Bankruptcy Act

The court must immediately give a public notice of the following particulars when it has issued an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings:

the main text of the order commencing bankruptcy proceedings;

the name of the bankruptcy trustee;

the period or date established pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article;

an order to the effect that a person that possesses property that belongs to the bankruptcy estate and a person that owes a debt to the bankrupt (referred to as a "possessor of property, etc." in paragraph (3), item (ii)) must not deliver the property or pay the bankrupt; and

when it is found to be appropriate to make a simplified distribution under the provisions of Article 204, paragraph (1), item (ii), the order to the effect that any bankruptcy creditor that has an objection to the making of a simplified distribution should state the objection to the court before the expiration of the period stated in paragraph (1), item (iii) of the preceding Article or before the end of the date stated in that item.

When an order under paragraph (5) of the preceding Article is issued, in addition to the particulars stated in the items of the preceding paragraph, the court must give a public notice to the effect that it will not give a notice to bankruptcy creditors under the provisions of item (i) of the following paragraph, as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to the main clauses of paragraph (4) and paragraph (5), and the provisions of the main clause of paragraph (3) of the following Article and the main clause of Article 139, paragraph (3), and that it will not summon holders of filed bankruptcy claims on the date of a creditors' meeting.

The following persons must be given a notice of the particulars of which a public notice should be made pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs:

a bankruptcy trustee, the bankrupt, and known bankruptcy creditors;

a known possessor of property, etc.;

a temporary administrator when an order for temporary administration prescribed in Article 91, paragraph (2) is issued; and

a labor union, etc. (meaning a labor union consisting of the majority of a bankrupt's employees and other workers, if there is a labor union, or a person representative of the majority of a bankrupt's employees and other workers, if there is no labor union consisting of the majority of a bankrupt's employees and other workers; the same applies in Article 78, paragraph (4) and Article 136, paragraph (3)).

The provisions of paragraph (1), item (iii) and item (i) of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis if the period stated in paragraph (1), item (i) of the preceding Article and the period or date stated in item (iii) of the same paragraph are specified pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of the Article; provided, however, that when an order under paragraph (5) of the Article is issued, the notice is not required to be given to known bankruptcy creditors.

The provisions of paragraph (1), item (ii) and paragraph (3), item (i) and item (ii) apply mutatis mutandis if there is a change in the particulars stated in paragraph (1), item(ii), and the provisions of paragraph (1), item (iii) and paragraph (3), item (i) apply mutatis mutandis if there is a change in the particulars stated in paragraph (1), item (iii) (limited to cases in which there is a change to the period stated in paragraph (1), item (i) of the preceding Article or the date stated in item (ii) of that paragraph); provided, however, that when an order under paragraph (5) of that Article is issued, the notice is not required to be given to known bankruptcy creditors.

An immediate appeal may be filed against a judicial decision on a petition to commence bankruptcy proceedings.

The provisions of Articles 24 through 28 apply mutatis mutandis when an immediate appeal referred to in the preceding paragraph is filed against a decision dismissing with prejudice a petition to commence bankruptcy proceedings.

The court that has made an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings must immediately give a public notice of the main text of the reversal order and give a notice of the main text to the persons listed in the items of paragraph (3) of the preceding Article (excluding item (iii)), if an immediate appeal stated in paragraph (1) is filed and an order to reverse this order becomes final and binding; but when an order stated in Article 31, paragraph (5) is issued, the notice is not required to be given to known bankruptcy creditors.

Any and all property that a bankrupt holds at the time of commencement of bankruptcy proceedings (irrespective of whether it exists in Japan) is to constitute a bankruptcy estate.

Any claim which may arise in the future and be enforced by the bankrupt based on a cause that has occurred prior to the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings is to belong to the bankruptcy estate.

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1), the following property does not belong to a bankruptcy estate:

money obtained by multiplying the amount prescribed in Article 131, item (iii) of the Civil Enforcement Act (Act No. 4 of 1979) by one and a half; and

property that may not be seized (excluding money prescribed in Article 131, item (iii) of the Civil Enforcement Act); provided, however, that this does not apply to property for which a seizure is allowed pursuant to the provisions of Article 132, paragraph (1) of that Act (including cases as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 192 of that Act) and property which becomes seizable after the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings.

During the period from the time when an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings is issued until the day on which one month has elapsed since the day on which the order becomes final and binding, by an order and upon the petition of the bankrupt or by its own authority, the court may expand the scope of property that does not belong to the bankruptcy estate, while taking into consideration the bankrupt's living conditions, the types of property stated in the items of the preceding paragraph that the bankrupt held at the time of commencement of bankruptcy proceedings and the amount of its value, the likelihood for the bankrupt to earn income and any other relevant circumstances.

