TOKYO: The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to introduce an ordinance to prevent “customer harassment,” or excessive demands and disruptive behavior by customers against store and other workers, during a metropolitan assembly session in September, it was learned Friday.

According to an outline of the ordinance released on the day, it will clearly prohibit customer harassment and impose duties not only on business operators and workers but also on customers to prevent such behavior.

If enacted, the ordinance would be the first of its kind in Japan.

“We want to create an environment where people can work safely,” Tokyo Governor KOIKE Yuriko told a press conference the same day.

The ordinance will define customer harassment as illegal acts such as assault and threats, as well as wrongful acts such as excessive demands and verbal abuse.

Business operators will be obliged to make efforts to ensure the safety of employees, and workers will be required to make efforts to take action to prevent customer harassment.

Meanwhile, customers will be obliged to make efforts to pay due attention to their behavior toward workers.

No penalties will be imposed for failure to comply with the ordinance.

JIJI Press