Financial Instruments and Exchange Act

An official of the securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "Commission" in this Chapter) (hereinafter such an official is referred to as a "Commission official" in this Chapter) may, if this is necessary for investigating a criminal case (meaning a case relating to a crime referred to in Chapter VIII that is specified by Cabinet Order as a crime that is detrimental to the fairness of the purchase and sale or other transactions of securities or crypto-and other assets or of derivatives transactions, etc., or as any other crime that is necessary and appropriate to be made subject to investigation by Commission officials for the public interest or investor protection; hereinafter the same applies in this Chapter), request a suspect or witness (hereinafter referred to as a "suspect or witness in a criminal case" in this paragraph and paragraph (1) of the following Article) to appear, ask questions to a suspect or witness in a criminal case, inspect articles in the possession of or abandoned by a suspect or witness in a criminal case, or retain articles that a suspect or witness in a criminal case voluntarily submits or abandons.

The Commission official may inquire with public agencies, or public or private organizations, and request them to report necessary particulars for the investigation of criminal cases.

If it is necessary for investigating a criminal case, a Commission official may conduct an inspection; search the body of a suspect or witness in a criminal case, an object of a suspect or witness in a criminal case, or a residence or any other place associated with a suspect or witness in a criminal case; seize an article of evidence or a thing the official considers to be an object that should be confiscated; or issue an order to provide electronic or magnetic records (meaning an order to provide necessary electronic or magnetic records to the persons set forth in the following items by the methods specified in those items (limited to an order given by designating the electronic or magnetic records to be provided and the method of provision); hereinafter the same applies in this Chapter) through a warrant issued in advance by the judge of the district court or summary court that has jurisdiction over the locality of the Commission; provided, however, that a Commission official may search the body of a witness, an object associated with a witness, or a residence or any other place associated with a witness only if there are sufficient circumstances for the official to discern the existence of an object to be seized.

a person that keeps electronic or magnetic records: the method set forth in (a) or (b) below;

a method of causing an electronic or magnetic record to be recorded on or transferred to a recording medium and causing that recording medium to be submitted;

a method of causing an electronic or magnetic record to be recorded on or transferred to a recording medium under the control of the person issuing the order, through telecommunication lines;

a person with the authority to use an electronic or magnetic record (excluding a person set forth in the preceding item): the method set forth in (a) or (b) of that item (limited to a method by which an electronic or magnetic record is recorded on a recording medium).

If an object to be seized is a computer, starting from a recording medium connected via telecommunication lines to that computer which may be reasonably supposed that is used to store an electronic or magnetic record that has been made or altered using that computer or an electronic or magnetic record that may be altered or erased using that computer, the computer or the other recording medium may be seized after the electronic or magnetic record is copied onto that computer or that other recording medium.

If a Commission official issues an order to provide electronic or magnetic records and it is necessary to do so, the official may, with the permission of the judge of the district court or summary court that has jurisdiction over the locality of the Commission, order the person who is to receive that order to provide electronic or magnetic records, specifying a period not exceeding one year, not to disclose without good reason the fact of having received that order to provide electronic or magnetic records, or the fact of having provided, or having failed to provide, the electronic or magnetic records ordered to be provided by that order to provide electronic or magnetic records.

In the cases referred to in the preceding three paragraphs, in cases of urgency, a Commission official may make a disposition referred to in the preceding three paragraphs with a warrant issued in advance by the judge of the district court or the summary court that has jurisdiction over the locality of the object or place to be inspected, the body, object, or place to be searched, the object to be seized, or the person who is to provide the electronic or magnetic record.

In requesting a warrant referred to in paragraph (1) or the preceding paragraph (hereinafter referred to as a "warrant" in this Chapter, excluding Article 222-4, paragraphs (4) through (8)), a Commission official must submit materials that confirm the existence of a criminal case.

A warrant may be in the form of an electronic or magnetic record, as well as in writing, as provided by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

If a Commission official has issued an order under the provisions of paragraph (3) and it has ceased to be necessary, the official must rescind it, on the official's own initiative or at the request of the person who received that order.

