Central Japan Assembly Passes Japan's 1st Ordinance To Fine Abusive Customers

TSU (Japan), Oct 16 (NNN-Kyodo) -- The central Japan prefecture of Mie on Friday enacted the country's first ordinance to impose penalties on abusive customers, such as fines of up to 500,000 yen (US$3,170) or penal detention if they fail to follow a prohibition order, Kyodo News reported.

The ordinance, to take effect next April, designates certain acts as instances of "customer harassment", such as making prolonged or repeated demands for money, goods, apologies or meetings.

They also include causing employees significant distress through shouting, making false allegations, or sexually inappropriate behaviour and stalking.

While the measure is expected to serve as a deterrent, some members of the prefectural assembly raised concerns during deliberations that it could be difficult to differentiate excessive or unreasonable complaints from legitimate claims.

The ordinance came as Japan has seen cases of workers quitting or falling ill due to customers engaging in excessive and unreasonable behaviour going beyond socially accepted norms.

The prefectural government plans to formulate guidelines with specific examples of prohibited conduct, as careful public outreach and appropriate enforcement are deemed necessary.

Under the ordinance, a business operator must file a request with the prefectural government, claiming to have suffered harassment.

An expert panel established by the prefectural government will determine whether the conduct constitutes customer harassment and may request evidence such as video footage or audio recordings.

Based on the panel's findings, the governor will decide whether to issue a prohibition order. If the order is violated, the prefectural government will report a complaint to investigative authorities.

Mie Prefecture began discussing the ordinance in a study panel in 2024, following requests from labour organisations and other groups.

Although anti-customer-harassment ordinances have been enacted in Hokkaido, Gunma, Tokyo and Aichi prefectures, they include no penalties.

--NNN-KYODO