The government announced March 19 that it plans to end utilities' monopoly on electric power generation and lift a ban on cheaper air fares as part of its fiscal 1998-2000 deregulation program.
The plan, containing some 500 new deregulatory steps, is expected to be approved by the Cabinet on March 31, when the current three-year deregulation program expires.
Worked out by the Deregulation Committee of the Administrative Reform Promotion Headquarters, the program calls for liberating electric power rates by allowing nonpower firms to sell electricity to corporate customers.
Under the plan, steelmakers, oil companies, automakers and other firms equipped with independent power facilities will be allowed to sell electricity to large-lot customers, the committee said. The program also foresees deregulation progressing to the point of allowing the retailing of electricity to consumers.
In other steps, the number of applicants successfully applying to Japan's bar examination will be doubled to 1,500.
Other deregulation measures include:
1) Allowing students to join college in the fall, rather than just in the spring.
2) Easing restrictions on foreign ownership of satellite broadcast firms.
3) Releasing the successful bid prices for public works tenders.