Civil Enforcement Act

A person who has filed a petition, made an offer, or filed a notification with an enforcement court in connection with a civil enforcement procedure, or been served with a document or an electronic or magnetic record (meaning any record which is produced by electronic, magnetic or any other means unrecognizable by natural perceptive senses and is used for information processing by a computer; the same applies below) by an enforcement court in connection with a civil enforcement procedure must notify the enforcement court of the place (limited to within Japan) at whichif they are to be served with documents. In this case, the person may also notify the enforcement court of the designated person to be served.

Service on of documents about a person who has not filed a notification under the first sentence of paragraph (1) (excluding the person prescribed in Article 104, paragraph (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to the preceding paragraph) isare to be made at the person's domicile, residence, business office, or office that is indicated in the case record.

If service under the preceding paragraph is to be effected but it is not possible to effect service pursuant to the provisions of Article 106 of the Code of Civil Procedure as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 20 (excluding when service is possible pursuant to the provisions of Article 109-2 of that Code as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 20), the court clerk may send the document to the domicile, residence, business office, or office referred to in the preceding paragraph by registered mail or using services for delivering correspondence that are prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (2) of the Act on Correspondence Delivery by Private Business Operators (Act No. 99 of 2002) that are provided by a general correspondence delivery provider prescribed in paragraph (6) of thatthe Article or specified correspondence delivery provider prescribed in paragraph (9) of thatthe Article and that are specified by the Rules of the Supreme Court as services equivalent to registered mail. In this case, the provisions of Article 107, paragraphs (2) and (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis.

An interested person, in connection with the civil enforcement that the enforcement court carries out, may file a request with the court clerk to inspect or copy the hard-copy case record, to be issued an authenticated copy, transcript, records (meaning the portion of a case record excluding the electronic or extract magnetic case record prescribed in paragraph (1) of the recordfollowing Article), or to be issued a certificate of matters relating to an authenticated copy, transcript, or extract of the caserecord.

The provisions of Article 91, paragraphs (4) and (5) of the Code of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis to requests made under the preceding paragraph.

An interested person, in connection with the civil enforcement that the enforcement court carries out, may file a request with the court clerk pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Supreme Court to inspect the content of electronic or magnetic case records (meaning the portion of a case record relating to matters recorded in files stored on a computer (including input and output devices; the same applies below) used by the court pursuant to the provisions of this Act and other laws and regulations; the same applies in this Article) displayed in a manner prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

An interested person, in connection with the civil enforcement that the enforcement court carries out, may file a request with the court clerk, pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Supreme Court, to copy the matters recorded in electronic or magnetic case records by recording the matters in files stored on computers by using an electronic data processing system (meaning an electronic data processing system connecting a computer used by the court to a computer used by the other person of the procedure via a telecommunications line; the same applies below) or any other method prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

An interested person, in connection with the civil enforcement that the enforcement court carries out, may file a request with the court clerk, pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Supreme Court, to issue a document stating all or part of the matters recorded in electronic or magnetic case records as certified by the court clerk to contain information identical to the matters recorded in the electronic or magnetic record according to the methods prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court, or to provide an electronic or magnetic record containing all or part of the matters as certified by the court clerk to contain information identical to the matters recorded in the electronic or magnetic case records according to the methods prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court, by recording it in a file stored on a computer used by the person via an electronic data processing system prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court or any other method prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

The provisions of Article 91, paragraph (5) of the Code of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis to requests made under paragraphs (1) and (2).

An interested person, in connection with the civil enforcement that the enforcement court carries out, may file a request with the court clerk, pursuant to the provisions of the Rules of the Supreme Court, to issue a document stating the matters related to the case as certified by the court clerk with respect to the matters according to the methods prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court, or to provide an electronic or magnetic record containing the matters as certified by the court clerk with respect to the matters according to the methods prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court, by recording it in a file stored on a computer used by the person via an electronic data processing system prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court or any other method prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

A petition or other statement in aconnected with civil enforcement procedureproceedings (referred to as a "motion or statement" in this Article) that through Article 19-6) which, pursuant to the provisions of this Act or other laws and regulations concerning the motionpetition or other statement, is to be made filed or entered with the court (including those to be filed or entered with that court's presiding judge, authorized judge, commissioned judge, or court clerk) through a document or other tangible medium (meaning a document, transcript, extract, authenticated copy, or duplicate of a document, duplicate of a bill or note, or any other paper or other tangible object into which information that can be perceived with the human senses, as characters and shapes, has been entered; the same applies in the following paragraph and paragraph (4)below), and that is made to a court specifiedmay be filed or entered by the Supreme Court (including one maderecording in a file the matters to that court's presiding judge, authorized judge, commissioned judge, or court clerk), may be made, notwithstandingstated in the provisions of those laws and regulations, bydocument or other tangible medium using an electronic data processing system (meaning an electronic data processing system connecting a computer (including input and output devices; the same applies below) used by the courtsystems pursuant to a computer used by the person makingprovisions of the motion or statement via a telecommunications line) pursuant toRules of the Supreme Court, notwithstanding the provisions of the Rules of the Supreme Courtlaws and regulations.

With regard to a motion or statement made pursuant to theThe provisions of the preceding paragraph, the provisions of laws and regulations concerningArticle 132-10, paragraphs (2) through (6) of the motion or statement are applied by deeming itCode of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis to have been made through the document or other tangible mediumpetitions and other statements filed by the method prescribed in the provisions of the laws and regulations concerningpreceding paragraph. In this case, the motion or statement that prescribe that the motion or statementterm "service" in Article 132-10, paragraph (5) and (6) is deemed to be made through a documentreplaced with "service or other tangible medium.delivery."