The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, New Komeito, decided Wednesday to submit legislation to the current Diet session to ban sales of prepaid mobile phones, which are often used in fraud crimes.
The parties will shortly set up a team to examine the proposed legislation, coalition lawmakers said.
Unlike registration procedures for ordinary mobile phones, some shops that sell prepaid mobile phones have been lax in checking the identity of purchasers, making it difficult for law enforcement authorities to track criminals that use prepaid mobile phones.
The coalition is also considering future legislation to ban black-market sales of bank accounts, which are sometimes used in fraud crimes.
Under a current legal loophole, prepaid mobile phones and bank accounts obtained on the black market are often used for crimes such as "Ore, ore" ("It's me") phone fraud.