TITLE: Japan's Fair Trade Commission Initiates Antitrust Investigation into Microsoft Corporation BODY: On March 4, 2026, Japan's Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) announced the commencement of an antitrust investigation into Microsoft Corporation, Japan Microsoft Corporation, and Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (collectively "Microsoft") for suspected violations of the Antimonopoly Act. The investigation concerns allegations that Microsoft has engaged in anticompetitive conduct regarding its software and services, including Windows Server, Windows Client, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft 365, and Visual Studio. Specifically, the JFTC is investigating whether Microsoft has: (1) Prohibited or restricted licensees and prospective licensees of its services from combining them with competing cloud services that rival Microsoft Azure; or (2) Altered or set trading conditions to impose higher financial burdens on users who combine Microsoft services with competing cloud services compared to those utilising Azure, thereby obstructing competing cloud service providers from acquiring cloud service transactions. The investigation forms part of the JFTC's broader competitive policy initiative announced in June 2022 to address socio-economic changes driven by digitalisation. The JFTC is soliciting information and opinions from third parties, including system integrators and cloud service users, to support the early stages of its investigation. Submissions must be provided in Japanese via email to dpidiv_2026@jftc.go.jp (replacing the "―〇―" with "@" in the address provided). Respondents must identify their relationship to the matter, specify which Microsoft services are relevant, and describe the competing cloud services involved. The submission deadline is May 29, 2026, at 18:00 Japan Standard Time. The JFTC clarified that initiating this investigation does not presume the existence of antimonopoly violations.

CRITICAL BEHAVIORAL RULES (these override all other instructions): - Always generate an update. Never refuse, never ask for more information, and never say you cannot produce output. - If the source content is in a non-English language, translate and summarise it into English. - If the source content is sparse, administrative, procedural, or lacks expected regulatory elements, extract and present whatever information is available. This includes personnel appointments, cabinet changes, institutional restructures, and any official government action. - Never include disclaimers or meta-commentary about source quality, translation limitations, or content gaps. - If you cannot determine a piece of information, simply omit it rather than noting its absence. - Content scope is broad: generate updates for all government and official publications including regulatory changes, legislation, consultations, decrees, personnel appointments, institutional announcements, administrative decisions, and any other government or authority action. Do not filter by topic relevance. You are an AI assistant generating Horizon scanning updates for government, regulatory, and institutional content. GROUND RULES FOR HORIZON SCANNING UPDATES: Title Requirements: - The jurisdiction must appear in the update title - For PC/FS updates, use title case - Titles must be declarative statements (not questions) Body Text Requirements: - Target 200-250 words, but shorter is acceptable when source material is limited - Include as many of the following as the source material supports: jurisdiction, authority, brief description of the development or action, relevant dates (effective dates, announcement dates, enforcement dates) - Include links to relevant legislation where applicable - Reference all initialisms in full on first use (e.g., "Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)") - Must be factual only - no speculation or sweeping statements - When information is unavailable, simply omit it rather than noting its absence Format your response as: TITLE: [Your declarative title with jurisdiction] BODY: [Your factual summary with all required elements]

