Small Enterprise Mutual Relief Projects Act
小規模企業共済法
A mutual aid scheme that the owners and officers of small-scale enterprises pay premiums into, and from which they draw a sum when they close the business or leave it, or after long membership at 65 or over.
- Text in force since
- Promulgated
- Articles
- 36
- Amendments on the way
- 0
What this law does
- A small-scale enterprise joins by making a mutual aid contract (共済契約) with the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN (), and pays it a monthly premium (掛金) of its choosing — at least 1,000 yen, in steps of 500 yen, and no more than 70,000 yen — for each month by the end of the following month (the first month's by the end of the month after next). A month's premium cannot be paid in parts, and the Organization may reduce a premium paid before the month it is for, as a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order (経済産業省令) sets. The Organization must accept a member's request to raise or lower the monthly premium.(Art. 2(2), Art. 4(1), Art. 4(2), Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2), Art. 18(1), Art. 8(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Read the full overview
- Only a small-scale enterprise can make a contract, and one who already holds a contract cannot make another until an event that pays benefits has occurred under it. Someone who both runs a business as an individual and is an officer (役員) of a company or association, or who is an officer of two or more, can join in one of those capacities only.(Art. 3(1), Art. 3(2), Art. 3(3), Art. 3(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Once at least six months of premiums have been paid, the Organization pays mutual aid benefits (共済金) when the business is closed (for an officer, when the company or association is dissolved), unless an individual closes it to set up a company running the same business; when an officer stops being one through illness, injury or death, or at 65 or over; or when a member aged 65 or over with at least 180 months of premiums paid claims them without either of those events. Where the closure or the leaving is by death, the benefits go to the survivors (遺族), one rank at a time in this order, those of one rank sharing equally: a spouse, including a partner in a de facto marriage; then, of those who lived mainly on the member's income at the death, children, parents, grandchildren, grandparents and siblings, each in turn, then other relatives; then children, parents, grandchildren, grandparents and siblings who did not, each in turn; and last great-grandchildren and nephews and nieces who did not.(Art. 9(1), Art. 7(4)(i), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 10(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The benefit is worked out for each 500 yen of the monthly premium by the months paid at that level: below 36 months it is the premiums paid; from 36 months it is an amount a Cabinet Order (政令) sets by the months paid and the event — more than the premiums paid, and no lower for closing a business than for the other events — plus additions worked out at the payout rate (支給率) the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry sets each year after hearing the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Policy Council (中小企業政策審議会). Benefits are paid as a lump sum or, at the member's request, wholly or partly in instalments over 10 or 15 years — but not in instalments where the sum, or either part of it, is below an amount a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order sets, or where the member was under 60 when the business closed or they stopped being an officer. Instalments still to come are paid at once, at their present value, to the heirs when the member dies, or to the member on request where severe disability or another special circumstance that Order sets arises.(Art. 9(2), Art. 9(3), Art. 9(4), Art. 9(5), Art. 9-2(1), Art. 9-3(1), Art. 9-3(4), Art. 9-4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A member may cancel the contract at any time, and it is treated as cancelled when an individual member closes the business to set up a company running the same business, or a member who joined as an officer stops being one without an event that pays benefits. Once at least 12 months of premiums have been paid, cancellation brings a cancellation refund (解約手当金), except where the Organization cancelled the contract for deception and no special circumstance a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order sets applies. The refund is the premiums paid times a ratio a Cabinet Order sets at no less than 80% where the member or the Organization cancelled, or the member closed the business for a new company and became its officer; in the other cases of a contract treated as cancelled it is never less than the premiums paid.(Art. 7(3), Art. 7(4), Art. 12(1), Art. 12(2), Art. 12(3), Art. 12(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A member who joins again within a year of closing the business or leaving office for a reason that pays benefits, without claiming them, can have the months of premiums of both contracts added together on request; so can one whose contract was treated as cancelled, or a person who took part in running an individual's business and cancelled in cases a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order sets, who joins again within a year without claiming the refund and has not transferred the right to it to a successor. A spouse or child who takes over the whole of an individual member's business, alone or by inheritance, and holds the right to all that member's payments, can do the same by joining as an individual within a year of the takeover without claiming them — unless that member's own months were carried over this way.(Art. 13(1), Art. 13(2), Art. 15(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Who may joinMonthly premiumMutual aid benefitsInstalment payment of benefitsSurvivors who receive benefitsCancellation refundCarrying over months of premiumsMediation of disputes
Contents
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.
6 amendments already in force
17 June 2021
The text on this site
Act Partially Amending the Act on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness, etc., and Other Matters
産業競争力強化法等の一部を改正する等の法律
1 October 2020
Act Partially Amending the Act on Facilitation of Succession of Management of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, etc. to Promote Business Succession of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
中小企業の事業承継の促進のための中小企業における経営の承継の円滑化に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律
1 April 2020
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code
民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律
31 July 2017
Act Partially Amending the Act on the Formation and Revitalization of Regional Industrial Clusters through the Promotion of Business Location, etc.
企業立地の促進等による地域における産業集積の形成及び活性化に関する法律の一部を改正する法律
2 June 2017
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code
民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律
1 April 2016
Act Partially Amending the Act on Facilitation of Succession of Management of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, etc.
