In recent years in Japan, unreasonable complaints from customers to employees and persistent acts of harassment have become a problem, with the following impacts on employees, employers and society:
- It causes a deterioration in the workplace environment, such as by causing mental and physical stress to employees, which in turn lowers morale among employees, has a negative impact on teamwork and productivity, and leads to a loss of human resources;
- It causes economic losses to employers, such as delays in normal work due to time being taken up dealing with unreasonable complaints, and a deterioration in the employers’ reputation and the occurrence of legal risks in dealing with unreasonable demands due to customer harassment being ignored; and
- It has an impact on society as a whole, such as a decline in morale.
In light of this situation, on 4 October 2024, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly passed and enacted Japan’s first Tokyo Customer Harassment Prevention Ordinance (“Tokyo Metropolitan Government Ordinance No. 140 of 2024”), with the aim of preventing significant nuisance behaviour by customers. The Ordinance will come into effect from 1 April 2025.
Article 2 n. 5 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Ordinance No. 140 of 2024 defines customer harassment as a significant nuisance committed by a customer against a worker in relation to their work, which harms the working environment (“Customer Harassment”). Specifically, this includes assault, threats and other illegal acts, as well as excessive demands, verbal abuse and other unjust acts without just cause. Customer harassment is prohibited in all situations (Article 4).
The basic principles of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Ordinance No. 140 of 2024 include the prevention of customer harassment throughout society as a whole, and the mutual respect of customers and employees as equals (Article 3). Furthermore, the responsibilities and obligations of effort regarding the prevention of customer harassment are stipulated for the city, customers, employees and business operators respectively (Articles 7, 8 and 9).
Employers are required to ensure the safety of employees who have suffered customer harassment and to take the necessary measures (Article 9). The creation of manuals for the prevention of customer harassment, the education of employees, and the development of necessary systems are also recommended.
On the other hand, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Ordinance No. 140 of 2024 also maintains a balance, stating that “in applying this ordinance, care must be taken not to unduly infringe on the rights of customers, etc.” (Article 5).
There are no penalties stipulated in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Ordinance No. 140 of 2024 for cases of Customer Harassment, however, the fact that an ordinance has been established that clearly states the prevention of customer harassment is a landmark development, and similar ordinances have been established in other cities in Japan, following Tokyo.
This Tokyo Metropolitan Government Ordinance No. 140 of 2024 is also related to a sustainable society, because a workplace environment where employees can work with peace of mind is an important factor in improving social fairness and the stability of local communities, and it is hoped that the implementation of this ordinance will lead to the realisation of such a sustainable society (Preamble).
Incidentally, from a civil law perspective, anyone who engages in Customer Harassment may be liable for damages based on torts (Article 709 of the Civil Code). From a criminal law perspective, those who engage in Customer Harassment may be held criminally liable for assault (Article 208 of the Criminal Code), bodily injury (Article 204 of the Criminal Code), defamation (Article 230, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, Article 231 of the Criminal Code), threats (Article 222 of the Criminal Code), extortion (Article 223 of the Criminal Code), and obstruction of business by force (Article 234 of the Criminal Code), etc..