Article 16Making and Receiving Payments

①If the competent minister finds it to be necessary to do so in order for Japan to faithfully perform its obligations under a treaty or any other international agreement that it has concluded, if the competent minister finds it to be particularly necessary to do so in order for Japan to contribute to international efforts towards international peace, or if a cabinet decision as referred to in Article 10, paragraph (1) is reached, the competent minister, pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Order, may make it obligatory for residents or non-residents seeking to make a payment from Japan to a foreign country to get permission to make that payment, and may make it obligatory for residents seeking to make or receive a payment to or from non-residents to get permission to make or receive that payment, unless the payment in question is one that is being made or received in connection with a transaction or action that it has been made obligatory for persons to get permission or approval for from the same perspective as stated above.

②Beyond as prescribed in the preceding paragraph, if the competent minister finds it to be particularly necessary to do so in order to maintain Japan's balance of payments equilibrium, the competent minister, pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Order, may make it obligatory for residents or non-residents seeking to make a payment from Japan to a foreign country or residents seeking to make a payment to non-residents to get permission to make that payment, unless the payment in question is made in connection with a transaction or action for which it has been made obligatory pursuant to the following Chapter through Chapter VI for persons to get permission or file a notification, or is made in connection with a transaction or action that, pursuant to those Chapters, the relevant authority is permitted to make it obligatory for persons to get permission or approval for.

③Beyond as prescribed in the preceding two paragraphs, if the competent minister finds it to be necessary to do so in order to ensure the reliable implementation of the provisions of this Act or an Order based on this Act, the competent minister, pursuant to the provisions of Cabinet Order, may make it obligatory for residents or non-residents seeking to make a payment from Japan to a foreign country to get permission to make that payment, and may make it obligatory for residents seeking to make or receive a payment to or from non-residents to get permission to make or receive that payment, unless the payment in question is made or received in connection with a transaction or action for which it has been made obligatory pursuant to the following Chapter through Chapter VI for persons to get permission or file a notification, or is made or received in connection with a transaction or action that, pursuant to those Chapters, the competent minister is permitted to make it obligatory for persons to get permission or approval for.

④If, pursuant to the provisions of two or more of the preceding three paragraphs, it has been made obligatory for persons to get permission to make or receive a payment that, pursuant to each of those three paragraphs, the competent minister is permitted to make it obligatory for persons to get permission for, a person seeking to make or receive such a payment may file a combined application for the permissions under those two or more paragraphs, pursuant to Cabinet Order. In such a case, the competent minister must decide whether to give permission while taking into consideration the circumstances that have led the minister to make it obligatory for persons to get permission to make or receive the payment under the application.

⑤Except in the cases that Cabinet Order prescribes, if it has been made obligatory for persons to get permission or approval for a transaction or action or to file notification of a transaction or action pursuant to this Act or an Order based on this Act, a person must not make or receive a payment in connection with that transaction or action without getting the permission or approval or without filing the notification.