The court must hear an opinion of a bankruptcy trustee when issuing an order stated in the preceding paragraph.

The bankrupt may file an immediate appeal against an order dismissing the petition stated in paragraph (4).

A corporation that is dissolved through an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings under the provisions of other Acts or a dissolved corporation that has received an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings is deemed to remain in existence to the extent of the purpose of liquidation through bankruptcy proceedings until the bankruptcy proceedings are closed.

Even after an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings is made, a bankruptcy trustee may continue the bankrupt's business with permission of the court.

The bankrupt may not leave their place of residence without filing a petition and obtaining the permission of the court.

The bankrupt may file an immediate appeal against an order dismissing without prejudice the petition stated in the preceding paragraph.

The court may order the bankrupt to be physically escorted to the court or any other place when it finds it necessary.

When a petition to commence bankruptcy proceedings is made, the court may order the debtor physically escorted to the court or any other place even before making an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings.

A physical escort under the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs must be undertaken after the issuance of a writ of physical escort

The bankrupt or debtor may file an immediate appeal against an order to order the physical escort to the court or other places made under the provisions of paragraph (1) or (2).

The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Act No. 131 of 1948) concerning physical escorts apply mutatis mutandis to the physical escorts to the court and other places under the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2).

The provisions of the preceding two Articles apply mutatis mutandis to the bankrupt's legal representative and manager, as well as to the bankrupt's director, company director, executive officer, and any other person equivalent to them.

Upon the request of a bankruptcy trustee or the creditors' committee prescribed in Article 144, paragraph (2) or the request based on a resolution at a creditors' meeting, the following persons must give necessary explanation concerning bankruptcy; provided, however, that with regard to the person stated in item (v), this applies only when permitted by the court:

bankrupt;

bankrupt's agent;

when the bankrupt is a corporation, its director, company director, executive officer, inspector, company auditor, and liquidator;

any other person equivalent to the persons stated in the preceding item; and

bankrupt's employee (excluding the person stated in item (ii)).

The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis to a person that is any of the persons stated in the items of that paragraph (excluding item (i)).

After an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings is issued, the bankrupt must submit to the court a document stating the contents of real property, cash, securities, deposits and savings, and any other types of property designated by the court that the bankrupt owns.

If an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings is issued, enforcement against property that belong to the bankruptcy estate, provisional seizures, provisional dispositions against the property, general statutory liens, enterprise mortgages or disposal of foreign tax delinquency, which is based on a bankruptcy claim or claim on the estate, or is intended to secure a bankruptcy claim or claim on the estate, cannot be exercised.

In the case prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the procedures for enforcement, provisional seizure, provisional disposition, exercise of a general statutory lien or exercise of an enterprise mortgage or disposal of foreign tax delinquency prescribed in that paragraph, which have already been initiated against property that belong to the bankruptcy estate, cease to be effective in relation to the bankruptcy estate; provided, however, that with regard to the procedure for enforcement or exercise of a general statutory lien prescribed in that paragraph (referred to below as "enforcement or exercise of a statutory lien" in this Article), this does not preclude a bankruptcy trustee from continuing the procedure in the interest of the bankruptcy estate.

With regard to the procedure for enforcement or exercise of a statutory lien continued pursuant to the provisions of the proviso to the preceding paragraph, the provisions of Article 63 and Article 129 of the Civil Enforcement Act (including cases in which these provisions are applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to that Act or other laws and regulations concerning a procedure for enforcement) do not apply.

A claim for expenses against the bankrupt for the procedure for enforcement or exercise of a statutory lien continued pursuant to the provisions of the proviso to paragraph (2) is a claim on the estate.

With regard to a third party action against the enforcement or exercise of a statutory lien continued pursuant to the provisions of the proviso to paragraph (2), the bankruptcy trustee stands as a defendant.

If an order commencing bankruptcy proceedings is issued, no petition may be filed for an asset disclosure procedure (meaning an asset disclosure procedure prescribed in Article 196 of the Civil Enforcement Act; the same applies below in this paragraph and Article 249, paragraph (1) and paragraph (2)) or procedure for acquiring information from a third party (meaning the procedures for acquiring information from third parties prescribed in Article 204 of that Act; the same applies below in this paragraph and Article 249, paragraphs (1) and (2)) based on a bankruptcy claim or claim on the estate, and an asset disclosure procedure and a procedure for acquiring information from a third party based on a bankruptcy claim or claim on the estate, cease to be effective.