スマホ競争促進法が成立　巨大ＩＴを規制、違反に課徴金

　スマートフォン向けアプリ市場で支配力を持つ米グーグルやアップルなどの巨大ＩＴ企業を規制する「スマホソフトウエア競争促進法」が１２日、参院本会議で可決、成立した。アプリストアなどでの新規参入を阻害することを禁止し、競争を促進する。違反時には、対象分野の日本国内での売上高の２０％を課徴金として課す。
　アプリの利用者にとっては、選択肢が広がるほか、より安価で良質なサービスの提供につながる可能性がある。巨大ＩＴに支払う手数料負担が大きく、収益を押し下げられてきたアプリ開発者らの保護も期待できそうだ。検索エンジンと基本ソフト（ＯＳ）、ブラウザーも規制対象とする。（2024/06/12-11:27）

The Diet, Japan's parliament, passed into law on Wednesday a bill to promote competition over smartphone apps.
   The legislation, apparently aimed at regulating activities of information technology giants such as Google LLC and Apple Inc., was approved at the day's plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. It cleared the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, last month.
   The new law bans acts of blocking new entrants to the app store and other smartphone software markets in a bid to ensure a level playing field. Violators will face a fine equivalent to 20 pct of their sales from the areas of business concerned in Japan.
   The law is expected to give app users more options and may lead to cheaper and higher-quality services. It may also better protect app developers, whose earnings have been squeezed by high fees imposed by IT giants, industry sources said. The law also covers search engines, operating systems and browsers.
   The rate of fine is 30 pct for repeated violations to enhance the effectiveness of the regulations. Japan's antimonopoly law sets a fine equivalent to 6 pct of sales for acts to block new market entries.