Defined Contribution Pension Act

Payment of benefits which are paid as pensions (referred to as "pension benefits" in the following paragraph) is to commence in the month following the month in which the grounds for paying the benefits occurred and end in the month in which the right to receive benefits extinguishes.

The payment months of pension benefits are to be in accordance with the provisions of the corporate-type pension plan rules.

The right to receive benefits may not be transferred, provided as collateral, or seized; provided, however, that this does not apply to a case of seizing the right to receive old-age benefits and a lump-sum death benefit based on a disposition of national tax delinquency (including a disposition governed by the same rules).

Taxes and other public charges may not be imposed based on money paid as disability benefits.

If a person who was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan (limited to a person who has assets managed per individual under that corporate-type pension plan, and excluding a beneficiary of disability benefits of that corporate-type pension plan or a participant of a corporate-type pension plan of another corporate-type pension plan; hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph) and who is set forth in any of the following items has a total enrollment period of the number of years or months set forth in the respective items or longer, that person is entitled to claim the payment of old-age benefits from a corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc., pursuant to the provisions of Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; provided, however, that a person who was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan and who is aged 60 or over but under 75 is entitled to claim the payment of old-age benefits from a corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc. from the day on which five years have passed from the day specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, such as the day on which that person became a participant of a corporate-type pension plan, even if the person does not have that total enrollment period:

a person aged 60 or over but under 61:10 years;

a person aged 61 or over but under 62:eight years;

a person aged 62 or over but under 63:six years;

a person aged 63 or over but under 64:four years;

a person aged 64 or over but under 65:two years; or

a person aged 65 or over:one month.

The total enrollment period referred to in the preceding paragraph means a period totaling the following periods for the person prescribed in that paragraph (limited to the periods in or before the month containing the day preceding the day on which that person reached the age of 60) pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Order:

the participant of a corporate-type pension plan period;

the instructor of a corporate-type pension plan period;

the period during which the person is a participant of an individual-type pension plan (hereinafter referred to as the "participant of an individual-type pension plan period"); and

the period during which the person is an instructor of an individual-type pension plan investment (hereinafter referred to as the "instructor of an individual-type pension plan investment period").

When the claim referred to in paragraph (1) has been filed, the asset management institution pays old-age benefits to the person who filed the claim, based on a ruling by the corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc.

When a person who is or was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan (limited to a person who has assets managed per individual under the corporate-type pension plan) reaches the age of 75 without claiming the payment of old-age benefits pursuant to the provisions of the preceding Article, the asset management institution pays old-age benefits to that person, based on a ruling by the corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc.

Old-age benefits are paid as pensions.

If the corporate-type pension plan rules provide that all or part of old-age benefits may be paid in lump sum, old-age benefits may be paid in lump sum pursuant to the provisions of the corporate-type pension plan rules, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

The right to receive old-age benefits extinguishes when the beneficiary falls under any of the following items:

when the beneficiary dies;

when the beneficiary becomes a beneficiary of disability benefits under the corporate-type pension plan; or

when the beneficiary no longer has assets managed per individual under the corporate-type pension plan.

If a person who is or was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan (limited to a person who has assets managed per individual under the corporate-type pension plan) has contracted an illness or suffered an injury and has come to have a disability of a degree of severity specified by Cabinet Order due to that injury or illness or an illness caused by that illness or injury (hereinafter referred to as an " illness or injury") during the period from the day on which one year and six months have passed since the day on which the person received the first medical examination from a doctor or dentist for that illness or injury (hereinafter referred to as the "day of initial examination") (if the illness or injury has healed on any day within this period (including a day on which the symptoms thereof have stabilized to a level where no curative effect is expected), the period from that day; the starting day of the period is hereinafter referred to as the "day of disability assessment"), until the day preceding the day on which the person reaches the age of 75, the person is entitled to claim the payment of disability benefits from a corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc. during that period.

If a person who is or was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan (limited to a person who has assets managed per individual under the corporate-type pension plan) has contracted an illness or suffered an injury and, as of the day of initial examination for that illness or injury (hereinafter referred to as the "base illness or injury" in this paragraph), had a disability caused by an illness or injury other than the base illness or injury, and if, during the period from the day of disability assessment for the base illness or injury until the day preceding the day on which the person reaches the age of 75, the person has come to have the disability of a degree of severity specified by Cabinet Order referred to in the preceding paragraph, for the first time, by combining the disability caused by the base illness or injury and the other disability (limited to the case where the day of initial examination for the base illness or injury is on or after the day of initial examination for the illness or injury other than the base illness or injury (if there are two or more injuries or illnesses other than the base illness or injury, the days of initial examination for all of the injuries or illnesses other than the base illness or injury)), the person is entitled to claim the payment of disability benefits from a corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc. during that period.

