BREAKING: Big Changes Coming To The Controversial AV Law!

This June, a change to the contentious AV law that was implemented two years ago is scheduled. A draft of the same document appeared on Japanese Twitter, and Sachiko Horiba, a House Representative from Ishin no Kai, confirmed its authenticity. The Democratic Party of Japan was consulted over the bill's contents, and it appears that nearly every suggestion made by the adult fraternity and various activists calling for the law to be amended was approved. An breakdown of the document that we were able to obtain is provided below.

• New name: First things first, the title of the act has been changed to 'Law Concerning Special Provisions on Performance Contracts Related to Sexual Activity Video Productions' from its previous rendition and the wording in the purpose provisions, 'damage related to appearance in sexual activity video productions' is revised to the phrase 'harm caused by the conclusion of a performance contract' or the production and publication of a sexually oriented video production that is not based on the performer's free will.

The purpose of this amendment is to prevent the impression that appearing in JAV causes any kind of "damage" including cases where the performer appears in JAV of their own free will. Special cases for when there is written consent from a performer who is 20 years of age or older and has performed before are considered.

• Focus on preventing involuntary appearances: The law will target situations where performers are compelled to appear in AVs against their will.

The special provisions can be applied only if the producer/publisher obtains written or digital consent from the performers (limited to those who are 20 years of age or older and have previously appeared in a sexual act video production) by the specified time i.e. at the time of contract conclusion, at the time of filming, at the time of publication of the said work.

• Contracts: Performers can sign blanket contracts for multiple videos within a year (details like filming date & location can be filled in later).

A blanket performance contract may be reached for several sexual act video productions shot in a single year. In this instance, the performance contract should be drafted as a prospect, with the description of the "date, time, and place of filming" and the content to be filmed. Performance agreements for omnibus-format sexual act video productions, however, are exempt from this specific clause.

• Filming: Filming can begin 1 week after the performer receives the contract, instead of waiting 1 month now.

Exception to the "One Month Rule Until Filming". Filming of a performer's appearance in a sexual act video production may begin one week after the performer receives the performance contract and explanation sheet, without waiting for a month. This seems to be a welcome addition.

• Publishing: Videos can be published 1 week after filming is complete, instead of waiting 4 months.

Exception to the "Four Month Rule Until Publication" of a sexual act video production may begin one week after the completion of all filming of the sexual act video production, without waiting four months.

The purpose of the amendment is to respect the performers' right to self-determination and freedom of occupation. The various regulations including Individual contract conclusion rules, contract content specification rules, one month rule until filming, four month rule until publication that were restrictive factors for JAV contracts, filming, and publication that meet the performers' wishes will be relaxed only in cases where the performers give their consent i.e. written consent based on their true intentions. It is assumed that the producer/publisher will also be obligated to explain whether or not this exception applies.

• Strict regulations will apply to protect them from being pressured into AV: in the case of 18- and 19-year-olds, who were considered minors until the age of majority was lowered in 2002, the above relaxation of regulations will not be allowed, and strict regulations will be applied as per the current law, in light of the seriousness of the decision to appear in AV.

• They cannot benefit from relaxed rules because appearing in AV is a serious decision: Furthermore, for those over the age of 20 who have never appeared in or published an adult video before, there are concerns as to whether they will be able to consent to the special application of the rules based on a true and sufficient understanding of the actual situation and impact of appearing in or publishing an adult video. Therefore, just as with 18- and 19-year-olds, the above relaxation of regulations will not be allowed and the strict regulations under the current law will apply.

• The government will investigate if performers are being paid unfairly, which might push them into JAV.

Revision in the provisions of the government's fact-finding support measures to clarify that one of the reasons for damage caused by appearing in sexual acts in videos in which the performer is not free to do so is the problem of "economic exploitation of performers," and obligate the government to investigate the facts regarding the conclusion of performance contracts and the production and publication of sexual acts in videos to contribute to the resolution of such background issues.

The motive behind the amendment is that there is a suspicion of economic exploitation of performers (the level of remuneration is very low), and this may lead to performers appearing in JAVs against their will, but there are no reliable statistics or other surveys. Therefore, as a prerequisite for support measures for performers, the government will be required to carry out survey of the actual situation of the conclusion of performance contracts and the production and publication of sexual acts in videos.

• Allowing performers to easily quit contracts.

Consideration include a clause for consideration of the system for voluntary termination of performance contracts and measures to ensure that the consent of performers is based on their true intentions. As with the submitted amendment, the system for the so-called right to voluntary termination will be considered.



• Making sure written consent truly reflects the performer's wishes.

In addition, this amendment provides that the requirement for relaxing various regulations is that the performer's consent in writing, etc. is sufficient, but it may be questioned whether such written consent alone is sufficient to ensure that the performer's consent is based on their true intentions. Therefore, taking into account the implementation of the new law, it will consider measures to ensure that the consent of performers is based on their true intentions, if necessary.

We had previously talked about how, in April, AV performers and well-known actor Terry Ito demonstrated in Ginza's streets to call for changes to the AV Law. You can read that here if you haven't already.