Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children

次世代育成支援対策推進法（じせだいいくせいしえんたいさくすいしんほう）

Measures to help children be born and raised in good health as Japan's birth rate falls fast, chiefly through action plans by local governments and by employers, including plans that help workers balance their working and family lives.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 32
Amendments on the way: 0

Read the text Open on e-Gov

What this law does

To support the raising of the next generation of children, an employer other than the national and local governments (一般事業主, a "general employer") with more than 100 regularly employed workers must draw up a general employer action plan in line with the government's guidelines for action plans (行動計画策定指針), file it with the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, make it public and make it known to its workers, and do the same each time it changes the plan. The plan states its period, the goals it aims to reach, and the measures it will take and when.(Art. 12(1), Art. 12(2), Art. 12(4), Art. 12-2(1), Art. 7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

Before drawing up or changing its plan, such an employer must find out how far its workers take childcare leave and similar leave (育児休業等) and how long they work, and analyse what needs to improve so that they can balance work and family life. The plan's goals must then be set as figures for that leave-taking and those working hours.(Art. 12(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
A general employer with 100 or fewer regularly employed workers is only required to try (努めなければならない) to do the same: draw up and file a plan, look at leave-taking and working hours first and set its goals as figures, make the plan public, and make it known to its workers.(Art. 12(5), Art. 12(6), Art. 12-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
A general employer that has filed a plan can apply to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare for certification (認定) that it meets standards a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, among them that it drew up an appropriate plan, carried it out and reached the plan's goals. A certified employer may put a mark the Minister sets on its goods or services, their advertising, the documents or communications it uses in business dealings, and other things that Order names. Apart from that, no person (何人も) may put that mark, or one that could be confused with it, on such items.(Art. 13(1), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
A certified employer can apply for a further certification under Article 15-2, which makes it a specially certified general employer (特例認定一般事業主), if it meets standards a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, among them that it drew up an appropriate plan whose period ends on or after the day of its first certification, carried it out and reached its goals, and that its measures to support raising next-generation children are of an excellent standard. A specially certified employer may put a mark the Minister sets on its advertising and the other items, and the same ban on anyone else doing so applies.(Art. 15-2(1), Art. 15-3(1), Art. 15-4(1), Art. 15-4(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Act is time-limited: it ceases to have effect after 31 March 2035, a date set by an amendment made by Act No. 42 of 2024. Its penalties still apply after that to acts done before it.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 states the law's own purpose

General employer action plansEmployers' responsibilitiesGuidelines for action plansCertification of employersCertification marksSpecially certified employersAction plans of public-sector employersMunicipal action plans

32 127 46 15 22

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . No amendment to this law is waiting to come into force. Its latest amendments are below. This law's amendments page lists every amendment e-Gov records and, for those whose changes this site has read, shows them provision by provision, in Japanese and English.

10 amendments already in force

1 June 2025
The text on this site
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc. (extract)
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律　抄
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2025
Act Partially Amending the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members, and the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children
育児休業、介護休業等育児又は家族介護を行う労働者の福祉に関する法律及び次世代育成支援対策推進法の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
31 May 2024
Act Partially Amending the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members, and the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children
育児休業、介護休業等育児又は家族介護を行う労働者の福祉に関する法律及び次世代育成支援対策推進法の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2023
Act on Arrangement of Relevant Acts Incidental to Enforcement of the Act for Establishment of the Children and Families Agency
こども家庭庁設置法の施行に伴う関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 October 2022
Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.
雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
22 June 2022
Act on Arrangement of Relevant Acts Incidental to Enforcement of the Act for Establishment of the Children and Families Agency
こども家庭庁設置法の施行に伴う関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
17 June 2022
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
31 March 2022
Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.
雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 January 2018
Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.
雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2017
Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.
雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Employers (事業主): each is to try to improve its employment environment so its workers can balance work and family life (for example varied working conditions, a workplace where childcare leave is easier to take, shorter working hours), and must cooperate with the national and local governments' measures.(Art. 5(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
General employers (一般事業主), meaning employers other than the national and local governments: those with more than 100 regularly employed workers, who must draw up, file and publish action plans, and those with 100 or fewer, who are to try to.(Art. 12(1), Art. 12(4), Art. 12(5), Art. 12(6)) (the provisions it rests on)

