Article 51-4Abandonment Penalty

①The chief of a police station may have an officer check whether there is any vehicle in a case found to have been parked illegally (in the case of a light road vehicle, limited to one that has a structure and equipment that allows it to be towed and has a gross vehicle weight (meaning the gross vehicle weight prescribed in Article 40, item (iii) of the Road Transport Vehicle Act) exceeding 750 kilograms (hereinafter referred to as a "heavy towable vehicle"); the same applies hereinafter in this Article) the driver of which has left it and cannot drive it immediately (hereinafter referred to as an "abandoned vehicle"), and have the officer attach to the vehicle, in an easily visible place and pursuant to Cabinet Office Order, a mark giving notice that the officer has made that check and that, if the person who committed the Illegal Parking concerning that vehicle (meaning the act of the driver of a vehicle in a case found to have been parked illegally; the same applies in paragraphs (4) and (16)) does not fall under the case prescribed in the proviso to paragraph (4), the user of that vehicle may be ordered to pay an abandonment penalty pursuant to the main clause of that paragraph.

②It is prohibited for any person to damage or deface a mark attached to a vehicle pursuant to the preceding paragraph or to remove the same; provided, however, that this does not apply to the removal of such a mark by the user or driver of the vehicle or any other person responsible for the management of that vehicle.

③Having caused a mark to be attached to a vehicle pursuant to paragraph (1), the chief of the police station must report how the vehicle is parked to the public safety commission.

④Upon receiving a report under the preceding paragraph, if the public safety commission finds that the vehicle to which the report pertains is an abandoned vehicle, it may order the user of the vehicle to pay an abandonment penalty; provided, however, that this does not apply if the person that has illegally parked the vehicle pays a penalty pursuant to Article 128, paragraph (1) within 30 days, counting from the day following that on which a mark is attached to the vehicle pursuant to paragraph (1), nor does it apply if a case that is connected with that instance of illegal parking becomes subject to prosecution or is brought before the family court for trial.

⑤An order under the main clause of the preceding paragraph (hereinafter referred to as a "payment order") is to be issued in writing through a document that gives the amount, due date, and place for payment of the abandonment penalty.

⑥Prior to issuing a payment order, the public safety commission must notify the user of the vehicle of the following information in writing and give the user an opportunity to submit a written explanation of the matter at issue (hereinafter referred to in this paragraph and paragraph (9) as an "explanatory statement") and evidence in the user's favor within a reasonable timeframe:

⑦If the whereabouts of the person who should receive a payment order are unknown, the public safety commission may give the notice under the preceding paragraph by taking measures to place the person's name, the matters set forth in item (ii) of that paragraph, and the fact that the public safety commission will deliver to the person at any time a document stating the matters set forth in the items of that paragraph (hereinafter referred to in this paragraph as the "particulars of the public notice") in a state in which they can be viewed by an unspecified number of persons by the method that Cabinet Office Order prescribes and, at the same time, to post a document stating the particulars of the public notice on the notice board of the public safety commission, or to place in a state in which it can be viewed what displays the particulars of the public notice on the display screen of a computer installed in the office building of the public safety commission. In such a case, the notice is deemed to have reached the person when two weeks have passed from the day on which those measures were begun.

⑧Cabinet Order provides for the amount of abandonment penalties within the scope of the amount prescribed in Schedule I.

⑨A person notified as under paragraph (6) may make a provisional payment in an amount equivalent to the abandonment penalty by the due date for submission of the explanatory statement, pursuant to Cabinet Order.

⑩A payment order may be issued by public notice against a person making a provisional payment under the preceding paragraph, pursuant to Cabinet Order.

⑪If a payment order is issued in connection with a notice referred to in paragraph (9) against a person that has made a provisional payment as under that paragraph (9), the provisional payment in the amount equivalent to the relevant abandonment penalty is deemed to constitute the payment of the abandonment penalty as under that payment order.

⑫If the public safety commission decides not to issue a payment order in connection with a notice referred to in paragraph (9) against a person that has made a provisional payment as under that paragraph, it must promptly notify that person in writing, giving a clear indication of the reasons for this and returning the provisional payment.

⑬If a person issued a payment order fails to pay the abandonment penalty by its due date, the public safety commission must issue a written demand that fixes the due date for payment. In such a case, the public safety commission may collect a fine for delinquency of up to the amount calculated as representing 14.5 percent per annum of the abandonment penalty, and may collect a fee for the necessary costs of issuing the demand.

⑭If a person subject to a demand under the preceding paragraph fails to pay the abandonment penalty, fines for delinquency, or fees referred to in the second sentence of that paragraph (hereinafter referred to in this Article and Article 51-7 as an "abandonment penalty, fines, or fees") by the fixed due date, the public safety commission may collect the abandonment penalty, fines, or fees based on the rules governing measures to collect local tax arrears. In such a case, the abandonment penalty, fines, or fees follow national taxes and local taxes in order of priority as concerns statutory liens.

⑮Abandonment penalties, fines, and fees paid and collected are the revenue of the prefecture where the public safety commission is located.

⑰Having revoked a payment order pursuant to the preceding paragraph, a public safety commission must promptly notify the person subject to it of this, clearly indicating the reason for the revocation. In such a case, if the abandonment penalty, fines, or fees to which the payment order pertained have been paid or collected, the public safety commission must refund an equivalent amount.

⑱Service of documents and service by publication in connection with the collection and refunding of the abandonment penalty, fines, or fees are governed by the rules governing local taxes.