The parliament enacted a bill Wednesday to create a Japanese version of the U.K.'s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), to check whether people holding or seeking jobs that involve contact with children have criminal records for sex crimes.
The bill, aimed at preventing sexual offenses against children, was approved unanimously at a plenary meeting of the House of Councilors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament. The House of Representatives, the lower chamber, passed the bill on May 23.
Under the new law, which will be enforced in fiscal 2026 at the earliest, schools, nurseries and orphanages will be required to check whether workers have records for sex crimes, and conduct staff training related to preventing sex crimes against children.
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