4 more

Specified employers (特定事業主): the organs of the national and local governments, or their heads or officials, that a Cabinet Order names. Each is to draw up a specified employer action plan, as a Cabinet Order provides and in line with the guidelines; before doing so it must look at its staff's childcare leave and working hours, as a Cabinet Office Order provides, and set goals as figures. It must publish the plan and make it known to its staff without delay, publish at least once a year how its measures are going, and try to carry out the measures and reach the plan's goals.(Art. 19(1), Art. 19(3), Art. 19(4), Art. 19(5), Art. 19(6), Art. 19(7)) (the provisions it rests on)
Municipalities and prefectures: every five years they may draw up a five-year action plan for these measures in their own work, in line with the guidelines, and when they do, are to take steps to reflect residents' views, and must submit the plan, a municipality to its prefecture and a prefecture to the competent ministers. The national and local governments are to try to promote these measures together.(Art. 8(1), Art. 8(3), Art. 8(5), Art. 9(1), Art. 9(3), Art. 9(5), Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Approved organizations of small and medium-sized employers (承認中小事業主団体), meaning business cooperatives and similar bodies, or general incorporated associations, that the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare approves to advise and assist their small and medium-sized members on finding staff, and their member employers with 300 or fewer regularly employed workers, when the organization recruits workers for them. When it recruits, the organization must, under Employment Security Act (職業安定法) provisions this Act applies, tell applicants the work and its wages, hours and other working conditions, give no false or misleading recruitment information in its advertising and keep it accurate and up to date, and collect, keep and use applicants' personal information only as far as the recruitment needs, unless the person consents or there is other good reason.(Art. 16(1), Art. 16(2), Art. 16(5), Employment Security Act Art. 5-3(1), Employment Security Act Art. 5-4(1), Employment Security Act Art. 5-4(2), Employment Security Act Art. 5-5(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Everyone: the people (国民) must deepen their interest in and understanding of these measures and cooperate with the national and local governments' measures, and no person (何人も) may put the certification marks, or confusingly similar ones, on advertising and the other items, except a certified employer putting its own mark as the Act allows.(Art. 6(1), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(2), Art. 15-4(1), Art. 15-4(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (2)

A specially certified employer (特例認定一般事業主) no longer has the duty, or the duty to try, to draw up and file a general employer action plan under Article 12(1) and (5). Instead it must publish, at least once a year, how its measures are going, as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order provides.(Art. 15-3(1), Art. 15-3(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
When an approved organization recruits the workers its members with 300 or fewer regularly employed workers need for measures to support raising next-generation children, those members need neither the Minister's permission nor the notice that the Employment Security Act (職業安定法) otherwise requires for having someone other than their own employees recruit for them. A member that pays the organization for the recruiting still needs the Minister's approval (認可) of the amount in advance, and paying any other remuneration is an offence. The organization must instead notify the Minister of the recruitment period, the number of workers sought, the area and other matters a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names.(Art. 16(1), Art. 16(4), Art. 16(6), Art. 16(5), Art. 25(1)(iii), Employment Security Act Art. 36(1), Employment Security Act Art. 36(2), Employment Security Act Art. 36(3), Employment Security Act Art. 40(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (9)

