National Pension Act

The right to receive a pension benefit is extinguished by prescription when five years have passed from the day on which the ground for its payment arose, and the right to receive payment of the pension benefit that is to be paid for each payment month based on that right is extinguished by prescription when five years have passed from the first day of the month following the payment month prescribed in the main clause of Article 18, paragraph (3) relating to the payment of that pension benefit that falls on or after the month following the month that contains that day.

Prescription of the right to receive a pension benefit prescribed in the preceding paragraph does not run during the period in which payment of that pension benefit is suspended in its entirety.

The provisions of Article 31 of the Public Accounting Act (Act No. 35 of 1947) do not apply to the right to receive a pension benefit prescribed in paragraph (1), or the right to receive payment of the pension benefit that is to be paid for each payment month based on that right.

The right to collect a premium or other amount to be collected under the provisions of this Act, or to receive a refund of it, and the right to receive the death lump-sum payment, are extinguished by prescription when two years have passed from the time these rights can be exercised.

A demand for payment under Article 96, paragraph (1) with respect to a premium or other amount to be collected under the provisions of this Act has the effect of renewal of prescription.

The provisions of Article 32 of the Public Accounting Act do not apply to a premium or other amount to be collected under the provisions of this Act.

The provisions of the Civil Code concerning periods apply mutatis mutandis to the calculation of a period prescribed in this Act or an order based on this Act, except where otherwise provided in this Act.

An insured person must, as specified by Ministerial Order, notify, beyond the matters prescribed in Article 12, paragraph (1) or (5), the matters specified by Ministerial Order to the mayor of the municipality, in the case of an insured person other than a category 3 insured person, or to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, in the case of a category 3 insured person.

The provisions of Article 12, paragraphs (2) and (4) apply mutatis mutandis to the notification under the preceding paragraph relating to an insured person other than a category 3 insured person, and the provisions of paragraphs (6) through (9) of that Article apply mutatis mutandis to the notification under the preceding paragraph relating to a category 3 insured person.

A person entitled to receive a benefit, or the head of household of the household to which the person entitled to receive a benefit belongs, or another person belonging to that household, must, as specified by Ministerial Order, notify the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare of the matters specified by Ministerial Order, and submit the documents and other articles specified by Ministerial Order.

When an insured person or a person entitled to receive a benefit dies, a person obligated to notify of the death under the provisions of the Family Register Act (Act No. 224 of 1947) must, as specified by Ministerial Order, notify that fact to the mayor of the municipality, in the case relating to an insured person other than a category 3 insured person, or to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, in the case relating to a category 3 insured person or a person entitled to receive a benefit; provided, however, that this does not apply where a notification of death has been made under the provisions of that Act with respect to the death of an insured person or a person entitled to receive a benefit specified by Ministerial Order (limited to a case specified by Ministerial Order).

The provisions of Article 12, paragraphs (6) through (9) apply mutatis mutandis to the notification under the preceding paragraph relating to a category 3 insured person. In this case, the term "category 3 insured person" in paragraph (6) of that Article is deemed to be replaced with "one relating to the death of a category 3 insured person".

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, when the Minister finds it necessary, in connection with a disposition concerning the status as an insured person or a premium, order an insured person to submit documents concerning the expected date of childbirth, documents concerning the state of care of the child, documents concerning the state of assets or income of the insured person, the insured person's spouse or head of household, or a person who had been any of these, or other articles, or have the relevant official ask questions of the insured person.

The relevant official who asks questions under the preceding paragraph must carry an identification card, and must present it if requested by a person concerned.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, when the Minister finds it necessary, order a person entitled to receive a benefit to submit documents or other articles concerning that person's personal relationships, state of disability, and other matters relating to the extinguishment of the right to receive it, revision of the pension amount, or suspension of payment, or have the relevant official ask the person entitled to receive it questions concerning these matters.