中小企業における経営の承継の円滑化に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律
Who it applies to
It applies to
- Individuals whose main business is in industry, mining, transport or another sector and who regularly employ 20 people or fewer, in commerce or services 5 or fewer, or in a sector a Cabinet Order names no more than the number it sets for that sector.(Art. 2(1)(i), Art. 2(1)(ii), Art. 2(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Individuals who take part in running the business of one of those individuals, other than such individuals themselves.(Art. 2(1)(iv)) (the provisions it rests on)
3 more
- Officers of companies whose main business is in industry, mining, transport or another sector and that regularly employ 20 people or fewer, in commerce or services 5 or fewer, or in a sector a Cabinet Order names no more than the number it sets.(Art. 2(1)(v), Art. 2(1)(vi), Art. 2(1)(vii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Officers of small and medium-sized enterprise associations (中小企業団体) set up under special Acts, of the kinds a Cabinet Order names — limited to enterprise associations (企業組合), cooperative partnerships (協業組合) and associations whose members, directly or indirectly, are mainly those individuals or companies.(Art. 2(1)(viii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The Organization, which makes the contracts and pays benefits, must invest the scheme's surplus funds by a basic policy it draws up; its president, vice-presidents and directors must follow the law in that work and act faithfully for the Organization, and must not, to benefit themselves or a third party, have it make an investment contract in return for a special benefit, or move assets between those funds and themselves or people connected to them.(Art. 25(1), Art. 26(1), Art. 27(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Special rules and exceptions (6)
- A member need not pay premiums for a time where the Organization agrees, and it may agree only in cases a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order sets.(Art. 17(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A person who killed the member by an intentional crime receives no benefits; nor does one who, before the member's death, so killed someone who would have received benefits on that death.(Art. 11(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- For a type-2 mutual aid contract (第二種共済契約) that took effect before 1 April 1996, the Supplementary Provisions (附則) of Act No. 44 of 1995, Article 5, read Article 9(1) differently: benefits are paid when the business is closed or the company or association dissolved, when an officer stops being one for any other reason, when a member aged 65 or over with at least 180 months paid claims them, and when 360 months of premiums have been paid without any of those events. The rule on contracts treated as cancelled, Article 7(4), does not apply to such a contract.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 5(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 5(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- For a contract that took effect before Act No. 24 of 2010 came into force, an individual member's contract is treated as cancelled only where the member closes the business to set up a company running the same business by contributing the business's assets other than money to it.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Art. 7(4)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A contract whose monthly premium was 500 yen when Act No. 52 of 1977 came into force may keep that premium despite the minimum in Article 4(2), until the monthly premium is changed.(Suppl. Prov.(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- For a contract under which a business closure or an officer's leaving that pays benefits occurred before Act No. 61 of 2015 came into force, the earlier rules on which survivors receive benefits, and in what order, still apply (なお従前の例による).(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it is enforced (8)
- The Act has no penalties: it sets the terms of the contract between the Organization and its members, and the Organization applies them itself — refusing or cancelling contracts, charging surcharges, reclaiming payments and deducting what it is owed.(Art. 2(2), Art. 3(5), Art. 7(2), Art. 16(1), Art. 16-2(1), Art. 19(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The Organization may refuse a contract only where the applicant's contract was cancelled by it in the past year, the applicant received or tried to obtain benefits or a refund by deception in the past year, or the contract falls within cases a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order sets as a risk to the proper running of the scheme.(Art. 3(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The Organization can cancel a contract only where the member has failed to pay premiums for at least the number of months a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order sets, without a reason that Order accepts, or has received or tried to obtain benefits or a refund by deception; in those cases it must. A cancellation takes effect only for the future.(Art. 7(1), Art. 7(2), Art. 7(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The Organization may make anyone who received benefits or a refund by deception pay them back, and may charge a member who pays a premium late a surcharge (割増金) of no more than 14.6% a year of the premium for the days late. Where a disaster or other unavoidable cause stops a member paying on time, it may extend the deadline.(Art. 16(1), Art. 19(1), Art. 19(2), Art. 20(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- From benefits or a refund the Organization may deduct sums to be returned, unpaid premiums and surcharges, and loans and interest due on loans to members or former members that it makes under a separate Act, the Act on the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, Japan, Independent Administrative Agency (独立行政法人中小企業基盤整備機構法, Act No. 147 of 2002), Article 15(2)(viii). Where such a loan is still unpaid a period a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Order sets after it fell due, the Organization may draw on the member's premiums to repay it, starting with the premium bracket paid for the fewest months. The months drawn on still count towards the six months that give a right to benefits and the 12 that give a right to a refund, but the amount is worked out on the premiums that remain.(Art. 16-2(1), Art. 16-3(1), Art. 16-3(2), Art. 9(2), Art. 9(3), Art. 12(3), Art. 12(4), Art. 21(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The right to benefits or a refund cannot be transferred, pledged or seized, except where it was inherited, where it is transferred to a successor for the carry-over of months under Article 13(2), and where it is seized in a national tax delinquency procedure (国税滞納処分) or one carried out in the same way. Those entitled to benefits or a refund are paid from the Organization's assets before its other creditors, after the general statutory liens of the Civil Code (民法).(Art. 15(1), Art. 21(1), Art. 21(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The right to benefits or a refund lapses five years after it could first be exercised, and the right to collect premiums or to have them returned after two years. Where a survivor cannot claim because it is unknown whether an earlier-ranked or equal-ranked survivor is alive or where they are, the five-year limit does not run out until six months after they become able to claim.(Art. 23(1), Art. 23(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Where a dispute arises between the Organization and an applicant, a member or a member's survivors over whether a contract was formed or cancelled, or over benefits, refunds or premiums, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry may mediate (あっせん) at the request of the applicant, the member or the survivors.(Art. 28(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it connects to other laws
Cites this lawLawThis law cites it
It also names 4 laws not yet held here.
Where the translation comes from
- 301
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)小規模企業共済法 — the text in force from 2021-06-17Original
- e-Gov (Digital Agency)小規模企業共済法 — revision historyOriginal
- Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of Justice小規模企業共済法 — its English title as the Ministry of Justice's translation database lists itOriginal
- 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
- Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text