When the claim referred to in either of the preceding two paragraphs has been filed, the asset management institution pays disability benefits to the person who filed the claim, based on a ruling by the corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc.

Disability benefits are paid as pensions.

If the corporate-type pension plan rules provide that all or part of disability benefits may be paid in a lump sum, disability benefits may be paid in a lump sum pursuant to the provisions of the corporate-type pension plan rules, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

The right to receive disability benefits extinguishes when the beneficiary falls under any of the following items:

when the beneficiary dies; or

when the beneficiary no longer has assets managed per individual under the corporate-type pension plan.

When a person who is or was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan (limited to a person who has assets managed per individual under the corporate-type pension plan) dies, the asset management institution pays a lump-sum death benefit to that person's surviving family member, based on a ruling by the corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc.

The surviving family member who is eligible to receive a lump-sum death benefit is to be among the following persons; provided, however, that this does not apply if the deceased person had designated the family member who is to receive the lump-sum death benefit from among the person's spouse (including a person with whom notification of marriage has not been made, but who has been in a de facto marital relationship with the deceased person; hereinafter the same applies in this Article), children, father, mother, grandchildren, grandfather, grandmother, or siblings and had indicated that family member to the corporate-type pension plan records-related operational management institution, etc. before the person's death:

spouse;

children, parents, grandchildren, grandparents, and siblings, who had maintained their livelihood mainly on the income of the deceased person as of the time of the person's death;

in addition to the persons set forth in the preceding item, relatives who had maintained their livelihood mainly on the income of the deceased person as of the time of the person's death; and

children, parents, grandchildren, grandfather, grandmother, and siblings, who do not fall under item (ii).

In the case referred to in the main clause of the preceding paragraph, the order of the surviving family member who is eligible to receive the lump-sum death benefit is based on the order of the items of that paragraph, and for the persons set forth in items (ii) and (iv) of that paragraph, it is based on the order in which the persons are listed in those items. In this case, the order of parents is to be the order of adoptive parents, followed by natural parents, and the order of grandparents is to be the order of adoptive parents of adoptive parents, followed by natural parents of adoptive parents, adoptive parents of natural parents, and then natural parents of natural parents.

If there are two or more surviving family members who are eligible to receive a lump-sum death benefit pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph and who are in the same rank of order, the lump-sum death benefit is paid to them by equally dividing the benefit by that number of persons.

If there is no surviving family member who is eligible to receive a lump-sum death benefit, money in an amount equivalent to the amount of assets managed per individual relating to the deceased person is deemed to be an estate of the deceased person.

If a person who is eligible to receive a lump-sum death benefit does not file a claim for a ruling to confirm the right to receive the benefit within five years after the death of the deceased person, the provisions of the preceding paragraph apply by deeming that there is no surviving family member who is eligible to receive the lump-sum death benefit.

A person who has caused the death of a person who is or was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan by committing an intentional criminal act may not receive the lump-sum death benefit, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding Article. The same applies to a person who has, before the death of a person who is or was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan, caused the death of the person who was eligible to receive a lump-sum death benefit upon the death of the person who is or was a participant of a corporate-type pension plan, by committing an intentional criminal act.

An employer must comply with laws and regulations, dispositions made by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare based on laws and regulations, and the corporate-type pension plan rules, and loyally perform its duties in the interest of participants or instructors of a corporate-type pension plan.

When an employer keeps or uses personal information of a participant or instructor of a corporate-type pension plan, such as the name, address, date of birth, and the amount of assets managed per individual relating to the participant or instructor of a corporate-type pension plan, in connection to services relating to implementation of a corporate-type pension plan, the employer must keep or use that personal information within the scope necessary for performing those services; provided, however, that this does not apply if the person's consent has been obtained or if there are other justifiable grounds.

An employer must not conduct the following acts:

an act of concluding a contract on entrustment of operational management services under the provisions of Article 7, paragraph (1) or an asset management contract for the purpose of seeking the employer's own benefit or the benefit of a third party other than participants or instructors of a corporate-type pension plan; and

beyond what is set forth in the preceding item, the acts specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as acts that fail to protect participants or instructors of a corporate-type pension plan.

An employer (limited to one that provides investment-related services) must not conduct the following acts:

an act of selecting a specific investment method for the purpose of seeking the employer's own benefit or the benefit of a third party other than participants or instructors of a corporate-type pension plan;

beyond what is set forth in the preceding item, the acts specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as acts that fail to protect participants or instructors of a corporate-type pension plan.

An asset management institution must comply with laws and regulations and asset management contracts, and loyally perform its duties in the interest of participants or instructors of a corporate-type pension plan.