The provisions of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to a question or diagnosis under the preceding two paragraphs.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, when the Minister finds it necessary in connection with the status as an insured person or a premium, request a government agency, a National Pension Affairs Association prescribed in Article 109, paragraph (2), a National Pension Fund, the National Pension Fund Association, the Agricultural Pension Fund, Independent Administrative Agency, a mutual aid association, etc., a health insurance society, or a National Health Insurance Society to allow inspection of necessary documents or to provide materials, or request a bank, trust company, or other institution, or the spouse or head of household of an insured person, etc., or another person concerned, to make a report, concerning the name and address, the individual number (meaning the individual number prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (5) of the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures (Act No. 27 of 2013); the same applies in the following paragraph), the dates of acquisition and loss of status, the state of payment of premiums or contributions, and other matters, of an insured person or a person who had been an insured person (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "insured persons, etc."), a member or former member of a National Pension Fund, an insured person or former insured person of the farmers' pension, a member or former member subject to the provisions concerning short-term benefits under the National Public Officers Mutual Aid Association Act or the Local Public Officers, etc. Mutual Aid Association Act, a member or former member subject to the provisions concerning short-term benefits under the Private School Personnel Mutual Aid Association Act, or an insured person or former insured person of Health Insurance or National Health Insurance.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, when the Minister finds it necessary in connection with a disposition concerning a pension benefit or a premium, request a government agency, a mutual aid association, etc., a mutual aid association prescribed in Article 28 of the Supplementary Provisions of the Employees' Pension Insurance Act, or a health insurance society to allow inspection of necessary documents or to provide materials, or request a bank, trust company, or other institution, or the employer of an insured person, or another person concerned, to make a report, concerning: the state of assets or income of a person entitled to receive a benefit, an insured person, or the insured person's spouse or head of household; the state of payment to a person entitled to receive a benefit of an insurance benefit paid as a pension under the Employees' Pension Insurance Act, or of a benefit specified by Cabinet Order prescribed in Article 36-2, paragraph (1), item (i); the expected date of childbirth of an insured person, or the state of care of the child; or the name and address, the individual number, and other matters of a person entitled to receive, or a person who had been entitled to receive, a benefit specified by Cabinet Order prescribed in Article 89, paragraph (1), item (i), a person who receives, or received, assistance specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare prescribed in item (ii) of that paragraph (excluding assistance specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), a person who is admitted, or had been admitted, to a facility specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare prescribed in item (iii) of that paragraph (excluding a facility specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), a person who receives assistance specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare prescribed in Article 90, paragraph (1), item (ii), or a dependent under the provisions of the Acts listed in Article 7, paragraph (6), item (i) and items (iv) through (vi) of the Long-Term Care Insurance Act (Act No. 123 of 1997).

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, when the Minister finds it necessary in connection with the status as an insured person or a premium, request an employer to make the provisions of this Act known to persons employed by the employer, and to provide other necessary cooperation.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, when the Minister finds it necessary, request the minister having jurisdiction over mutual aid associations, etc. as implementing bodies to issue an order necessary for supervision concerning the report prescribed in Article 94-5, paragraph (1) relating to the mutual aid associations, etc. as implementing bodies over which that minister has jurisdiction, or to have the minister's officials audit the state of the operations of those mutual aid associations, etc. as implementing bodies.

Mutual aid associations, etc. as implementing bodies are to provide the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare with the necessary information concerning the fact that their insured persons have ceased to be category 2 insured persons.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare is to conduct a necessary statistical survey concerning the actual state of payment of premiums relating to an insured person, a person who had been an insured person, or a person entitled to receive a benefit, and other matters specified by Ministerial Order, in order to achieve the purpose set out in Article 1.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, when the Minister finds it necessary in connection with the statistical survey prescribed in the preceding paragraph, request a government agency to provide necessary information.

In requesting the provision of information under the preceding paragraph, the Minister is to request the provision of information by a method that does not allow identification of the person surveyed.

The provisions of Article 30-37, paragraphs (1) and (2), Article 30-38, and Article 30-39 of the Residential Basic Book Act apply mutatis mutandis to the Basic Pension Number prescribed in Article 14. In this case, the term "prefectural governor" in Article 30-37, paragraph (2) of that Act is deemed to be replaced with "the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Japan Pension Service," the term "any person" in the provisions of Article 30-38, paragraphs (1) through (3) of that Act is deemed to be replaced with "any person, except in a case specified by Ministerial Order as a case where use of the Basic Pension Number prescribed in Article 14 of the National Pension Act is particularly necessary for carrying out affairs concerning the administration of the government-administered pension programs prescribed in that Article, or affairs related to that program," and the term "prefectural governor" in paragraphs (4) and (5) of that Article and in Article 30-39, paragraph (1) of that Act is deemed to be replaced with "the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare," and, in addition, necessary technical replacement of terms are specified by Cabinet Order.

The Japan Health Insurance Association, a mutual aid association, etc. prescribed in Article 3, paragraph (2), and any other person specified by Ministerial Order, must not request any person to disclose the Basic Pension Number relating to that person or another person, except where necessary for carrying out affairs concerning the administration of the government-administered pension programs prescribed in Article 14, or affairs related to that program (in the case of a person specified by Ministerial Order among the persons specified by Ministerial Order, affairs related to the government-administered pension programs prescribed in that Article).