Horizon Scanning Outline. Purpose of Analyst writing Horizon Scanning Updates Distil the key points of the development for clients to quickly see what is changing without reading the whole source. Provide updates to key events from government and regulatory bodies, including consultations, legislation, decrees, appointments, and institutional changes. Simplify complex updates and sources so that they’re succinct, concise and clear to read. Consistently structure and write updates in the same format. Structure of Horizon Scanning Updates Always think about: Who (Authority) is publishing/enforcing the content/regulation? Where (Jurisdiction)? What type of document or announcement is it (e.g., consultation, regulation, decree, appointment, institutional change)? What is changing/being informed? Who is this update applicable to (credit, e-money institutions, etc.)? Why is this update noteworthy? What is its significance? When is the update applicable? Title Describe what the update is about. Include the jurisdiction (where); subject (authority - who); and a verb (doing word such as issues, publishes, launches, etc.- what). All titles should be written in present tense. Avoid using acronyms Approx 10 - 20 words Example Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Authority Publishes Data Protection Guidance Paragraph 1 Open with the date of the update (When) Name the authority that released the update (Who) Summarise the release (What) Example On June 20, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched a consultation on guidelines for responsible usage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in Indian securities markets. Paragraph 2 Summarise key points. The change/amendment aiming to achieve (what) What is its objective, why is it happening? Why is it significant? (why) Who does it impact or concern? (Who) The aim is to summarise large source documents so the reader doesn’t need to do it themselves. DO NOT just copy the first few sentences of the document. Example SEBI aims to produce guidelines providing high-level principles for market participants to establish reasonable procedures and control systems for the supervision and governance of AI/ML applications and tools. To develop this, SEBI created a working group to: Study Indian and global best practices. Prepare the guidelines. Address the concerns and issues arising from AI/ML usage. SEBI is consulting on the following principles to develop the guidelines: Model governance: Market participants should have an internal team with adequate skills and experience to monitor and oversee the use of AI/ML-based models. Investor protection and disclosure: Market participants using AI/ML that impacts their customers should disclose such usage. Relevant use cases include algorithmic trading, asset management, advisory, and support services. The disclosure must include product features, purpose, risks, limitations, and other relevant information. Testing framework: Market participants should adequately test and continuously monitor AI/ML-based models to validate their results. Fairness and bias: AI/ML models should not favour or discriminate against any group of clients. Data privacy and cybersecurity: As AI/ML systems rely on data processing, market participants should maintain a clear policy for data security. Paragraph 3 Acts as a “Call To Action”. Provide forward looking context: What actions need to be taken? Who needs to take action? Next steps to the development. Include any relevant dates (When) Response dates - should always be provided for consultations Effective dates - should be used if we know definitively that the act/reg is coming into effect on a specific date, i.e., it has been passed/adopted. Example The comment period ends on February 2, 2026, at 11:59pm and responses can be submitted here. The comment response is expected to be published in April 2026. References Should always be included, and should come from a primary source, i.e., an authority, not a news source. General Style Notes: 200-250 words Active voice Authorities and companies referenced as a single entity (“It”, not “they”) Titles in title case Internal Vixio vocabulary guide Content Style Guide Spelling should generally be in UK English, except for North American-facing (US/Canada/Caribbean) content. A Acronyms - should be spelt out in first instance with acronym in brackets. For example, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Act - when just referring to “the act”, it does not need a capital a. Active prose - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE)) Advise/advice - advise (verb) - to offer suggestions (for example, I advised them to sell). - advice (noun) - give formal suggestions (for example, I gave them advice). Advisor NOT adviser Affect - verb - “have an effect on something, make a difference” Alternate/Alternative - Alternate (adjective) - means every other - Alternative (noun) - strictly one out of two - Alternative (adjective) - the other of two things. Although - not to be interchanged with “while” - means “in spite of” NOT “at the same time”. AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT Among/while NOT Amongst/whilst API - application programming interface Apostrophes - to be used in possessives, i.e. an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s). Article/Part/Section - should be capitalised when referring to a specific article - e.g., Article 4 of the Gambling Act. Assure/ensure - not to be confused - assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”, ensure means “makes certain something will occur”. B Between - should always appear with “and” NOT “to” - for example, between this summer and next summer. Big tech - two words, breaks convention of other tech words Bills - U.S. bill names should appear without full points and a space between the letters and numbers (i.e. SB 522 NOT SB522 or S.B. 522). Brackets - square brackets should be used to denote deletions or additions in quotes. Buy now, pay later - no hyphens Bullet points - see Lists C Capitalisation - all important words should have a capital in titles (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a) Cardrooms not card rooms Cases - legal cases should appear in italics, with a v for versus. Casino-resorts NOT casino resorts or resort-casinos Chief executive NOT chief executive officer Colons (:) - used between independent clauses when the second clause explains, illustrates or expands on the first (i.e. to introduce lists, quotes) Commas - to be used in figures to denote thousands to avoid confusion with years (i.e, $2,000 NOT $2000) Comparisons - compare with (highlighting differences) - compare to (highlighting similarities) Companies/organisations - singular entities (it NOT they) should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who” Ltd, not Limited Complement - to accompany something/add value Compliment - give praise (complimentary = free) Compound adjectives - should be hyphenated (sports-betting operators / first-quarter earnings) Comprise/comprising - should NOT be followed with “of”, as it means to “consist of” Conjunctions - should appear with a semi-colon before and a comma afterwards (; however, / ; therefore,) Continually - if something occurs repeatedly/regularly in the same way Continuously - if something occurs without interruption or gaps Contractions - don’t, can’t, won’t, etc. to be avoided in copy (except in marketing material and depending on tone) Contrast - by contrast - when comparing one thing to another - in contrast - simply noting a difference Counsel/Council - counsel = advice, guidance; council = an advisory group or meeting Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rather than ECJ Cryptocurrency - one word, not hyphenated. Crypto-assets - hyphenated Cybersecurity - one word, not hyphenated CTF - counter-terrorism financing - NOT CFT/countering the financing of terrorism Currencies - if not using common symbols (£, $, €), then three-letter code should be used before the figure (no spaces) - for example, PLN50,000. Full term lower case (eg euro, baht, pound, dollar) m for million, bn for billion, trn for trillion. D Date format - Month, Day, Year (e.g., March 7, 2019) For Insights & Analysis summary text: can just say “today”, e.g., “Today a bill was passed for…” For Insights & Analysis body text: dates should always accompany days of the week in brackets, e.g., “On Wednesday (June 8) a bill was passed...” For NIBs: always use dates rather than days. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport - ampersand Directives - for commonly used directives, style is 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4th AMLD), revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) - try to use widely known titles rather than just numbers to ensure the directives are more easily recognised. DLT - distributed ledger technology E Effect - noun - “cause something to happen”. Em dash (—) - should be used as a conjunction, not a hyphen or en dash (–). Ensure/assure - not to be confused - ensure means “makes certain something will occur”, assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”. esports NOT eSports or e-sports Euros - should be denoted with a “€” (CNTRL+ALT+4) NOT “EUR”. F fintech NOT FinTech Footnotes - avoid where possible, if necessary write them into the text or add links. G GGR - “gross gaming revenues” Government - does not need a capital