Act on Public Consultants on Social and Labour Insurance

The mission of a labor and social security attorney is, through the smooth implementation of laws and regulations concerning labor and social insurance, to contribute to the establishment of appropriate personnel management and the formation of a proper working environment in which individual dignity is maintained, thereby contributing to the sound development of business, the improvement of the welfare of workers, etc., and the improvement and promotion of social security, and thus contributing to the realization of an affluent national life and a vibrant economy and society.

A labor and social security attorney must at all times maintain dignity, be well versed in laws and regulations and practice relating to the labor and social security attorney's business, and perform that business in good faith from a fair standpoint.

A labor and social security attorney engages, as a business, in the performance of the affairs listed in the following items:

To prepare a written application, etc. (meaning a written application, notification, report, request for review, request for re-examination, or other document to be submitted to an administrative organ, etc. (including an electronic or magnetic record (meaning a record made in an electronic form, a magnetic form, or any other form not perceivable by human senses, that is used for information processing by computers; the same applies hereinafter) where such a record is prepared in lieu of preparing the document); the same applies hereinafter) on the basis of the laws and regulations concerning labor and social insurance listed in Appended Table 1 (hereinafter referred to as the "labor and social insurance laws and regulations");

To perform, on behalf of another, the procedures for the submission of a written application, etc.;

To represent another in respect of an application, notification, report, request for review, request for re-examination, or other matter based on the labor and social insurance laws and regulations (limited to those specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; hereinafter in this item referred to as an "application, etc."), or in respect of an assertion or statement (excluding those specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) made to the administrative organ, etc. concerned in relation to an investigation or disposition by that administrative organ, etc. concerning that application, etc. (referred to as "administrative representation" in Article 25-2, paragraph (1));

To represent the parties to a dispute in the mediation procedures under Article 5, paragraph (1) of the Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes (Act No. 112 of 2001) before the dispute coordinating committee under Article 6, paragraph (1) of that Act, and in the conciliation procedures under Article 74-7, paragraph (1) of the Act to Facilitate the Employment of Persons with Disabilities (Act No. 123 of 1960), Article 37, paragraph (1) of the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives (Act No. 132 of 1966), Article 24, paragraph (1) of the Act on Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment (Act No. 113 of 1972), Article 47-8, paragraph (1) of the Act on Ensuring the Proper Operation of Worker Dispatching Services and Protecting Dispatched Workers (Act No. 88 of 1985), Article 52-5, paragraph (1) of the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members (Act No. 76 of 1991), and Article 25, paragraph (1) of the Act on Improvement of Personnel Management and Conversion of Employment Status for Part-Time Workers and Fixed-Term Workers (Act No. 76 of 1993);

To represent the parties to a dispute in the mediation procedures concerning an individual labor-related dispute (meaning an individual labor-related dispute prescribed in Article 1 of the Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes (excluding a dispute that constitutes a labor dispute prescribed in Article 6 of the Labor Relations Adjustment Act (Act No. 25 of 1946), a dispute prescribed in Article 26, paragraph (1) of the Act on Labor Relations of Agency Engaged in Administrative Execution (Act No. 257 of 1948), and a dispute concerning matters relating to the recruitment and hiring of workers); hereinafter simply referred to as an "individual labor-related dispute") that a prefectural labor relations commission conducts upon delegation from the prefectural governor based on the provisions of Article 180-2 of the Local Autonomy Act (Act No. 67 of 1947);

To represent the parties to a dispute in a private dispute resolution procedure concerning an individual labor-related dispute (in the case where the value of the object of the dispute exceeds 1,200,000 yen, limited to a dispute that an attorney has accepted from the same client) (meaning a private dispute resolution procedure prescribed in Article 2, item (i) of the Act on Promotion of Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (Act No. 151 of 2004); the same applies hereinafter in this Article) that is conducted by an organization designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare as an organization found capable of fairly and properly conducting the business of private dispute resolution procedures for individual labor-related disputes;

To prepare books and documents based on the labor and social insurance laws and regulations (including an electronic or magnetic record where such a record is prepared in lieu of preparing them, and excluding written applications, etc.);

To provide consultation or give guidance on personnel management and other matters relating to labor in business and on matters relating to social insurance based on the labor and social insurance laws and regulations (including auditing the status of compliance with laws and regulations relating to those matters, and with collective agreements, rules of employment and labor contracts).

