Japan plans to regulate online advertising as early as next April under the law requiring information technology giants to be more transparent following recommendations contained in a final government report on digital marketing released Tuesday.

The move could be the world's first legislation to regulate digital advertisements if measures aimed at securing transparency and fairness in the industry are added to the law that took effect in February.

The report compiled by the Digital Market Competition Council urged IT giants to create a plan to accept third-party assessment of the effectiveness of online advertising and disclose information on wrongdoings such as illegal charges levied on advertisers.