Principle activities over the last three years

Conduct of the “Organization for Ethics and Human rights in the Japanese Adult Entertainment Industry” up until the time of writing.

Formed in April 2017 as the “Commission for reform for the Japanese Adult Entertainment Industry”, a third-party institution in relation to the AV industry, subject to a reshuffle in October of the same year and renamed to “Organization for Ethics and Human rights in the Japanese Adult Entertainment Industry”, operating under this name up until the time of writing. In that time this organization has been involved in many different initiatives, the following is an introduction to our most important efforts.

1: Establishment of the Industry Regulations Proposals. (April 2017 onwards)

The first policy formulated by the “Commission for reform for the Japanese Adult Entertainment Industry” was the list of “proposals” and “regulations that must be upheld” intended for implementation within the AV industry. The foremost of these regulations is the concept “Due Process in AV”, which carries the following definition;

[Only such video content that has been made commercially available once it has been given approval by way of rigorous inspection by an accredited inspection board, which will seek to clarify that the human rights of all performers have been given due consideration by both manufacturer and production companies, and whether the product was completed under appropriate corresponding safe working practices]

Our organization is built upon this idea as a fundamental basis, and after the organization was subject to a reshuffle and renamed, this fundamental basis remains unchanged.

2: Public relations activities outside of the industry. (April 2017 onwards)

Utilizing multifaceted public organizations in order to periodically report on the activities of the organization to other committees and organizations outside of the industry, this organization has, in effect, become a point of contact for such peoples and organizations. The activities of the organization are updated on a half quarterly basis to both the organizations homepage as well as distributed to the aforementioned multifaceted public organizations, updating all parties on every new transmission of content as well as all applications for utilization of the “suspension of all sales and distribution” system (updated monthly).

3: Implementation of Industry Questionnaires. (July 2017 onwards)

Undertaken with the objective of understanding the finer particulars of the inner workings of the industry, mainly with regards to manufacturing and promotion companies, this organization has been implementing questionnaires and reporting the results to any and all relevant parties since July of 2017. Questionnaires intended for performers have been in place since 2019.

4: Establishment of the Suspension of Sales and Distribution system (February 2018 onwards)

The “Suspension of Sales and Distribution system” was established and integrated into our homepage as a way for a performer to apply for the sales and distribution of any work they may have appeared in to be suspended, temporarily or indefinitely. Once the identity of the performer in question has been verified and the relevant copyright holder(s) have been properly identified all parties are notified of the application, the remaining process lie with the manufacturers and distributors respectively. The number of applications is updated to our homepage on a monthly basis.

5: Verification of intent and other essential verification categories (April 2018 onwards)

In dealing with the issue of “Verification of intent” regarding third party actresses at the point of registering production companies, this organization devised and systematically implemented the concept of “essential verification categories”. Every document related to both “verification of intent” and other “essential verification categories” (or copies thereof) are filled with an external bureau of this organization (AVAN) and rigorously safeguarded.

6: Use of Common Contracts (April 2018 onwards)

The use of common contracts, stipulated by this organization, between manufacturers, production companies and actresses has been obligatory since April 2018. Firstly, a term of applicability regarding the work was decided upon (the longest possible term is 5 years and 6 months, after which all performers are able to apply for suspension of distribution), secondly remuneration in case of secondary was considered, and lastly the outright prohibition of demanding payment of penalty for breach of contract (in the case of an actress leaving her position mid-way through an active contract) was decided. In addition, in order to best respond to requests and changes in wider society, we are constantly reviewing and altering the subject matter of our common contracts so they are as up to date as possible.

7: Formulation of Industry Rules (April 2018 onwards)

As a vital link in the compliance program chain, we have formulated rules for both manufacturers and production companies. These rules are stipulated to cover all details, including but not limited to; Visualization of data, thorough enforcement of age verification, special measures for when an actress has her identity revealed unwillingly, the configuration of a reconsideration period for suspended performers, measures to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the explicit prohibition of all articles of un-screened or non- corrected materials.

8: Visibility on site (April 2018 onwards)

This organization has made it compulsory to video record, and therefore visualize, all interviewing processes, the signing and exchange of all contracts and the filming process in its entirety. This system ensures that there can be no pressure whatsoever towards actresses/performers and thus guarantees the right of self-determination for those involved. In addition, further visualization is encouraged in all other processes.

9: STD countermeasures (April 2018 onwards)

The rigorous adherence to rules relating to preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases has been made obligatory by this organization, with the expressed purpose of ensuring the health and safety of all performers. In addition, this organization is currently working with teams of specialists to continue to ensure uniformity across the board with regards to this matter.

10: Compulsory disclosure of total performance fee (April 2018 onwards)

The explanation of all fees inherent in production, including performance fees and production fees, to all performers has been made obligatory by our organization. In addition, beginning 1st of March 2019, the total performance fee must be included in any contracts between manufacturers and performers, and all details must be reported to the performer in question.

11: Establishment of consultation Hotline (April 2018 onwards)

A hotline has been established within the external bureau of this organization (AVAN) as a first means of contact for performers with urgent notifications regarding any process of production. A time restriction is in place; however, we are able to offer consistent advice and consultations for performers in emergency situations and achieved constant results.

12: Establishment of a Working Group (September 2018 onwards)

The Working group association is held in order to discuss the status of enforcement of various policies, and issues that may arise with policy itself. A cross-sectional gathering of representatives from both manufacturers and production companies, it provides a location for a lively exchange of ideas and opinions.

13: System Intended for Freelance (October 2018 onwards)

Initially all contracts were based upon the presumption that all performers would naturally be in affiliation with a production company, in practice however, it came to the attention of this organization that there were performers unaffiliated with production companies working with manufacturers as “Freelance”, and thus special measures were enacted and a separate contract system established for cases such as these.

14: Payment of remuneration for Secondary Use (December 2018 onwards)

A novel system established to provide remuneration to performs when part, or parts, of past works are used in new compilation or omnibus projects, a practice referred to as “Secondary Use”. Works subject to remuneration under this system include any compilation or omnibus projects that applied for inspection from January 2018, the number of applications being counted up at bi-quarterly intervals, with reports of a smooth beginning to remuneration process beginning in December of the same year.

15: Externalization of AVAN (April 2019 onwards)

Originally positioning itself as organization established exclusively for performers in the AV industry, it was decided in April of 2019 that, in order to allow for a wider scope of comprehension of the industry as a whole, AVAN would become an external bureau of this organization, thus all management and administration is handled independently. As a member of the wider group that includes this organization, AVAN manages the storage of “Letters of Intent”, handles remuneration in the case of secondary use and operates a consultation hotline, among other initiatives.