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Japan Tourism Agency requests private accommodation platforms to remove illegal listings before the new law is enforced

Japan Tourism Agency requests private accommodation platforms to remove illegal listings before the new law is enforced

Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) has sent private accommodation platforms a notification that illegal listings must be removed from their platforms before Private Accomodation Law is enforced on June 15 2018. JTA says that a private accommodation platform must confirm legality of a listed property with a registration number, which should be input by a host. A platform must remove or digitally unlist a property without legal confirmation. 

After the registration procedure begins on March 15 2018, a platform can list properties with provisional registration number on its site even before the new law is enforced, notifying that the listings become legal after June 15 2018. A travel agent is allowed to receive bookings and make payment of legal private accommodations on days after the law is enforced. 

It is necessary for a platform to report its legal confirmation results to JTA and to establish a corporate compliance system.

In addition, a platform must report business results of listed properties for six months to JTA by April and October 15 each to confirm the regulation of up to 180 business days a year.

In Japanese