The sharing economy interim report

The Sharing Economy Investigative Committee and compiled its interim report.

Seven characteristic points of the sharing economy have been organized below.

1) Move from B2C to C2C

2) Move from professional services to amateur services

3) Share businesses are not the main entity for providing services (the person providing the service has the liability)

4) Move from vertical to horizontal (quality control is not done by industrial law)

5) Temporary marketization mechanism for existing resources (the marketization of inactive resources)

6) Trust between the provider and user (both parties scrutinize other’s credibility)

7) Mechanism allowing for evaluation after the service is provided (provider and user review each other as a trust mechanism)

The White Paper on Information and has estimated the worldwide share economy market scale to be 15 billion USD in 2013, and 335 billion USD in 2025. For the domestic market, the scale is estimated to be 23.3 billion JPY in 2014 and 46.2 billion JPY in 2018.

However, it is evident that compared to other countries, Japan’s degree of familiarity, intention to use, and rate-of-use for the share economy are low.

Furthermore, a common demerit/reason given why the Japanese do not want to participate in the sharing economy is because of anxiety regarding the response to accidents and trouble.

The committee’s mission is to take this into consideration as we promote the development of the sharing economy. As a policy for the realization of results such as the provision of new experiences and contribution to economic growth, efficient utilization of resources, improvement of the cooperation mechanism, and the creation innovation, the committee is considering the following three courses of action.

1) Voluntary rules to maintain safety and reliability

We will encourage the implementation of voluntary rules by the business associations.

2) An initiative to eliminate the grey zone

We plan for the elimination of grey zones due to the unclear application of laws and ordinances (industrial law).

3) The construction and sharing of advanced best practices by municipalities

We will spread the merits of the sharing economy throughout society.

The important point is that these will not be regulations handed down by the government, but voluntary rules set by the private sector. The stance of the government is to ready the environment and provide support. For a public-private partnership on “joint regulation,” this is a relatively mild approach.

At the committee, there was a proposal to reinforce this by implementing a “certification” mechanism for each share business to verify their application of the voluntary rules. The manner in which the business model and application system for the certifications will be constructed is something that we will give due consideration in the future.

Regarding the promotion of the sharing economy, the committee has requested for an in-depth debate on measures such as the practical application of National Strategic Special Zones. It is our hope that this interim report will help prioritize this policy for the government.