Act on the Promotion of Research, Development and Utilization of AI-Related Technologies
Japan's light-touch, innovation-first AI law establishing national coordination and basic principles for trustworthy AI, deliberately avoiding hard penalties in favour of guidance and government-led response.
Key dates
- May 28, 2025Enacted
- Sep 1, 2025In force
Risk areas addressed
Who it applies to
National and local government, businesses and researchers, as a coordinating, promotion-oriented framework rather than a penalty regime.
Penalties & enforcement
None. A soft-law, promotion-focused framework, though government may name and investigate serious cases.
Enforced by: AI Strategy Headquarters (Cabinet Office)
Japan AI Promotion Act is enforced by AI Strategy Headquarters (Cabinet Office). Its obligations are already live, so a gap is a present exposure rather than a future one. In practice that means knowing which of your AI systems fall in scope across every sector you operate in, holding assessments that speak to governance & accountability, transparency and safety & robustness, and being able to produce that evidence on request.