("recommended offer" and "competitive price")
According to the announcement, on Amazon.co.jp (the "Amazon Store"), operated by Amazon Japan, there is a single "product detail page" for each product. The offer information of a particular seller, such as price, delivery terms, ship-from and seller, is shown on that page together with purchase buttons such as "Add to Cart" as the "osusume shuppin" (translated here as the "recommended offer").
| Term | What the JFTC published |
|---|---|
| Recommended offer | The offer shown on the product detail page together with the purchase buttons. Information on other offers is not shown on the product detail page |
| Eligibility | The product's sales price must be at or below the "competitive price". The recommended offer is selected from eligible offers, taking into account delivery terms and other factors |
| Sales price | The product price plus any shipping fee, less the value of any points awarded on purchase |
| Competitive price | The lowest sales price of the same product at a substantial number of online stores (including some with large domestic gross merchandise value) that Amazon Japan considers, in terms of sales price, product range and the like, to be substitutes for the Amazon Store from the consumer's point of view |
| Where no seller is eligible | No offer information, including that of the lowest-priced offer, is shown on the product detail page |
The announcement states that most products purchased on the Amazon Store are bought from the recommended offer, without the separate page listing all offers being viewed.
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Try for free →Outline of the suspected conduct
According to the announcement, in September 2019 Amazon Japan introduced an algorithm-based mechanism to determine eligibility for the recommended offer and, through the following conduct, has caused sellers to set their sales prices on the Amazon Store at or below the "competitive price":
- Where a seller's sales price is higher than the "competitive price", not making that product eligible for the recommended offer
- In that case, informing the seller of the reason through a notice on Seller Central (the sellers' sales management tool), by email or otherwise
- Informing sellers that, to become eligible for the recommended offer, the sales price must be set at or below the "competitive price"
Under the heading of its "view under the Antimonopoly Act", the JFTC stated among other things that this conduct may restrict sellers' free pricing, and is considered to deprive competing online store operators of means of competition and to place them at a competitive disadvantage.
Outline of the commitment plan
The commitment plan, as published, is as follows.
| No. | Measure |
|---|---|
| (1) | Where no offer at or below the "competitive price" exists and no recommended offer is shown, display on the product detail page, in a manner easily visible to consumers, the price, delivery terms, ship-from and seller of the purchasable offer with the lowest price (including any shipping fee), together with an entry point to proceed to purchase |
| (2) | Explain the display and purchase entry point in (1) on help pages for sellers and for consumers |
| (3) | Implement the measure in (1) for five years from the date operation begins |
| (4) | Have the body that decides on the execution of business resolve to take the measures in (1) to (3) |
| (5) | Notify sellers of the measures taken and make them known to relevant employees |
| (6) | Prepare a code of conduct on Antimonopoly Act compliance concerning the prices sellers set and circulate it to relevant employees, with regular training for relevant employees and regular audits by legal staff |
| (7) | Entrust monitoring of implementation to a third party approved by the JFTC |
| (8) | Have that third party report to the JFTC on implementation of the measures in (1), (2) and (4) to (6) |
| (9) | During the period in (3), have that third party report to the JFTC every year on the measure in (1) and the training and audits in (6) |
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Reasons given for the approval
The JFTC states that it found the commitment plan met each of the approval requirements under the Antimonopoly Act.
| Requirement | What the JFTC published |
|---|---|
| Sufficiency of the measures | The plan includes elimination of the suspected conduct, explanations to sellers and consumers, maintaining the display for five years, a resolution by the body that decides on the execution of business, notice to sellers and circulation to employees, and was judged sufficient to eliminate the conduct |
| Certainty of implementation | The plan includes establishing an Antimonopoly Act compliance system, entrusts monitoring and reporting to a third party approved by the JFTC, and sets an implementation deadline for each measure, and was judged certain to be implemented |
The JFTC states that if the commitment plan is not implemented in accordance with the approved plan, or in other such cases, it will revoke the approval under Article 48-5(1) of the Antimonopoly Act and resume the investigation from the stage before the notice of commitment procedures was given.
Statutory wording
Article 19 of the Antimonopoly Act provides that no enterprise may employ unfair trade practices.
Paragraph 12 (trading on restrictive terms) of the Unfair Trade Practices (JFTC Notification No. 15 of 1982) covers, beyond conduct falling under Article 2(9)(iv) of the Act or the preceding paragraph, trading with a counterparty on terms that unjustly restrict the counterparty's transactions with its own trading partners or other business activities of the counterparty.
Article 48-2 provides that where the JFTC considers that there are facts in violation of Article 19 or other listed provisions and finds it necessary for promoting fair and free competition with respect to the conduct giving rise to the suspicion, it may notify the person engaged in that conduct in writing of an outline of the conduct, the provisions suspected to be violated, and that the person may apply for approval under Article 48-3(1).
Article 48-3(1) provides that a person who has received such a notice and intends to formulate and implement on its own the measures necessary to eliminate the conduct may prepare a plan for those measures and apply for approval by submitting it to the JFTC within 60 days of the date of the notice.
Article 48-3(3) provides that the JFTC shall approve the plan if it finds that the measures are sufficient to eliminate the conduct giving rise to the suspicion and that the measures are expected to be implemented with certainty.
Article 48-5(1) provides that the JFTC must, by decision, revoke an approval where it finds that the measures are not being implemented in accordance with the approved plan, or where it becomes clear that the approval was obtained on the basis of false or wrongful facts.
Sources
- Japan Fair Trade Commission, "Approval of the commitment plan submitted by Amazon Japan G.K." (11 November 2026, Japanese) https://www.jftc.go.jp/houdou/pressrelease/2026/nov/261111_daigo.amazon.html
- Japan Fair Trade Commission, "Unfair Trade Practices (JFTC Notification No. 15 of 18 June 1982)" (Japanese) https://www.jftc.go.jp/dk/guideline/fukousei.html
- Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade (e-Gov Laws Search, Japanese) https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/322AC0000000054
This page is compiled from material published by government agencies and from statutory text. Please consult a lawyer where a decision is needed on trading terms on an online marketplace or on compliance with the Antimonopoly Act.