Release of Japan's Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains

1. Overview

Since March 9, 2022, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has held the Study Group on Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains to support business efforts to respect human rights, and has been working on formulating cross-industry guidelines to be followed by business enterprises.  

 After going through discussions at the Study Group, METI compiled the first draft of the Guidelines and widely invited the public for comments from August 8 to August 29. 

In the public comment procedure, 131 organizations, businesses and individuals submitted their comments on the draft guidelines. After METI made the necessary revisions to the draft, it then reported the Guidelines to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Policy Promotion for the Implementation of Japan’s National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, where the Government of Japan adopted the Guidelines. A summary of the comments received through the public comment procedure, and METI’s response to them, are compiled in Attachment 2.

Going forward, METI will continue to promote the Guidelines in order to make many business enterprises aware of and utilize them. METI will also actively publicize this  initiative as efforts by the Japanese government and business enterprises towards advancing respect for human rights.

2. Related Materials

• Attachment１: Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains (Provisional English Translation) *The English version of the guidelines was posted on September 30.
• Attachment 2 : Result of the Public Comment Procedure on the draft Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains. (in Japanese)

3. Related Links

• “Business and Human Rights”: Towards a Responsible Value Chain

Division in Charge

Business and Human Rights Policy Office, Minister’s Secretariat