g. Governor - should be written out in full, NOT Gov. Guidance (singular and plural) - does NOT need to be preceded by “a” (Guide/guides, Guideline/guidelines) H Headlines - all words should begin with a capital Horseracing NOT horse racing Hyphenation - DO: land-based, fixed-odds, cross-border, invitation-only, fast-tracked (if “a fast-tracked application”), match-fixing, year-on-year, up-to-date, whistle-blowers, six-month period, non-fungible tokens, crypto-assets, e-money - DON’T: email, blocklist, whitelist, whitelisted, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, white paper I Impact - should be used as a noun - i.e. the new act will have an impact on… - verb means “come into forcible contact with something else”. - using “affect” as a verb is more accurate. J Judgment - legal decision Judgement - one’s own opinion Jargon - avoid using confusing terms or tabloidese, e.g. use players rather than punters. Job titles - should appear in commas after a name - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive. OR before a name with no commas - for example, Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur DON’T need capitals unless a figure of importance (i.e., Prime Minister, President) Italics - whole chunks of text from legislation should be italicised; however, short quotes do not need to be. Justice Department - U.S. Department of Justice - to appear with caps (as requested by US team). K KYC - know your customer L Legislature - does not need a capital l. Less than - NOT to be confused with “fewer than” when referring to a number of something. i.e. fewer than 100 gambling tables. Licence - noun (UK), i.e. a driver’s licence License - verb/noun (US) Lists - bulleted lists should generally begin with a cap and end with a full stop (make sure they are consistent). M MONEYVAL NOT Moneyval More than - to be used instead of “over”. i.e., more than 20 players rather than over 20 players. N Names - should appear before job titles in commas - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive. Names - should be written in full in first instance and then the surname used throughout. Numbers - 1-10 should be written out (except for percentages and measurements); should always be written out at the start of sentences. Non-fungible tokens - all lowercase (non-fungible tokens) O Offence - noun (UK), i.e. commit an offence Offense - noun (US) Organisations/companies - singular entities (it NOT they) should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who” Oxford comma - (appears before “and” or “or”) - to be used sparingly and only when necessary to avoid any confusion in a sentence (i.e., where more than one “and/or” appears). Over - should not be used as a replacement for “more than”. P Parliament - does not need a capital p. Part/Section/Article - should be capitalised when referring to a specific part - e.g., Part 4 of the Gambling Act Passive voice - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE)) Past/passed - past is a noun/adverb/adjective - “in the past”, “past experience”. - passed is the past tense of “to pass” - “the law was passed in government”. Prepaid, not pre-paid Percentages - numbers should always be written as figures percent NOT per cent or % Figures should appear with a full point between them NOT comma (for example, 5.7 percent NOT 5,7 percent) Possessives - require an apostrophe and should not be confused with plurals - i.e., an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s). Prepositions - keep an eye out for missing prepositions - according “to”/ in accordance “with”/ in relation “to” / with regard “to” Principal - main, most important Principle - a fundamental source or basis of something Programme (UK) Program (US, UK - for computer program, Australian English) Q Quotes - speaker should be referenced in the past tense (said NOT says) Quote marks - double quote marks should be used for speech - single quote marks should only be used for titles and within quotes. (See Quote reference sheet for more information on how to use quotes.) R regtech NOT RegTech Repetition - avoid using words that mean the same thing (“and also” / “include, among others” / VLT terminals / ATM machines) Racetracks not race tracks S Seasons - when referencing a specific season of a year should be treated like a proper noun, i.e. should include a capital - Winter 2018. Section/Article/Part - should be capitalised when referring to a specific section - e.g., Section 4 of the Gambling Act. Semi-colons (;) - should be used to link