Health Insurance Act

The following affairs under the authority of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare (excluding those to be administered by JHIA pursuant to the provisions of Article 181-3, paragraph (1), those to be administered by the mayor of a municipality pursuant to the provisions of the preceding Article, paragraph (1), and those prescribed in Article 204-7, paragraph (1)) are to be administered by the Japan Pension Service (hereinafter referred to as "JPS"); however, the authorities listed in items (xviii) through (xx) do not preclude the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare from personally administering the affairs:

acceptance of a request pursuant to the provisions of Article 3, paragraph (1), item (viii);

approval pursuant to the proviso to Article 3, paragraph (2) (limited to the portion pertaining to items (i) and (ii) of the same paragraph);

authorization pursuant to the provisions of Article 31, paragraph (1) and Article 33, paragraph (1) (excluding those pertaining to health insurance societies), approval pursuant to the provisions of Article 34, paragraph (1) (excluding those pertaining to health insurance societies), and acceptance of requests pursuant to the provisions Article 31, paragraph (2) and Article 33, paragraph (2) (excluding those pertaining to health insurance societies);

confirmation pursuant to the provisions of Article 39, paragraph (1);

determination or revision of standard monthly remuneration pursuant to the provisions of Article 41, paragraph (1), Article 42, paragraph (1), Article 43, paragraph (1), Article 43-2, paragraph (1), and Article 43-3, paragraph (1) (including acceptance of a request pursuant to Article 43-2, paragraph (1) and Article 43-3, paragraph (1), and including a case where an amount calculated is determined or revised as a monthly standard remuneration pursuant to Article 44, paragraph (1));

determination of amounts of standard bonus amount pursuant to the provisions of Article 45, paragraph (1) (including when an amount is determined by calculating pursuant to the provisions of Article 44, paragraph (1) as applied mutatis mutandis to paragraph (2) of Article 45);

acceptance of requests pursuant to the provisions of Article 48 (including when applied mutatis mutandis to Article 168, paragraph (2)) and giving notifications pursuant to the provisions of Article 50, paragraph (1);

giving notice pertaining to authorization pursuant to the provisions of Article 49, paragraph (1) (excluding those pertaining to health insurance societies), acceptance of notifications pursuant to the provisions paragraph (3) of the same Article (excluding those pertaining to health insurance societies), and giving public notice pursuant to the provisions of paragraphs (4) and (5) of the same Article (excluding those pertaining to health insurance societies);

confirmation or giving notice about determination or revision of standard remuneration pursuant to the provisions of Article 49, paragraph (1), acceptance of notifications pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of the same Article (including when applied mutatis mutandis to Article 50, paragraph (2)), and public notice pursuant to the provisions of Article 49, paragraphs (4) and (5) (including when applied mutatis mutandis to Article 50, paragraph (2));

acceptance of requests pursuant to the provisions of Article 51, paragraph (1) and dismissal of requests pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2) of the same Article;

acceptance of applications pursuant to the provisions of Article 126, paragraph (1), delivery thereof pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2) of the same Article, and receipt of specially-insured day laborer's insurance books pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of the same Article;

acceptance of a request pursuant to the provisions of Article 159, paragraph (1) and Article 159-3;

acceptance of and approval for a request pursuant to the provisions of Article 166 (including when applied mutatis mutandis to Article 169, paragraph (8));

acceptance of reports pursuant to the provisions of Article 171, paragraphs (1) and (3);

dispositions as governed by the same rules as dispositions of a national tax delinquency pursuant to the provisions of Article 180, paragraph (4) and requests toward a municipality pursuant to the provisions of the same paragraph;

authority pertaining to collection as governed by the same rules as national tax collection pursuant to the provisions of Article 183 (excluding notification of payment pursuant to the provisions of Article 36, paragraph (1) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes (Act No. 66 of 1962), exercise of rights belonging to persons obliged to pay pursuant to the provisions of Article 423, paragraph (1) of the Civil Code as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 42 of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes, grace periods for payment pursuant to the provisions of Article 46 of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes, and other authority specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as well as questioning, inspection, requests for presentation or submission, retention of articles, and searching listed in the following item);

questioning, inspection, and requests for presentation or submission pursuant to the provisions of Article 141 of the National Tax Collection Act (Act No. 147 of 1959) as governed by the provisions of Article 183, retention of articles pursuant to the provisions of Article 141-2 of the same Act, as well as searching pursuant to the provisions of Article 142 of the same Act;

