Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has put forward a draft amendment to the country’s Telecommunications Numbering Plan that would tighten identity verification requirements for telephone forwarding services. The proposed changes follow broader amendments to Japan’s rules on preventing the transfer of criminal proceeds, and the ministry is now seeking public feedback on the draft notification before any final decision is made.
Proposed Changes to Customer Identity Verification Methods
The draft amendment addresses how businesses providing telephone forwarding services verify the identity of their customers, both natural persons and corporate entities. Under the current framework, certain non-face-to-face verification methods allow providers to rely on image information from identification documents or copies of such documents. However, the ministry has identified growing risks of impersonation tied to forged or altered documents, which has prompted a reassessment of these practices.
For individual customers, the proposed changes would generally abolish the use of non-face-to-face methods that depend on image information from identification documents and copies of identification documents. In place of these methods, providers would be expected to use original identification documents where anti-forgery measures have been applied, under conditions specified in the revised rules. This shift in customer identity verification is designed to reduce fraud risks that have emerged alongside advances in document forgery techniques.
For corporate customers, the proposal would generally prohibit the use of copies of identity verification documents. Instead, providers dealing with corporate clients would need to verify identity using original documents. This stricter approach to telecom regulation reflects concerns that copies are increasingly vulnerable to manipulation and no longer offer a reliable basis for confirming a company’s legitimacy.
These broader identity verification changes are scheduled to take effect from April 1, 2027, in line with the related amendments to Japan’s rules on preventing the transfer of criminal proceeds.
How the Amendment Applies to Telephone Forwarding Services
The specific amendment to the Telecommunications Numbering Plan targets telephone forwarding services where a fixed telephone number is used as the user equipment identification number for outgoing or incoming call forwarding. Providers offering these services would be required to adopt the updated verification methods when onboarding new customers or re-verifying existing ones.
By aligning the telecom regulation governing telephone forwarding services with the updated anti-criminal proceeds framework, the ministry aims to close gaps that could be exploited through identity fraud. The changes would bring the verification standards for forwarding service providers into step with those applied to other specified businesses under Japan’s financial crime prevention regime.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is soliciting public comments on the draft amendment from September 25, 2026 to October 26, 2026. Until the consultation period closes and the ministry issues its final decision, the proposed changes to identity verification for telephone forwarding services remain at the draft stage under the Telecommunications Numbering Plan.