Supplementary Provisions

This Act comes into effect on July 1, 2014; provided, however, that the provisions set forth in the following items come into effect on the dates specified in those items:

The government is to, aiming to do so within five years after this Act comes into effect, take into account the status of enforcement of the provisions of the Public Assistance Act as amended by the provisions of Article 1 and Article 2, review the state of regulation based on the provisions of that Act, and, when it finds it necessary, take necessary measures based on the results.

①With regard to those dispositions concerning an application for the commencement of or a change to public assistance filed before the date of enforcement of this Act (hereinafter referred to as "the Effective Date") for which no decision on the commencement of or a change to public assistance has been made at the time this Act comes into effect, the provisions then in force continue to govern.

②The provisions of Article 24, paragraph (8) of the Public Assistance Act as amended by the provisions of Article 1 (hereinafter referred to as the "Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014") apply to an application for the commencement of public assistance filed on or after the Effective Date.

The provisions then in force continue to govern a commission of an investigation made before the Effective Date pursuant to the provisions of Article 29 of the Public Assistance Act prior to the amendment by the provisions of Article 1 (hereinafter referred to as the "old Act").

①A hospital or clinic (including those specified by Cabinet Order under Article 49 of the old Act) or pharmacy that is, at the time this Act comes into effect, designated under Article 49 of the old Act (including in the case where that Article is applied with replacement of terms pursuant to Article 12, paragraph (1) of the Act on Promotion of Wide-Area Administration in Special Districts for Consolidated Local Governments (Act No. 116 of 2006; referred to as the "Former Consolidated Local Government Special Districts Act" in paragraph (1) of the following Article) prior to the amendment by Article 16 of the Supplementary Provisions) is deemed, on the Effective Date, to have been designated under Article 49 of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 (including in the case where that Article is applied with replacement of terms pursuant to Article 12, paragraph (1) of the Act on Promotion of Wide-Area Administration in Special Districts for Consolidated Local Governments after the amendment by Article 16 of the Supplementary Provisions (referred to as the "New Consolidated Local Government Special Districts Act" in paragraph (1) of the following Article); the same applies in the following paragraph and paragraph (3)).

②With regard to the designation of a hospital or clinic (including those specified by Cabinet Order under that Article; the same applies in this paragraph and the following paragraph) or pharmacy deemed pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph to have been designated under Article 49 of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014, if that hospital, clinic or pharmacy does not file the application referred to in Article 49-2, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 within the period specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare that falls within one year from the Effective Date, that designation ceases to be effective upon the lapse of that period, notwithstanding Article 49-3, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014.

③With regard to the first renewal after the Effective Date of the designation of a hospital or clinic or pharmacy deemed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) to have been designated under Article 49 of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014, the term "every six years" in Article 49-3, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 is deemed to be replaced with "until the date on which the period specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare elapses from the date on which it was deemed to have been designated under Article 49 pursuant to the provisions of Article 5, paragraph (1) of the Supplementary Provisions of the Act Partially Amending the Public Assistance Act (Act No. 104 of 2013)".

④A doctor or dentist who is, at the time this Act comes into effect, designated under Article 49 of the old Act is deemed to have established a clinic and, deeming that he/she has been designated under Article 49 of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 on the Effective Date, the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 and the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs apply to him/her.

①A long-term care provider that is, at the time this Act comes into effect, designated under Article 54-2, paragraph (1) of the old Act (including in the case where it is applied with replacement of terms pursuant to Article 12, paragraph (2) of the Former Consolidated Local Government Special Districts Act) is deemed, on the Effective Date, to have been designated under Article 54-2, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 (including in the case where it is applied with replacement of terms pursuant to Article 12, paragraph (2) of the New Consolidated Local Government Special Districts Act).

②With regard to a long-term care provider listed in the upper column of Appended Table 2 of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 that has been deemed pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph to have been designated under Article 54-2, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 and to which the provisions of Article 54-2, paragraph (2) of the old Act applied, deeming that the provisions of Article 54-2, paragraph (2) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 have applied to it, the provisions of paragraph (3) of that Article apply.

A midwife, massage and finger pressure practitioner and judo therapist who is, at the time this Act comes into effect, designated under Article 49 of the old Act as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 55 of the old Act is deemed to have been designated under Article 55, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 on the Effective Date.

A person who intends to be designated under Article 49, Article 54-2, paragraph (1) or Article 55, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 may file an application for the designation even before the Effective Date, in accordance with the provisions of Article 49-2, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to paragraph (4) of that Article (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 54-2, paragraph (4) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014), and as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 54-2, paragraph (4) and Article 55, paragraph (2) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014).

The provisions of the items of Article 49-2, paragraph (2) or the items of paragraph (3) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 (including as these provisions are applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to paragraph (4) of that Article (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 54-2, paragraph (4) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014), and as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 54-2, paragraph (4) and Article 55, paragraph (2) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014) or the items of Article 51, paragraph (2) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 54-2, paragraph (4) and Article 55, paragraph (2) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014) apply to a person who has been sentenced to the penalty or subjected to the disposition prescribed in those provisions by reason of an act committed on or after the Effective Date, or a person who has committed an act prescribed in those provisions on or after the Effective Date.

A prefectural governor, a municipal mayor and the mayor of a town or village who manages a welfare office may, even before the Effective Date, carry out the preparatory acts necessary for the payment of the benefit for employment and self-support under Article 55-4 of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014.

①The provisions of Article 78, paragraph (1) and paragraph (4) (limited to the part pertaining to paragraph (1) of that Article) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 apply to the collection of amounts to be collected relating to public assistance expenses paid by the governor or mayor of a prefecture or municipality on or after the Effective Date, and the provisions then in force continue to govern the collection of expenses of public assistance paid by the governor or mayor of a prefecture or municipality before the Effective Date.

②The provisions of Article 78, paragraph (2) and paragraph (4) (limited to the part pertaining to paragraph (2) of that Article; the same applies in the following paragraph) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 apply to the collection of amounts to be collected from a designated medical care provider, designated long-term care provider, designated midwifery care provider or designated treatment provider prescribed in paragraph (2) of that Article, in relation to payments made by the governor or mayor of a prefecture or municipality on or after the Effective Date.

③The provisions of Article 78, paragraph (2) and paragraph (4) of the Public Assistance Act as Amended in 2014 and the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis to a long-term care sanatorium-type medical facility designated under Article 54-2, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act prior to the amendment by Article 91 of the Supplementary Provisions of the Act Partially Amending the Health Insurance Act, etc. (Act No. 83 of 2006), which remains in force pursuant to Article 130-2, paragraph (1) of the Supplementary Provisions of that Act.

With regard to the application of penal provisions to acts committed before this Act comes into effect and to acts committed after this Act comes into effect in the cases where the provisions then in force continue to govern pursuant to the provisions of these Supplementary Provisions, the provisions then in force continue to govern.

Beyond what is provided for in Article 3 through the preceding Article of the Supplementary Provisions, transitional measures necessary for the enforcement of this Act are specified by Cabinet Order.