The business listed in item (i)-4 through item (i)-6 of the preceding paragraph (hereinafter referred to as "dispute resolution procedure representation business") may be conducted only by a labor and social security attorney who has passed the dispute resolution procedure representation business examination and has received an annotation under Article 14-11-3, paragraph (1) (hereinafter referred to as a "specified labor and social security attorney").

Dispute resolution procedure representation business includes the following affairs:

To provide consultation concerning the mediation procedures and conciliation procedures set out in paragraph (1), item (i)-4, the mediation procedures set out in item (i)-5 of that paragraph, and the private dispute resolution procedures conducted by an organization designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare set out in item (i)-6 of that paragraph (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "dispute resolution procedures");

To conduct settlement negotiations during the period from the commencement to the conclusion of a dispute resolution procedure;

To conclude a contract the content of which is the agreement in a settlement reached through a dispute resolution procedure.

The affairs listed in the items of paragraph (1) do not include affairs the performance of which is restricted under other laws, or affairs relating to claims made, in respect of the costs of medical care benefits based on the labor and social insurance laws and regulations and benefits equivalent thereto, by persons in charge of providing those benefits.

A labor and social security attorney may, as an assistant in court, appear in court together with a litigation representative who is an attorney, and make statements concerning personnel management and other matters relating to labor in business and matters relating to social insurance based on the labor and social insurance laws and regulations.

A statement under the preceding paragraph is deemed to have been made by the party or litigation representative in person; provided, however, that this does not apply if the party or litigation representative immediately retracts or corrects the statement referred to in that paragraph.

A person who falls under any one of the following items and who either has been engaged, for a total period of two years or more, in affairs specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare concerning the labor and social insurance laws and regulations, or is found by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare to have experience equal or superior thereto, is qualified to be a labor and social security attorney:

a person who has passed the labor and social security attorney examination;

a person whose exempted subjects of the labor and social security attorney examination under Article 11 cover all of the examination subjects listed in Article 9.

A person qualified to be an attorney is qualified to be a labor and social security attorney, notwithstanding the preceding paragraph.

A person who falls under any of the following items is not qualified to be a labor and social security attorney, notwithstanding Article 3:

a minor;

a person who is subject to a decision on the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings and has not had their rights restored;

a person who has been subject to a disposition of disqualification as a labor and social security attorney by way of disciplinary action, and for whom three years have not elapsed from the date on which the person received that disposition;

a person who has been sentenced to a fine or a heavier punishment under the provisions of this Act or the labor and social insurance laws and regulations, and for whom three years have not elapsed from the day on which the person finished serving the sentence or ceased to be subject to its execution;

a person who has been sentenced to imprisonment or a heavier punishment under the provisions of laws and regulations other than those set out in the preceding item, and for whom three years have not elapsed from the day on which the person finished serving the sentence or ceased to be subject to its execution;

a person who has been subject to a disposition of revocation of registration under Article 14-9, paragraph (1), and for whom three years have not elapsed from the date on which the person received that disposition;

a person who has been subject to a disposition of disciplinary dismissal as a public officer (including an officer or staff member of an agency engaged in administrative execution prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (4) of the Act on General Rules for Incorporated Administrative Agencies (Act No. 103 of 1999) (hereinafter referred to as an "agency engaged in administrative execution") or of a specified local incorporated administrative agency prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (2) of the Local Independent Administrative Agency Act (Act No. 118 of 2003) (hereinafter referred to as a "specified local incorporated administrative agency")), and for whom three years have not elapsed from the date on which the person received that disposition;

a person who, by way of disciplinary action, has been expelled from a bar association, has been subject to a disposition of cancellation of registration as a certified public accountant, has been prohibited from practicing as a certified public tax accountant, or has been prohibited from practicing as an administrative scrivener, and for whom three years have not elapsed from the date on which the person received those dispositions;

a person who has received a decision under Article 48, paragraph (1) of the Certified Public Tax Accountant Act (Act No. 237 of 1951) to the effect that the person should have been subject to the disposition listed in Article 44, item (iii) of that Act, and for whom three years have not elapsed from the date on which the person received that decision.