having an employer report, present documents, and administer other affairs necessary for enforcement of this Act pursuant to the provisions of Article 197, paragraph (1), and having an insured person make a request or notification, or submit documents pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2) of the same Article;

orders, questions, and inspections pursuant to the provisions of Article 198, paragraph (1) (excluding cases pertaining to health insurance societies);

requests for the provision of materials and requests for reports pursuant to the provisions of Article 199, paragraph (1);

acceptance of a request pursuant to the provisions of Article 8-3-2, paragraphs (2) and (5) of the Supplementary Provisions; and

beyond the matters listed in the preceding items, the authority specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

When JPS finds it necessary for effectively administering affairs concerning dispositions as governed by the same rules as dispositions of national tax delinquency and listed in item (xv) of the preceding paragraph and the authorities listed in item (xvii) of the same paragraph (hereinafter referred to as "dispositions of delinquency") and other authorities specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare among the authorities listed in the items of the same paragraph, JPS may provide information necessary for the exercise of the authorities to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare and request the Minister to personally exercise the authorities, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

When a request is made pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare is to personally exercise all or part of the authorities listed in the items of the paragraph (1) if the Minister finds it necessary or finds it difficult or inappropriate for JPS to administer all or some of the affairs pertaining to those authorities due to a natural disaster or other reasons.

The provisions of Article 100-4, paragraphs (4) through (7) of the Employee's Pension Insurance Act apply mutatis mutandis to JPS's administration of affairs concerning the authorities listed in the items of paragraph (1) or the exercise of those authorities by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

When the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare decides to personally exercise all or part of dispositions of delinquency pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3) of the preceding Article or the authorities listed in paragraph (1), item (xvi) of the same Article, and finds it necessary for the effective collection of insurance premiums and other money to be collected pursuant to the provisions of this Act (excluding money collected pursuant to the provisions of Article 58, Article 74, paragraph (2) and Article 109, paragraph (2) (including when applied mutatis mutandis in Article 149); referred to as "insurance premiums, etc." in Article 204-6, paragraph (1)) because a person obliged to pay in relation to those authorities as well as the authorities specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare among those specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as prescribed by the same items (referred to as "dispositions of delinquency and other dispositions" hereinafter in this paragraph) is likely to be concealing property for the purpose of avoiding execution of a disposition of delinquency or other dispositions or there are other similar circumstances specified by Cabinet Order, the Minister may provide information on the person obliged to pay and other necessary information to the Minister of Finance and delegate all or part of authorities for the disposition of delinquency and other dispositions pertaining to the person obliged to pay to the Minister of Finance, as specified by Cabinet Order.

The provisions of Article 100-5, paragraphs (2) through (7) of the Employees' Pension Insurance Act apply mutatis mutandis to the delegation of authority to the Minister of Finance pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

When executing a disposition of delinquency, JPS must obtain authorization from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare in advance and have its official responsible for collection execute the disposition in accordance with regulations for disposition of delinquency as prescribed in paragraph (1) of the following Article.

The provisions of Article 100-6, paragraphs (2) and (3) of the Employee's Pension Insurance Act apply mutatis mutandis to a disposition of delinquency executed by JPS pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

JPS must specify regulations for disposition of delinquency (referred to as "regulations for disposition of delinquency" in the following paragraph) and obtain authorization therefor from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. The same applies when JPS revises the standards.

The provisions of Article 100-7, paragraphs (2) and (3) of the Employee's Pension Insurance Act apply mutatis mutandis to authorization of and revision to regulations for disposition to delinquency.

When JPS administers affairs pertaining to the authorities listed in Article 204, paragraph (1), item (xix), it must obtain authorization from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare in advance.

When applying the provisions of Article 198, paragraph (1) in the case prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the phrase "insurance premiums, or insurance benefits" in the same paragraph is replaced with "or insurance premiums", and "the ministry's official" is replaced with "an employee of the Japan Pension Service".

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Public Accounting Act (Act No. 35 of 1947), the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may have JPS collect insurance premiums as specified by Cabinet Order in cases of collection specified by Cabinet Order.

The provisions of Article 100-11, paragraphs (2) through (6) of the Employee's Pension Insurance Act apply mutatis mutandis to collection executed by JPS pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph. In this case, the necessary technical replacement of terms is specified by Cabinet Order.