①The Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications may designate, as a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, a specified telecommunications service provider that provides a specified telecommunications service that falls under all of the following items and for which it is found that there is a particularly high need for expediting the implementation procedures for measures for preventing transmission of violating information and for transparency of the implementation status of transmission prevention measures with regard to the dissemination of information through specified telecommunications pertaining to its use (hereinafter referred to as a "large-scale specified telecommunications service").

②If the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications finds that the grounds for the designation under the provisions of the preceding paragraph no longer exist with regard to a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, the Minister must, without delay, rescind the designation.

③To the extent necessary for the designation under the provisions of paragraph (1) and the rescission of designation under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications may, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, have a specified telecommunications service provider report the average monthly number of senders and the average monthly total number of senders of the specified telecommunications service it provides.

④If the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications finds that it is difficult to ascertain the average monthly number of senders or the average monthly total number of senders of a specified telecommunications service provided by a specified telecommunications service provider by means of the collection of reports under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the Minister may estimate that average monthly number of senders or average monthly total number of senders by a reasonable method specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and make the designation under the provisions of paragraph (1) and the rescission of designation under the provisions of paragraph (2).

①A large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must notify the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications of the following matters, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, within three months from the date on which it was designated under the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article.

②When there is a change in the matters set forth in the items of the preceding paragraph, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must notify the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications to that effect without delay.

①A large-scale specified telecommunications service provider (limited to one that has made the notification under Article 21, paragraph (1); the same applies hereinafter) must, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, establish and publish a method for a person who alleges that the person's rights have been violated due to dissemination of information through specified telecommunications conducted using the large-scale specified telecommunications service it provides (referred to as an "infringed party" in the following Article) to make a request to that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, by indicating the violating information, etc., to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information.

②The method under the preceding paragraph must be one that conforms to all of the following items:

When an infringed party has made a request to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information in accordance with the method under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must, without delay, conduct the necessary investigation into whether the rights of that infringed party are being unjustly violated due to the dissemination of the violating information pertaining to that request.

①In order to have those parts of the investigation under the preceding Article that require specialized knowledge and experience properly conducted, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must appoint a violating information investigation specialist (referred to as an "investigation specialist" in this Article and Article 25, paragraph (2), item (ii)) from among persons who have sufficient knowledge and experience in dealing with violations of rights arising from dissemination of information through specified telecommunications.

②The number of investigation specialists of a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must be the number specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications according to the average monthly number of senders or average monthly total number of senders, and the type, of the large-scale specified telecommunications service provided by that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, or more (in the case where that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider provides multiple large-scale specified telecommunications services, the sum of the numbers specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications according to the average monthly number of senders or average monthly total number of senders, and the type, of each large-scale specified telecommunications service).

③When a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider has appointed an investigation specialist, it must, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, notify the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications to that effect and of the matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, without delay. The same applies when it has changed these.

①When a request under Article 23 has been made, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must determine, based on the results of the investigation under that Article, whether to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information, and notify the person making the request of the matters specified in each of the following items for the categories set forth in those items, within the period specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications that is within 14 days from the day on which it received the request; provided, however, that this does not apply when a request of the same content has previously been made by the person making the request or when there is otherwise a justifiable reason for not giving notification.

②Notwithstanding the main clause of the preceding paragraph, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider need only, if it falls under any of the following items, notify the person making the request of the matters specified in the relevant items of that paragraph for the categories set forth in the items of that paragraph, without delay after determining whether to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information based on the results of the investigation under Article 23. In this case, it must notify the person making the request, within the period specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications under that paragraph, of which of the following items it falls under (and, if it falls under item (iii), that fact and the content of the unavoidable reason).