①A mutual aid contract may not be concluded by anyone other than a small-scale enterprise.

②A small-scale enterprise that is an individual business operator and concurrently an officer of a company, etc. may conclude a mutual aid contract only in one of the following capacities:

③A small-scale enterprise that is concurrently an officer of two or more companies, etc. (excluding a person prescribed in the preceding paragraph) may conclude a mutual aid contract only in the capacity of a small-scale enterprise that is an officer of any one of those companies, etc.

④A small-scale enterprise that is currently a mutual aid policyholder may not conclude a new mutual aid contract; provided, however, that this does not apply where a cause set out in one of the items of Article 9, paragraph (1) relating to that mutual aid contract has arisen for that person.

⑤The Organization must not refuse to conclude a mutual aid contract except in the following cases:

①A mutual aid contract is to be concluded by specifying the monthly premium.

②The monthly premium is to be 1,000 yen or more and an amount obtained by multiplying 500 yen by an integer, and must not exceed 70,000 yen per mutual aid policyholder.

An application for a mutual aid contract must state the monthly premium and, in the case of a mutual aid contract concluded by a mutual aid policyholder in the capacity of a small-scale enterprise that is an officer of a company, etc., the name of that company, etc.

When the Organization accepts an application for a mutual aid contract, the mutual aid contract is deemed to have been formed on the day of the application and takes effect from that day.

①Except in the case prescribed in the following paragraph, the Organization may not cancel a mutual aid contract.

②The Organization must cancel a mutual aid contract in the following cases:

③A mutual aid policyholder may cancel a mutual aid contract at any time.

④When any of the following grounds arises with respect to a mutual aid policyholder, the mutual aid contract is deemed to have been cancelled at the time the ground arises:

⑤The cancellation of a mutual aid contract takes effect only for the future.

①When a mutual aid policyholder applies to increase or decrease the monthly premium, the Organization must accept the application.

②An application under the preceding paragraph must state the monthly premium after the increase or decrease.

③The provisions of Article 6 apply mutatis mutandis to an increase or decrease in the monthly premium.

①Where any of the following grounds arises with respect to a mutual aid policyholder and the number of months of paid premiums of that person is six months or more, the Organization is to pay mutual aid benefits to that person (or, where the ground set out in item (i) or item (ii) is due to death, to the bereaved family of that person):

②The amount of mutual aid benefits to be paid by the Organization is the total amount of the premium-unit mutual aid benefit amounts corresponding to each division obtained when the premiums for each month paid by the mutual aid policyholder are successively divided into units of 500 yen (hereinafter referred to as a "premium unit").

③The premium-unit mutual aid benefit amount under the preceding paragraph is, according to the number of months of paid premiums for the premium unit set out in each of the following items, the amount specified in that item:

④The amount specified by Cabinet Order in item (ii), (a) of the preceding paragraph is to be determined on the basis of the total amount of the premiums paid and the investment income therefrom, taking into account the assumed interest rate, the expected number of occurrences of the grounds set out in the items of paragraph (1) and the expected number of cancellations of mutual aid contracts. In this case, that amount must satisfy the following requirements.

⑤The payment rate in (b) and (c) of paragraph (3), item (ii) is to be determined by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry for each fiscal year, by the end of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year, after hearing the opinion of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Policy Council, on the basis of the rate obtained by dividing the amount calculated as provided by Order of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as the portion of the investment income up to that fiscal year that is to be applied to payment of the amount specified in paragraph (3), item (ii), (b) or Article 12, paragraph (4), item (ii), (b) in that fiscal year, by the amount calculated as provided by Order of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as the total amount of the hypothetical mutual aid benefit amounts or the hypothetical cancellation refund amounts (meaning the hypothetical cancellation refund amounts under (b) of that item) for the premium units that will have a reference month in that fiscal year, taking into account the expected amount of investment income from that fiscal year onward and other circumstances.

⑥Where a Cabinet Order is enacted or amended pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3), item (ii), (a), the Cabinet Order may provide for measures necessary concerning the calculation of the amount of mutual aid benefits for mutual aid contracts that took effect before that enactment or amendment and with respect to which a ground set out in the items of paragraph (1) arises after that enactment or amendment, and for other necessary transitional measures accompanying that enactment or amendment.