The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has designated three companies — Apple Inc., its Japanese subsidiary iTunes K.K. and Google LLC — as subjects of the smartphone software competition promotion law, a new law regulating very large IT companies in the smartphone application market. The law will come into full effect in December.
The law regulates four areas: smartphone operating systems (OS), app stores, web browsing software, and search engines.
The purpose is to prohibit companies from blocking the entry of other companies into the market or giving preferential treatment to their own services.
Apple will be required to allow other companies to enter the app store business, and Google will be prohibited from displaying its own related services in search results in preference to similar services from other companies.
Source: The Japan News