If a request under paragraph (5) is made and the judge of the district court or the summary court issues a warrant, that judge must issue to a Commission official a warrant that states or records the name of the suspect in the criminal case (for a corporation, the name of the corporation), the charged offense, the object or place to be inspected, the person, object, or place to be searched, the object to be seized, or the electronic or magnetic record to be provided, the person who is to provide it and the method of provision, the government position and name of the requester, the particulars specified in each of the following items in accordance with the category of cases set forth in that item, the date of issuance, the name of the court, and other particulars specified by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

If the warrant is in writing: the valid period, and the fact that after the valid period ends, the warrant may not be executed or an order to provide electronic or magnetic records issued and must be returned;

If the warrant is in the form of an electronic or magnetic record: the valid period, and the fact that after the valid period ends, the warrant may not be executed or an order to provide electronic or magnetic records issued and the Commission official must take measures specified by the Rules of the Supreme Court such as erasing the warrant from the computer used by the Commission official, and must submit to that judge an electronic or magnetic record recording the fact that those measures have been taken.

In the case referred to in paragraph (2), in addition to the particulars prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the warrant must state or record the scope of the recording medium that is connected via telecommunication lines to the computer to be seized, and whose electronic or magnetic records are to be copied.

A warrant must be one for which the measures specified in each of the following items have been taken in accordance with the category of cases set forth in that item.

If the warrant is in writing: the judge affixes the judge's name and seal;

If the warrant is in the form of an electronic or magnetic record: the judge takes a measure specified by the Rules of the Supreme Court in place of affixing a name and seal (limited to one by which, when the particulars recorded in the warrant are displayed on the screen of a computer, on paper, or on another thing, the judge's name is also displayed).

When the judge of the district court or the summary court grants the permission under paragraph (3), the judge must state or record in the warrant that fact and the period for which the person is ordered not to disclose under the provisions of that paragraph.

A Commission official may provide a warrant to another Commission official and have that official execute the inspection, search, seizure, or order to provide electronic or magnetic records.

If it is necessary for investigating a criminal case, a Commission official may seize a document concerning a postal item, correspondence item, or telegraphic communication sent by or addressed to a suspect in a criminal case, which, based on the provisions of laws and regulations, is stored by or in the possession of a person handling communications, by being issued a warrant.

A Commission official may seize a document concerning a postal item, correspondence item, or telegraphic communication not falling under the preceding paragraph, which, based on the provisions of laws and regulations, is stored by or in the possession of a person handling communications only if there are sufficient circumstances to suppose that the document is related to a criminal case, by being issued a warrant.

Upon making the disposition under the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, Commission official must notify the sender or recipient to that effect; provided, however, that this does not apply if notifying the sender or recipient is likely to hinder the investigation of the criminal case.

If it is necessary for carrying out the seizure or having electronic or magnetic records provided by an order to provide electronic or magnetic records, a Commission official may specify the necessary electronic or magnetic records from among the electronic or magnetic records of the sender, recipient, date and time, and other communications history, for telecommunications that are recorded in the course of business, and request in writing or by electronic or magnetic record that a person engaged in the business of making equipment to be used for telecommunication available for other persons' communications or a person that has established equipment which is used for telecommunication and that is capable of intermediating the communications of unspecified or many persons for their own business not to erase the specified electronic or magnetic records during a fixed period of no longer than 30 days. In such a case, if the Commission official comes to find that it is no longer necessary to carry out the seizure of the electronic or magnetic records subject to that request or to have those electronic or magnetic records provided by an order to provide electronic or magnetic records, the Commission official must withdraw that request.

If it is particularly necessary, the period during which the request is made not to erase the records pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph may be extended by a period of no longer than 30 days; provided however, that the period during which the request is made not to erase the records may not exceed 60 days in total.

If it is necessary to do so in making a request under the provisions of paragraph (1), the Commission official may request that the particulars of that request not be divulged without reason.