The Japanese government is considering a last-minute redraft of a controversial change to the country's commercial code to reflect the concerns of the international business community, people close to negotiations said on Wednesday.

Talks between the European Business Council, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and the Ministry of Justice continued on Wednesday after a hearing on the issue in the upper house of parliament was delayed to allow negotiations to take place. Any redraft would quell growing unease among businesses that face additional costs running to “hundreds of millions of euros” if the proposed changes went ahead, prompting several companies to say they would have to pull out of the country, according to the EBC.