Financial Instruments and Exchange Act

The preceding paragraph applies only if, beyond the particulars specified by Cabinet Office Order which are referred to in that paragraph, the shelf registration statement referred to in that paragraph states, pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Office Order, that reference should be made to the latest reference documents for the relevant issuer with regard to the particulars set forth in Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ii), and only if such shelf registration statement is accompanied by the documents that are specified by Cabinet Office Order as necessary and appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors.

The provisions of Article 4, paragraphs (1) through (3) do not apply to a public offering or secondary distribution of the securities for which a registration under paragraph (1) (hereinafter referred to as a "shelf registration") has been made.

A company that is the issuer of securities for which a shelf registration has been made may continue to submit annual securities reports and accompanying documents under Article 24, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 24, paragraph (5); hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph), even after the obligation to submit an annual securities report under Article 24, paragraph (1) extinguishes, if their submission is necessary to satisfy the requirements set forth in Article 5, paragraph (4).

If, on or after the day on which a shelf registration was made and before the day on which the shelf registration ceases to be effective, new documents are submitted that are of the same type as the reference documents to which the shelf registration statement states, pursuant to paragraph (2) of the preceding Article, that reference should be made (excluding cases in which the shelf registration statement states the due date for the submission of those same type of documents and those same type of documents are submitted by the due date) or any other circumstance arises that is specified by Cabinet Office Order as necessitating that the content of the shelf registration statement and accompanying documents (hereinafter referred to as "shelf registration documents" in this Article) be amended in the public interest or for the protection of investors, the person that made the shelf registration (hereinafter referred to as the "shelf registrant") must submit an amended shelf registration statement to the Prime Minister pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Office Order. The same also applies in the absence of such a circumstance, if the shelf registrant finds there to be something in the shelf registration documents that necessitates an amendment. In this, the shelf registrant may not make an amendment in order to increase the planned amount of issuance or the maximum outstanding balance, change the planned issuance period, or change any other particular specified by Cabinet Office Order.

The provisions of Article 8 apply mutatis mutandis to effectuation of a shelf registration. In this case, in Article 8, paragraph (1), the phrase "the statement under Article 5, paragraph (1) (or, if the particulars referred to in the proviso to Article 5, paragraph (1) are not stated in the statement, the amended statement under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article which is connected with those particulars; the same applies in the following paragraph)" is deemed to be replaced with "shelf registration statement provided for in Article 23-3, paragraph (1) (hereinafter referred to as a 'shelf registration statement' in this Article to Article 23)"; in Article 8, paragraph (2), the phrase "an amended statement under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article" is deemed to be replaced with "an amended shelf registration statement under Article 23-4" and the phrase "the statement set forth in Article 5, paragraph (1)" is deemed to be replaced with "the shelf registration statement"; and in Article 8, paragraph (3), the phrase "statement or other documents under Article 5, paragraph (1) or (13) or paragraph (1) of the preceding Article" is deemed to be replaced with "shelf registration statement and accompanying documents or an amended shelf registration statement under Article 23-4 submitted before the day on which the shelf registration prescribed in Article 23-3, paragraph (3) (hereinafter referred to as a 'shelf registration' in this Article to Article 23) comes into effect" and the phrase "the person that submitted the statement and other documents" is deemed to be replaced with "the person that submitted those documents".

If, pursuant to the preceding Article, an amended shelf registration statement is submitted on or after the day on which a shelf registration comes into effect and the Prime Minister finds it to be necessary and appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors, the Prime Minister may order the suspension of the validity of the shelf registration during a fixed period of no longer than 15 days designated thereby.

The planned issuance period for securities under shelf registration is the period that is specified by Cabinet Office Order of up to two years from the day on which the shelf registration comes into effect.

A shelf registration ceases to be effective on the day on which the planned issuance period under the preceding paragraph has elapsed.

If a public offering or secondary distribution has ended for securities comprising the entire planned amount of issuance before the day on which the planned issuance period set forth in paragraph (1) of the preceding Article elapses, the shelf registrant must withdraw the shelf registration by submitting a written withdrawal of shelf registration in which it indicates this to the Prime Minister, pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Office Order.

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article, in a case referred to in the preceding paragraph, the shelf registration ceases to be effective on the day on which the Prime Minister accepts the written withdrawal of shelf registration.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the issuer, person that engages in the secondary distribution of securities, underwriter, financial instruments business operator, or registered financial institution may cause short-term corporate bonds provided for in Article 66, item (i) of the Act on Book-Entry Transfer of Corporate Bonds and Shares or any other bonds, etc. specified by Cabinet Order that are among the book-entry bonds set forth in Article 278, paragraph (1) of that Act (limited to those with an outstanding balance that is made available for public inspection by the book-entry transfer institution (meaning a book-entry transfer institution provided for in Article 2, paragraph (2) of that Act) that deals in the relevant book-entry bonds), whose public offerings or secondary distributions have been registered in advance through a shelf registration, to be acquired through public offerings or secondary distributions or to sell such bonds, etc. through public offerings or secondary distributions, if the shelf registration has come into effect.

If a public offering or secondary distribution of securities will be made only to shareholders that are stated or recorded in the shareholder register as of a certain date, the shelf registration supplement for that public offering or secondary distribution must be submitted by 10 days prior to that date; provided, however, that this does not apply in the cases that are specified by Cabinet Office Order in consideration of the issue price or distribution price or other circumstances.

As well as stating, pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Office Order and in addition to the particulars specified by Cabinet Office Order which are referred to in paragraph (1), that reference should be made to the latest reference documents on the issuer with regard to the particulars set forth in Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ii), the shelf registration supplements referred to in paragraph (1) must be accompanied by the documents that are specified by Cabinet Office Order as necessary and appropriate in the public interest for the protection of investors.

If the Prime Minister finds a formal deficiency in a shelf registration statement (including reference documents for that registration statement) or accompanying document or in an amended shelf registration statement under Article 23-4 (including reference documents for that amended registration statement), or finds any of these documents to insufficiently state a material particular that is required to be stated therein, the Prime Minister may order the person submitting the document to submit an amended shelf registration statement. In such a case, irrespective of the category of proceeding for hearing statements of opinion under Article 13, paragraph (1) of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Prime Minister must conduct a hearing.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 8 as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 23-5, paragraph (1), if a disposition under the preceding paragraph is reached before the day on which the shelf registration comes into effect, the shelf registration comes into effect on the day on which the period designated by the Prime Minister elapses following the day on which the Prime Minister accepts the shelf registration statement for that shelf registration.

In a case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if an amended shelf registration statement under Article 23-4 is submitted during the period designated by the Prime Minister, the shelf registration statement is deemed to have been accepted by the Prime Minister on the day on which the Prime Minister accepts the amended shelf registration statement.

In a case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the Prime Minister finds that an amended shelf registration statement under Article 23-4 is easily understandable to the public or finds that information about the particulars set forth in Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ii) with regard to the person that submitted the amended shelf registration statement is already widely available to the public, the Prime Minister may designate a period that is shorter than that which the Prime Minister has designated as under paragraph (2). In such a case, the shelf registration comes into effect on the day on which the shorter period has elapsed.

The provisions of paragraph (3) apply mutatis mutandis if the shorter period under the preceding paragraph is designated and an amended shelf registration statement under Article 23-4 is submitted during that shorter period.