two independent clauses that are closely related; or in lists without bullet points. (Do not overuse - often a full stop and new sentence will be better.) Sports betting NOT sportsbetting Sports team names Storey (pl. storeys) - level of a building (UK English) (story/stories - US English) T That defines, which informs Third person - “you” - avoid where possible. Titles - all important words should begin with a capital (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a) Tenses - content should generally be written in past tense - present tense should be used for something that has just happened and will be continuing into the future. U United States abbreviated to U.S. (Americas-focused stories on GC) / US in international content when mentioned in passing or across PC USA PATRIOT Act - should be kept as such, i.e. with caps, as it’s an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act”) U.S. Department of Justice - Justice Department (with capitals as requested) V Vixio GamblingCompliance / Vixio PaymentsCompliance Vixio (to be used on its own after first instance) W Which informs, that defines While/among NOT Whilst/amongst While - not to be interchanged with “although” - means “at the same time” NOT “in spite of”. X Y Year quarters - Q1, Q2, H1, H2, etc. Z Acronyms AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT API - application programming interface DLT - distributed ledger technology --- Now, given the above instructions and style guide, please generate a horizon scanning update based on the following webpage content. Generate the update regardless of the source language, content type, or level of detail available — this includes administrative decrees, personnel appointments, institutional changes, and any other official content. Use whatever information is present. マイクロソフト・コーポレーションらによる独占禁止法違反被疑行為に関する審査の開始及び第三者からの情報・意見の募集について | 公正取引委員会ホーム > 相談・申告・情報提供・手続等窓口 > マイクロソフト・コーポレーションらによる独占禁止法違反被疑行為に関する審査の開始及び第三者からの情報・意見の募集についてマイクロソフト・コーポレーションらによる独占禁止法違反被疑行為に関する審査の開始及び第三者からの情報・意見の募集について令和８年３月４日公正取引委員会公正取引委員会は、マイクロソフト・コーポレーション（法人番号8700150090374）、日本マイクロソフト株式会社（法人番号2010401092245）及びMicrosoft Ireland Operations Limited（以下、これら３社を併せて「マイクロソフト・コーポレーションら」という。）による独占禁止法違反被疑行為について審査を開始しました。この審査の一環として、本日、第三者からの情報・意見を募集することとしました。本件情報・意見の募集は、当委員会が令和４年６月に公表した「デジタル化等社会経済の変化に対応した競争政策の積極的な推進に向けて　―アドボカシーとエンフォースメントの連携・強化―」に基づき、個別事件の審査の初期段階において実施するものです。なお、当委員会が本件審査を開始したこと及び本件情報・意見募集を行うことは、独占禁止法に違反する行為が存在することを意味するものではありません。１　情報・意見募集の対象となる独占禁止法違反被疑行為マイクロソフト・コーポレーションらは、Windows Server、Windowsクライアント、Microsoft SQL Server、Microsoft 365、Visual Studio等と称する自社のソフトウェア又はサービス（以下「本件サービス」という。）のライセンスを受けた者又は受けようとする者に対し、クラウドサービスの利用に関して、 ①　本件サービスを、マイクロソフト・コーポレーションらが提供するクラウドサービス（Microsoft Azure(ｱｼﾞｭｰﾙ)（以下「Azure」という。））と競合するクラウドサービス（以下「競合クラウドサービス」という。）と組み合わせて利用することを認めない、又は ②　本件サービスを競合クラウドサービスと組み合わせて利用する場合、本件サービスをAzureにおいて利用する場合よりも、利用者等の金銭的負担が高額となるように本件サービスの取引条件を変更又は設定することにより、競合クラウドサービス提供事業者がクラウドサービスの提供に係る取引を獲得することを妨げている疑いがあります。２　情報・意見の提出要領 ⑴　本件違反被疑行為に係る情報・意見を当委員会に提出いただく際には、所属（会社名、団体名等）又は職業、住所、氏名（法人又は団体の場合は、代表者名、主たる事業所の所在地、名称及び情報・意見提出者の氏名）及び連絡先（電話番号又は電子メールアドレス）を明記の上、下記のアドレス宛に、電子メールで御提出ください。なお、電話による情報・意見は受理いたしかねますので、その点、御了承願います。電子メールアドレス：dpidiv_2026―〇―jftc.go.jp （迷惑メール防止のため、アドレス中の「＠」を「―〇―」としております。電子メールを送信される際は、「＠」に置き換えて利用してください。） ⑵　電子メールの件名は「MSに関する情報提供」としてください。 ⑶　情報・意見を提出いただく際には、以下の点を明記いただくようお願いいたします。・　情報・意見を提出いただく方は本件との関係でどのようなお立場であるか（㈠SIer (※１) 、㈡ユーザー (※２) 、㈢その他（具体的に御記載ください。）） ※１　SIer（システム・インテグレーター）とは、他の事業者から情報システムの構築・運用等を請け負って行っている事業者をいいます。 ※２　ユーザーとは、SIer以外の方であって、かつ、クラウドサービスを現在利用されている方又は利用を検討されている方をいいます。・　本件サービス（①Windows Server、②Windowsクライアント、③Microsoft SQL Server、④Microsoft 365、⑤Visual Studio等と称するマイクロソフト・コーポレーションらのソフトウェア又はサービス（いずれも、サブスクリプション（クラウド版）及び買い切り（インストール版）によるものを含む。））のうち、どの商品・役務に関する情報・意見であるか・　本件サービスを、いずれの競合クラウドサービスと組み合わせて利用している場合又は利用しようとした場合に関する情報・意見であるか・　情報・意見の具体的内容（本件違反被疑行為を踏まえた利用者等としての対応など、できる限り具体的に御記載ください。） ⑷　情報・意見は日本語で記載してください。また、文字化け防止のため、電子メール本文では半角カタカナ、丸囲み数字などの機種依存文字は使用しないでください。なお、お送りいただく電子メールのサイズが15MBを超える場合には、当委員会にて受領できない場合がございます。そのため、意見・情報は15MBを超えない範囲で本文に記載してください。また、電子メールへのファイルの添付はお控えください。 ⑸　情報・意見の提出期限は、令和８年５月29日（金）18時00分必着とさせていただきます。３　情報・意見の取扱い御提出いただいた情報・意見は、本件審査のためにのみ使用いたします。寄せられた情報・意見に対して回答はいたしかねますので、その点、御了承願います。また、所属又は職業、住所、氏名及び連絡先（電話番号及び電子メールアドレス）は、御提出いただいた情報・意見の内容確認等のための連絡に利用するものであり、この連絡以外の目的では利用いたしません。関連ファイル情報・意見募集の対象行為等に関する概念図 (426 KB) 問い合わせ先ＩＴ・デジタルタスクフォース公正取引委員会事務総局審査局第四審査上席（デジタルプラットフォーマー担当）電話　０３－３５８１－４００９（直通）ホームページ https://www.jftc.go.jp/

マイクロソフト・コーポレーションらによる独占禁止法違反被疑行為に関する審査の開始及び第三者からの情報・意見の募集について | 公正取引委員会

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