tions: (i) Mediation and arbitration to resolve conflicts between carriers, etc., (ii) When the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications issues an order or ruling etc., the Commission receives an inquiry and deliberates and reports, (iii) As part of mediation, arbitration, and reports to inquiries, the committee recommends competition rule improvements to the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications.

## (2) Discussion orders and rulings by Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications

In the telecommunications field, when negotiations on topics such as connection of telecommunications equipment stagnate between telecommunications carriers, a telecommunications carrier can apply a request to the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications that he/she issues an order to start negotiations or an order to restart discussions, or issues a ruling. Also, in the broadcast field, if negotiation on such matters as a rebroadcast agreement stagnates between a cable TV operators and terrestrial core broadcasters, the cable TV broadcast operators can submit a request to the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications that he/she issues a ruling. In FY2012, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications inquired with the Commission with regard to a ruling in one case in the broadcast field.

### 5. Ensuring safety and reliability of infrastructure

Regarding the safety of telecommunications infrastructure, as the Great East Japan Earthquake caused congestion and breakdown etc. in telecommunications infrastructure over wide areas and for a long period of time, and data burst due to the dissemination of smartphones caused telecommunications accidents, the Information and Communications Council started deliberation on the review of the safety and reliability of communications equipment in April 2012 in response to the arrival of the era of smartphones. In November 2012, the Council provided a partial report concerning safety and reliability measures adapted to the dissemination of IP networks.

In response to the report, in March 2013, the MIC partially revised the standard for the safety and reliability of information and communications networks and business use telecommunications equipment rules as an improvement of rules related to countermeasures against data burst regarding mobile phone equipment.

Regarding broadcast infrastructure, along with the June 2011 enforcement of the revised Broadcast Act, based on the partial replies by the Information and Communications Council, the MIC developed rules concerning technical standards, major incidents subject to reporting, etc.

Based on those rules, the MIC is currently conducting proactive measures, such as obligating broadcaster to appropriately maintain broadcast equipment, and, when a serious accident has occurred, requiring them to identify the cause and thoroughly prevent the recurrence.

## Section 4 Ensuring Citizens' Lives Are Safe and Secure

### 1. Consumer administration in relation to telecommunications services

(1) Response to various problems concerning ICT services,

## considering the viewpoints of users

In order for relevant people to quickly conduct a study on specific measures to deal with various issues associated with the development and dissemination of the Internet and mobile phones in recent years while taking account of the perspective of users, the MIC held meetings of the “Study Group on Examining Issues around ICT Services from the User Perspective” starting in April 2009 and put together and published proposals related to various issues.

## (2) Developing a safe and secure usage environment in the smartphone era

It has been decided that in order to develop an environment for youth to use the Internet in a safe and secure manner, the public and private sectors should work together to implement specific activities, with “enhancement of ITC literacy” and “promotion of filtering, etc.” as two pillars of the development of an Internet environment for youth.

In addition, regarding various user information accumulated through the use of smartphones, “Smartphone Privacy Initiative,” a proposal which includes the “Guideline for Handling Smartphone User Information,” which should be voluntarily followed by relevant business operators, was put together and published in August of the same year.

While smartphones enable users to receive various services by using applications, it is necessary to consider how various existing issues related to the use of the Internet are changing due to the use of smartphones.

Therefore, in December 2012, the “Study Group on Examining Issues around ICT Services from the User Perspective” held a meeting of the “Working Group on a Safe and Secure Usage Environment in the Era of Smartphones” to hold discussions and published a final draft proposal in July 2013.