The Diet passed a bill on Friday to enable the government to quickly take retaliatory action against discriminatory measures imposed on Japanese maritime carriers by foreign countries.
When a foreign country imposes unilateral sanctions on the carriers the government will be able to immediately take similar action against the foreign country's shipping companies. The law will include surcharges on the foreign carriers, limiting and banning cargo-handling and restricting or prohibiting them from entering Japanese ports.
Under the present law's prerequisite to retaliatory measures, the government must wait six months before taking action and the companies have to suffer damages caused by foreign sanctions. The bill was submitted to the Diet after the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission imposed a $10,000 surcharge on every U.S. port call made by three Japanese carriers, and collected $1.5 million over a port practice dispute between the U.S. and Japan.