A specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract concerning a person who falls under Article 3, paragraph (3), item (i) and is employed by a small and medium-sized enterprise that carries on a business belonging to a specified industry and who customarily engages in the business belonging to that specified industry is governed by this Chapter.

In designating a specified industry, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare must take into consideration the prospect that, in the case where the Organization carries out the operations set out in Article 70, paragraph (1), item (i) relating to that specified industry, a considerable number of small and medium-sized enterprises that carry on businesses belonging to that specified industry will become mutual aid policyholders under specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contracts relating to that specified industry, and other circumstances, and must hear the opinion of the Labour Policy Council.

①No one other than a small and medium-sized enterprise may conclude a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract.

②When a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract is concluded, all persons prescribed in Article 39 who are employed by the mutual aid policyholder, except persons who are not to become covered employees pursuant to paragraph (4), become covered employees under that specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract at the time when that specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract takes effect (for a person newly employed by that mutual aid policyholder after that specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract takes effect, at the time when that person is employed).

③Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, a person who is currently a covered employee under a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract and any other person specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare do not become covered employees under a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract.

④A small and medium-sized enterprise may, in concluding a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract (for a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract deemed to have been concluded pursuant to Article 73, paragraph (7), in responding to the solicitation under paragraph (6) of that Article), provide that persons whose prescribed working hours are particularly short and other persons specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare are not to become covered employees under that specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract.

⑤The Organization must not refuse to conclude a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract, except where the applicant for the contract is a person whose specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract was cancelled pursuant to paragraph (2), item (i) of the following Article and for whom six months have not elapsed from the date of cancellation, or where there are other justifiable grounds specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

⑥A mutual aid policyholder may expand and reduce the scope of the persons prescribed in paragraph (4) who are not to become covered employees under a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract, even after that specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract has taken effect.

⑦When a mutual aid policyholder intends to expand the scope of the persons prescribed in the preceding paragraph pursuant to that paragraph, and among the employees it currently employs there are persons who would not become covered employees as a result of the expansion of the scope, the mutual aid policyholder must obtain the consent of three-fourths or more of those persons; provided, however, that this does not apply where the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare finds that it would be extremely difficult to continue paying premiums for those persons.

①Except in the cases prescribed in the following paragraph or paragraph (3), neither the Organization nor a mutual aid policyholder may cancel a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract.

②The Organization is to cancel a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract in any of the following cases; provided, however, that this does not apply in a case falling under item (ii) where the approval of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare has been obtained in advance, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

③A mutual aid policyholder may cancel a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract in any of the following cases.

①When a covered employee falls under any of the following items, the Organization pays a retirement allowance to that person in accordance with the specified-industry number of months of paid premiums for that person (meaning the total number of days for which premiums have been paid under the specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract for that covered employee (where that person is a person who has already received payment of a retirement allowance, excluding the days that formed the basis for calculating the amount of that retirement allowance), converted into a number of months by a method specified by Cabinet Order in consideration of the working conditions of persons engaged in that specified industry; the same applies hereinafter); provided, however, that this does not apply where the specified-industry number of months of paid premiums is less than 24 months (12 months where the covered employee falls under item (i) or item (ii), (a), or is a covered employee under a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract relating to a specified industry designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare).

②When a mutual aid policyholder becomes an employer that is not a small and medium-sized enterprise (excluding the case where the approval referred to in the proviso to paragraph (2) of the preceding Article has been given) or ceases to be an employer of a business belonging to the specified industry concerned, for the purpose of applying item (ii) or item (iii) of the preceding paragraph, the covered employee is deemed to have retired.

③When a covered employee comes to be employed for an indefinite period by the employer that currently employs that person, that person is deemed to have fallen under paragraph (1), item (ii), (c).

④The retirement allowance due to a covered employee's falling under paragraph (1), item (i) or item (ii), (a) is paid to the bereaved family members of the deceased person.

⑤The amount of a retirement allowance is specified by Cabinet Order for each specified industry, in accordance with the daily amount of premiums and the specified-industry number of months of paid premiums, and taking into consideration the method of calculating the amount of a retirement allowance under Article 10, paragraph (2) and other circumstances.

①Premiums are to be set on a daily basis, and the amount is to be specified in the specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid rules within the range of 300 yen or more and 800 yen or less per covered employee.

②The daily amount of premiums must not include a fraction of less than 10 yen.

③The daily amount of premiums must be a single amount for each specified industry.

④Each time a mutual aid policyholder pays wages to a covered employee, the mutual aid policyholder must pay premiums by affixing a retirement allowance mutual aid stamp to the retirement allowance mutual aid book and canceling it with a seal.

⑤With regard to the payment of premiums under a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract relating to a specified industry designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, where a mutual aid policyholder, using an electronic data processing system (meaning an electronic data processing system that connects a computer used by the Organization (including input and output devices; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) with a computer used by the mutual aid policyholder through a telecommunication line), reports the actual work performed by covered employees to the Organization as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the payment may be made in cash, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in place of the method prescribed in the preceding paragraph.

⑥Matters necessary for the payment of premiums, such as retirement allowance mutual aid books and retirement allowance mutual aid stamps, are specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.