①No company engaged in banking or insurance businesses must acquire or hold voting rights in another company in Japan if it results in its holding more than five percent (ten percent for a company engaged in insurance business; the same applies in the following paragraph) of voting rights of all shareholders provided, however, that this does not apply if the approval of the Japan Fair Trade Commission is obtained in advance pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Japan Fair Trade Commission, and in cases falling under any of the following items:

②Any company, in the cases under items (i) through (iii) and (vi) of the preceding paragraph (in the case under item (iii) of the paragraph, excluding when the settlor or beneficiary other than those acquired or holding the relevant voting rights may exercise the voting rights and the relevant settlor or beneficiary may instruct the trustee on the exercise of the voting rights), that attempts to hold the relevant voting rights of another company in Japan over a period of one year from the date of the acquisition resulting in holding in excess of five percent of total voting rights of all shareholders must obtain approval to do so in advance from the Japan Fair Trade Commission, pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Except in cases under item (iii) of the paragraph, the approval of the Japan Fair Trade Commission in the cases must be conditional on prompt disposal of the relevant voting rights by the company engaged in the banking or insurance business.

③If the Japan Fair Trade Commission seeks to grant approval under the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, it must consult with the Prime Minister in advance of doing so.

④The authority of the Prime Minister as set forth in the preceding paragraph is hereby delegated to the Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency.

①An officer or an employee (meaning, in this Article, a person other than an officer engaged in the business of a company on a regular basis) of a company must not hold a position as an officer of another company at the same time, if the person's doing so substantially restrains competition in any particular field of trade.

②A company must not use unfair trade practices to coerce another company with which it is in competition in Japan to admit its officer to a concurrent position as an officer or employee of the other company, or to coerce another company to admit its employee to a concurrent position as an officer.

A person other than a company must not acquire or hold shares in a company if the person substantially restrains competition by doing so in any particular field of trade, nor must a person that is not a company use unfair trade practices to acquire or hold shares in a company.

①No company must effect a merger if any of the following items applies:

②Every company that intends to become a party to a merger (hereinafter in this Article "merging company") must notify the Japan Fair Trade Commission in advance of its merger plan pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Japan Fair Trade Commission if the total domestic sales amount of any one of the companies intending to be parties to the merger exceeds the amount provided by Cabinet Order, which must be no less than twenty billion yen, and the total domestic sales amount of any one of the other merging companies exceeds the amount provided by Cabinet Order, which must be no less than five billion yen provided, however, that this does not apply if all of the merging companies belong to the same group of combined companies.

③The provisions of Article 10, paragraphs (8) through (14) apply mutatis mutandis to the restriction of a merger under a notification pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph and to the orders made by the Japan Fair Trade Commission pursuant to the provisions of Article 17-2, paragraph (1). In this case, in Article 10, paragraph (8) and paragraphs (10) through (14), the term "acquire the shares" is deemed to be replaced with "merge"; in paragraph (9) of the Article, the terms "share acquisition" and "acquisition of shares" is deemed to be replaced with "merger"; the term "notify the share acquiring company" is deemed to be replaced with "notify the merging companies"; and the term "requested the share acquiring company" is deemed to be replaced with "requested at least one of the merging companies"; and in paragraph (10) of the Article, the term "acquisition of shares" is deemed to be replaced with "merger".