CloudSign Review to Conform to the SMB Contracting Act, the Act to Amend the Subcontract Act to Be Enforced in January 2026

Bengo4.com, Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; Taichiro Motoe, Representative Director, President and CEO, Lawyer; hereinafter, the “Company”) is pleased to announce that CloudSign Review, the Company’s AI-powered contract review support service, will begin to offer the Subcontracting Promotion Act Master function to confirm to the Act on the Promotion of Subcontracting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (hereafter, the “Subcontracting Promotion Act”), the Act to amend the SMB Contracting Act that will come into force on January 1, 2026.

The Company will revamp the functions of the existing Subcontract Act Master, which will enable dedicated contract review based on the Subcontracting Promotion Act, and will also release model contract forms that conform to the above law. This will significantly reduce the burden of corporate legal affairs work for conforming to the revised law and will also improve the quality of the AI-powered review.

■ Background

On January 1, 2026, the Subcontracting Promotion Act (Act on the Promotion of Subcontracting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), the Act to amend the Subcontract Act, will come into force. The latest revisions include the addition of new criteria based on the number of employees and expansion of the scope of transactions for transport. As a result, many enterprises that had been exempt from the regulations are now required to conform to the law.*1

This has necessitated more companies than ever to take a wide range of steps, such as collecting information about the revised law, reviewing basic trade contract forms and their own model contract forms, and conducting internal training and awareness-raising activities, increasing the burden of corporate legal affairs work. In response, the Company updated the existing Subcontract Act Master of CloudSign Review and will begin to provide it as a SMB Contracting Act Master, which completely conforms to the new law.

This function enables to review and create contracts promptly and accurately in accordance with the new law, with support from AI.

*1: Japan Fair Trade Commission, Guidebook on  the Act on the Promotion of Subcontracting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
https://www.jftc.go.jp/file/toriteki002.pdf

■ Features of the SMB Contracting Act Master function

(1) Provision of AI-powered dedicated review based on the revised law

A proprietary analytical engine dedicated to the Subcontracting Promotion Act reviews contracts to help ensure proper transactions. It visualizes risks and points to check related to the Subcontracting Promotion Act in a highlight color.

(2) Significantly reduction of time spent on research

At the same time as pointing out omitted or incomplete contract clauses, the SMB Contracting Act Master also displays reference sample clauses, which can be used as is, together with expert advice. This slashes the time needed to check the content of revisions, thus reducing the time spent on practical operations on legal affairs.

■ CloudSign Review, an AI-powered review service: https://www.cloudsign.jp/review

It is an AI-powered automatic contract review support service offered by CloudSign, the contract management platform with the largest market share in Japan. The Company began providing the service through a capital and business alliance with Lisse Co., Ltd. in July 2023. If you upload a contract form and tell the platform which party you are in the contract, the AI will point out disadvantageous or missing provisions instantly. Since commentary prepared by specialist lawyers and sample text that is more favorable for the client is also displayed, the service significantly reduces the person-hours required to review contracts even in the absence of high-level specialist knowledge.

The service has the following three features.

(1) High AI accuracy supervised by lawyers

High accuracy review support function supervised by lawyers from leading law firms

(2) Reasonable price structure

Reasonable pricing which facilitates introduction of the service at all enterprises whatever their size A special offer for users who introduce the service in combination with the electronic contracting service CloudSign is also available.

(3) Extensive support system

Provision of an extensive support system based on the experience of supporting the introduction of CloudSign, which has the largest share of its market and the largest customer base in Japan The Company aims to integrate this service with its other contracting and contract management services, as a third pillar of the Company’s contract lifecycle management (CLM) business model.

■ About CloudSign: https://www.cloudsign.jp/

CloudSign is a contract management platform that enables digitization of everything from contract execution to management and AI review. The electronic signatures and timestamps are compliant with the Act on Electronic Signatures and Certification Business, ensuring smooth and secure contract execution. CloudSign also began offering Japan’s first ever My Number Card (individual number card) signature capability as part of its general-purpose contracting service in 2023. The platform also shortens the time required for the entire contracting process through the active adoption of AI technology including an AI contract management capability and an AI-powered contract review service, CloudSign Review. CloudSign has become the No. 1 service in the electronic contract market*2, and is widely adopted by companies and local governments.

*2: Market share in “New Markets of Software Business 2024” (2023 result of e-contract tools) by Fuji Chimera Research Institute, Inc.