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  1. Dispute Resolution
  2. Japan: 2025 Amendment to the Japanese Whistleblower Protection Act — Summary and practical responses

Japan: 2025 Amendment to the Japanese Whistleblower Protection Act — Summary and practical responses

08 Jul 2025    3 minute read
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DR Featured Content

In brief

The Consumer Affairs Agency's blue-ribbon Whistleblower Protection System Review Committee ("Committee") released its interim report on suggested revisions to the Whistleblower Protection Act ("Act") in September 2024, followed by its final report in December of the same year. In response to the Committee's recommendations, an amendment to the Whistleblower Protection Act ("2025 Amendment") was passed by the National Diet of Japan on 4 June 2025 and promulgated on 11 June 2025. The 2025 Amendment will come into effect on a date to be specified by Cabinet Order not exceeding one year and six months from the promulgation date. This client alert summarizes the 2025 Amendment and offers practical suggestions for future compliance with its provisions.


Contents

Summary of the 2025 Amendment

The 2025 Amendment contains specific provisions on key issues discussed in the Committee's interim and final reports. These include ensuring the establishment of whistleblowing systems and improving their effectiveness, addressing factors that discourage the submission of whistleblowing reports, reinforcing measures to prevent and remedy adverse treatment of reporters (i.e., retaliation) and expanding the Act's protections to include more individuals.

Establishing whistleblowing systems and improving their effectiveness

  1. Responding to failure to designate personnel to respond to whistleblowing reports: The 2025 Amendment introduces new provisions granting the Commissioner of the Consumer Affairs Agency the authority to issue orders to business operators who fail to comply with administrative recommendations regarding the designation of personnel — called "jujisha" in Japanese — to respond to whistleblowing reports. It also establishes criminal penalties for non-compliance with such orders, including fines of up to JPY 300,000 applicable to both individuals and companies. Additionally, the 2025 Amendment grants the Commissioner the authority to conduct on-site inspections of business operators and introduces criminal penalties — fines of up to JPY 300,000 applicable to both individuals and companies — for failure to report, submission of false reports and refusal to undergo inspection.
  2. Improving whistleblowing system effectiveness: The 2025 Amendment explicitly states that informing employees and related personnel about the whistleblowing system constitutes part of the obligation to establish such a system.

Removing factors that discourage the submission of whistleblowing reports

  1. Prohibiting witch hunts: The 2025 Amendment prohibits business operators from engaging in any act aimed at identifying a whistleblower without a justifiable reason.
  2. Prohibiting obstruction of whistleblowing reports: The 2025 Amendment prohibits obstruction of whistleblowing reports (e.g., by requesting that employees or related personnel agree not to submit whistleblowing reports) without a justifiable reason. Any agreement or legal act in violation of this prohibition shall be deemed null and void.

Preventing and remedying adverse treatment of whistleblowers

  1. Preventing adverse treatment: The 2025 Amendment introduces direct criminal penalties for individuals who dismiss or discipline whistleblowers for submitting reports (i.e., retaliation), consisting of imprisonment for up to six months or a fine of up to JPY 300,000. Companies that retaliate against whistleblowers can be fined up to JPY 30 million.
  2. Remedies for adverse treatment: The 2025 Amendment introduces a presumption that a whistleblower dismissed or subjected to disciplinary action within one year of submitting a report or within one year from the date on which the business operator becomes aware of an external report was subject to this treatment as retaliation for the whistleblowing report.

Expanding the scope of whistleblowers protected

  1. The 2025 Amendment extends the Act's protections to freelancers who are currently under service contracts with business operators, as well as those whose contracts ended within the previous year. At the same time, business operators are prohibited from terminating such contracts or otherwise treating these freelancers disadvantageously for submitting whistleblowing reports.

Recommended responses

Companies are advised to take the following measures to ensure compliance with the 2025 Amendment.

  • Review the whistleblowing system: Business operators should continuously monitor their compliance with the obligation to designate jujisha and disseminate information on the Act.
  • Eliminate obstructions to whistleblowing: Attempting to identify whistleblowers or obstruct whistleblowing should be explicitly prohibited under a company's whistleblowing policy. This prohibition should be clearly communicated through training programs and manuals.
  • Strictly prohibit adverse treatment: Ongoing efforts should be made to ensure thorough awareness of the prohibition against adverse treatment for submitting whistleblowing reports. It is also advisable that companies communicate, through training and other means, that such adverse treatment may include not only dismissal, demotion, pay cuts and denial of retirement benefits, but also reassignment.
  • Expansion of the scope of whistleblowers: Business operators should clearly state in their whistleblowing policies that freelancers who are currently under a service contract with business operators, as well as those whose contracts ended within the past year, are also eligible to use the whistleblowing system.
Contact Information
Takeshi Yoshida
Partner at BakerMcKenzie
Tokyo
Read my Bio
takeshi.yoshida@bakermckenzie.com
Takumi Hasegawa
Associate
Tokyo
Read my Bio
takumi.hasegawa@bakermckenzie.com
Soichiro Fujiwara
Associate at BakerMcKenzie
Tokyo
Read my Bio
soichiro.fujiwara@bakermckenzie.com

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