The Cabinet Office Consumer Affairs Committee held the 469th plenary meeting on August 20, 2025, with the interim report from the expert study group on payment method diversification and consumer issues as the main agenda item.
Basic Meeting Information and Format
The plenary meeting was held on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, from 10:00 AM, in a hybrid format combining the Consumer Affairs Committee meeting room and video conference. General observation was conducted through online observation, maintaining operations under COVID-19 preventive measures. The meeting was simultaneously broadcast via video streaming and made accessible for later viewing.
Main Agenda: Response to Payment Method Diversification
The central agenda of the meeting was "Regarding the Interim Report from the Expert Study Group on Payment Method Diversification and Consumer Issues," which examined consumer protection challenges accompanying rapid changes in payment systems in modern society. The interim report distributed as Material 1 (PDF format, 4,384KB) details the actual conditions and countermeasures for consumer troubles arising from the proliferation of new payment methods including cashless payments, electronic money, smartphone payments, and cryptocurrencies.
Current Situation Assessment through Reference Materials
The meeting provided reference materials including a list of requests, opinions, and statements submitted to the Consumer Affairs Committee (June) and a list of National Consumer Affairs Center press release cases (April to June). These materials enable concrete understanding of the trends and scale of actual consumer problems, serving as fundamental data for policy consideration. National Consumer Affairs Center press release cases are particularly important information sources reflecting the front-line conditions of consumer damage.
Ensuring Transparency in Committee Operations
All distributed materials are published in PDF format on the Cabinet Office website, ensuring information disclosure accessible to the general public from agenda items to detailed examination materials. Committee meeting summary memos (PDF format, 93KB) are also included to ensure operational transparency, with meeting minutes scheduled for later publication in both HTML and PDF formats.
Significance in Consumer Policy
This meeting represents an important part of the policy formation process for preventing consumer damage and securing safe transaction environments in the rapidly advancing digital payment environment. Through the expert study group's interim report, examination is proceeding on system design that enables consumers to enjoy the benefits of technological innovation while being appropriately protected from new risks.
The article demonstrates the government's efforts to strengthen consumer protection in the digitizing payment sector, representing consumer administration activities that aim to ensure consumer safety through specialized examination and transparent policy processes.