Wavering digital utilization and a business law framework.

■Wavering digital utilization and a business law framework.

Amendments to the Telecommunications Business Act are unstable.

1. Institutional development process

The procedure being hasty was presented as problematic by a portion of the industry.

As the state of the world changes rapidly and drastically in this field, it is a matter of the speed and coordination required for preparation of the requisite legal system.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has now held 16 meetings in 10 months, and vigorous discussions continue. It is not hasty in the slightest.

Despite that, a limited gathering of 10 selected experts met once or twice per month to deliberate, but submitted proposals were met with opposition from the business world, leading to readjustments.

This begs the question of whether that process will continue to be valid.

The same is true for coordination outside the conference room.

The lobbying power of the industry is demonstrated, but how will the voices of users, who are supposed to play the main role, be ensured and reflected?

Is the black box coordination in Kasumigaseki that occurs appropriate, not only in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, but also the Personal Information Protection Commission, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Digital Agency, etc.?

I feel that it is being asked what form of policymaking is suitable for the digital and open era.

The reason for creating the “Digital Policy Forum,” too, is that we believed that a place where experts, stakeholders, policy makers, and others could openly participate and have discussions “constantly” is necessary.

2. Business laws and usage laws

It has been 37 years since the enactment of the Telecommunications Business Act. Now it has been proposed to make businesses that were previously exempt subject to regulatory rules. This is a major shift in legal framework, or policy.

The former Public Telecommunications Act (Public Act) was a law on how usage of NTT equipment of the Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation.

The Telecommunications Business Act (Business Act) was enacted to promote and manage, as a business, the development and sophistication of communications equipment.

It is a framework that 1. regulates and manages telecommunications carriers that have line equipment, yet 2. encourages telecommunications companies, or providers, that do not have them to participate with minimal regulations, and 3. excludes: businesses that do not act as media for telecommunications: exempts databases, the web, commerce, etc.

In the 80s and 90s, competition policies for telecommunications carriers were so effective that they served as a model overseas. We became an infrastructure superpower.

In the latter half of the 90s, due to the spread of the Internet, the main role shifted from 1. the infrastructure layer to 2. the service layer. Significant deregulation was performed.

Then, in the 2010s, the center of gravity shifted to 3. the application layer, that is, the exempt region.

With deployment of the application layer and recognition of user protections as an important issue, two “Consumer” Policy Divisions have been established at the Telecommunications “Business” Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Measures for Internet use safety and the like have increased in depth.

So now, user protections are the goal, and action will be taken for the application layer, which was previously exempt.

Protect users with the Business Act. As the focus shifts from the initial regulation of infrastructure equipment to services and then applications and we trend toward user-based policy and the focus shifts toward user administration, the question arises whether the Business Act is fine as is.

A large legal framework theory in the form of a shift to usage laws, or a return to the Public Act, may also be in question.