Trends and Implications for the Legal Protection of Freelancers in Japan

Traditionally, workers have been categorized into "employees," who are governed by labor laws, and "self-employed persons," who fall outside the scope of these laws. However, the recent diversification of working styles has led to a growing number of workers who do not easily fit into the "employee" category. In response to this evolving labor landscape, Japan recently enacted the "Act on the Improvement of Transactions with Specified Contractors" (Act No. 25 of 2023) (hereinafter referred to as the "New Freelance Act"). This legislation identifies solo self-employed individuals who meet specific criteria as "specified contractors" and extends both competition law protections to their business conditions and labor law protections to their working environments. This article seeks to analyze the Japanese New Freelance Act by addressing several key issues: (i) whether the competition law protection of self-employed workers is inherently problematic, (ii) whether such protection can effectively safeguard self-employed workers, (iii) whether there are any foreseeable negative consequences of this protection, and (iv) whether the introduction of the "complex regulation" model adopted by the Japanese New Freelance Act would be beneficial for Korea. To achieve this, the article first outlines the primary provisions of the Japanese New Freelance Act, then critically assesses the significance and limitations of the Act"s integrated competition and labor law regulations, and finally explores the potential implications of the Japanese New Freelance Act for Korea.