The penalties of Chapter 5 (Articles 24 to 27) do not reach a failure to draw up, file or publish an action plan. If an employer with more than 100 regularly employed workers does not file its plan, make it public or make it known to its workers, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may recommend (勧告) that it do so within a reasonable period the Minister sets.(Art. 24(1), Art. 25(1), Art. 26(1), Art. 27(1), Art. 12(7), Art. 12-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Minister may revoke a certification if the employer no longer meets its standards, breaks this Act or an order made under it, or is otherwise no longer suitable. A special certification may be revoked on the same kinds of grounds, when the employer's first certification is revoked, or when it fails to publish its yearly report on its measures or publishes a false one; and the Minister may recommend (勧告) that a specially certified employer that has not published it do so within a reasonable period.(Art. 15(1), Art. 15-5(1), Art. 15-3(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Putting a certification mark, or one that could be confused with it, on advertising or the other items, other than a certified employer putting its own mark as the Act allows, is punishable by a fine of up to 300,000 yen. Where a representative, agent or employee does it in the business of a company or an individual, that company or individual is fined as well.(Art. 26(1)(i), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(2), Art. 15-4(1), Art. 15-4(2), Art. 27(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
An approved organization recruiting for its members under Article 16 is bound by parts of the Employment Security Act (職業安定法) that this Act applies to it. Recruiting without filing the notice of Article 16(4), not following the instructions on recruitment period, numbers, area and method the Minister may give once it has filed, or breaking that Act's bans on recruiters taking payment from the workers recruited and on paying recruiters other than as it allows (its Articles 39 and 40) is punishable by imprisonment () of up to six months or a fine of up to 300,000 yen. If the organization breaks the Employment Security Act or the Worker Dispatch Act (労働者派遣法), or an order or disposition under them, the Minister may order its recruitment suspended for a period; recruiting in breach of that order is punishable by imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen, and for these offences the company or individual in whose business they are committed is fined as well.(Art. 16(5), Art. 25(1)(i), Art. 25(1)(ii), Art. 25(1)(iii), Art. 24(1), Art. 27(1), Employment Security Act Art. 37(2), Employment Security Act Art. 39(1), Employment Security Act Art. 40(1), Employment Security Act Art. 41(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Minister may revoke an organization's approval if it is no longer suitable to give the advice and help it was approved for, and may require it to report on that work. If the organization breaks the Employment Security Act (職業安定法) or an order under it in its recruiting, the Minister may order it to take the steps needed to improve how it runs the recruitment, where that is needed to keep the recruitment proper. A worker who answered its recruitment may report a breach to the Minister and ask for action, and the Minister must look into it and, if the report is true, take action.(Art. 16(3), Art. 16(7), Art. 16(5), Employment Security Act Art. 48-3(1), Employment Security Act Art. 48-4(1), Employment Security Act Art. 48-4(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
To the extent needed to enforce the Employment Security Act (職業安定法), the authorities (行政庁) may require reports from such an organization and have officials enter its premises, question people there and inspect its books and documents, under that Act's provisions as this Act applies them. Failing to report or reporting falsely, refusing, obstructing or evading an inspection, refusing to answer or answering falsely, or revealing without justifiable reason people's secrets learned in its business is punishable by a fine of up to 300,000 yen, and the company or individual in whose business it is done is fined as well.(Art. 16(5), Art. 26(1)(ii), Art. 26(1)(iii), Art. 26(1)(iv), Art. 27(1), Employment Security Act Art. 50(1), Employment Security Act Art. 50(2), Employment Security Act Art. 51(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may designate an employers' organization as a support centre (次世代育成支援対策推進センター) that advises employers on drawing up and carrying out their plans, may order it to improve its finances or operations, and may revoke the designation if it disobeys. Its present and former officers and staff must not reveal secrets learned in that work, on pain of a fine of up to 300,000 yen, and this still binds former officers and staff after the Act expires.(Art. 20(1), Art. 20(2), Art. 20(3), Art. 20(4), Art. 20(5), Art. 26(1)(v), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Part of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare's powers under Articles 12 to 16, over filings, recommendations, certification and the approved organizations, may be delegated to the director of the Prefectural Labor Bureau (), as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order provides.(Art. 23(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The guidelines for action plans (行動計画策定指針) are set by the competent ministers named in Article 22 — for the employment-environment part of employers' plans, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare — after hearing the Child and Family Council (こども家庭審議会) and, for the municipal and prefectural parts, consulting the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications (総務大臣), and are published without delay. Municipal, prefectural, general employer and specified employer action plans are drawn up in line with them.(Art. 7(1), Art. 7(4), Art. 7(5), Art. 22(1), Art. 8(1), Art. 9(1), Art. 12(1), Art. 12(5), Art. 19(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

Cites this lawLawThis law cites it

It also names 14 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.

Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.

Sources

Everything this page rests on

e-Gov (Digital Agency)次世代育成支援対策推進法 — the text in force from 2025-06-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)次世代育成支援対策推進法 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeAct on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
Machine translation, not official
Machine translation, corrected on review, not official
Written for this site with AIEnglish titles of amending laws, written for this site
Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
Written for this site with AICorrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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