On July 10, the Japan Fair Trade Commission issued its first recommendation under the Act on Proper Transactions of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (the revised Act on Proper Transactions of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) to Minebea Access Solutions, a manufacturer and seller of automobile and motorcycle parts, for having the company perform cargo handling and related operations without bearing any costs.
Between January and April, Minebea Access Solutions had small and medium-sized contractors perform 546 hours and 26 minutes of cargo handling and related tasks without bearing any costs.
The company that performed the cargo handling and related services was deemed a specified consignment business operator under the Act on the Regulation of Cargo Transportation, and Minebea Access Solutions' actions were found to have unfairly harmed the interests of the small and medium-sized consignment business operator by forcing them to provide economic benefits for its own purposes.
Minebea Access Solutions has already paid 1,298,325 yen, which is equivalent to the cost of cargo handling and related services, but the company decided to issue its first recommendation under the Access Control Act, stating that it was particularly necessary to recommend measures to ensure that the violations were eliminated.
The recommendation calls for companies to take necessary measures to improve their internal systems, such as providing training on the Contracting Act to their executives and those in charge of ordering, in order to avoid unfairly harming the interests of small and medium-sized contractors.
In addition, Minebea Access Solutions has also received a recommendation under the Subcontracting Act for having subcontractors store molds and other materials without bearing any costs.
In response to the recommendation, Minebea Access Solutions issued a statement saying, "We take the recommendation very seriously and have confirmed through a resolution of the Board of Directors that we will take necessary measures to improve our internal systems to prevent similar violations from occurring in future transactions. Going forward, we will review our internal training on compliance with the Access Control Act and strengthen our checking system, and we will strive to further strengthen compliance and prevent recurrence by thoroughly informing all officers and employees of these efforts."
