Whistleblower Protection Act

The purpose of this Act is to protect whistleblowers and to ensure compliance with the provisions of laws and regulations relating to the protection of the lives, physical wellbeing, properties, and other interests of citizens by providing for the invalidity of dismissal of, and the prohibition, etc. of disadvantageous treatment of, whistleblowers on the grounds of whistleblowing and the measures, etc. to be taken by business operators and administrative bodies with regard to whistleblowing, thereby contributing to the stability of the lives of citizens and to the sound development of the society and economy.

The term "whistleblowing" as used in this Act means a report made by a person stated in the following items with no wrongful purpose such as a purpose of acquiring a wrongful gain or causing damage to others, that a reportable fact that has occurred, or is about to occur, concerning a business operator provided for in the respective items (meaning a corporation or other organization and an individual who engages in business; the same applies below) (referred to below as "recipient of services"), or its officer (meaning a corporate director, executive officer, accounting advisor, corporate auditor, director, inspector, and liquidator, and any other person who is engaged in the management of the corporation (excluding a financial auditor) under the provisions of laws and regulations (meaning laws as well as orders based on them; the same applies below); the same applies below), employee, agent, or other persons engaged in the business of the recipient of services, to the recipient of services or a person designated by the recipient of services in advance (referred to as "recipient of services or other designated person"), to an administrative body with the authority to impose a disposition (meaning an order, revocation, and other acts involving the exercise of public authority; the same applies below) or issue a recommendation, etc. (meaning a recommendation and other acts which are not dispositions; the same applies below) with regard to the reportable fact, or a person designated by the administrative body in advance (referred to as "administrative body or other designated person" in item (ii) of the following Article and Article 6, item (ii)), or to a person to whom reporting the reportable fact is considered necessary in order to prevent their occurrence or the spread of damage caused by them (including persons who suffered or are likely to suffer damage because of the reportable fact, but excluding persons who are likely to cause harm to the competitive position or other legitimate interests of the recipient of services; the same applies in item (iii) of the following Article and Article 6, item (iii)).

a worker (meaning a worker as provided for in Article 9 of the Labor Standards Act (Act No. 49 of 1947); the same applies below) or a former worker:a business operator that employs the worker or former worker, or that employed the worker or the former worker within one year before the date of the report (excluding business operators provided for in the following item);

a dispatched worker (meaning a dispatched worker as prescribed in Article 2, item (ii) of the Act on Ensuring the Proper Operation of Worker Dispatching Services and Protecting Dispatched Workers (Act No. 88 of 1985; referred to as the "Worker Dispatching Act" in Article 4); the same applies below) or a former dispatched worker: the business operator that receives, or received within one year before the date of the relevant report, the services of worker dispatch (meaning worker dispatch as prescribed in item (i) of the same Article; the same applies in Article 4 and Article 5, paragraph (2)) related to the relevant dispatched worker or the former dispatched worker;

a worker or a former worker, or a dispatched worker or a former dispatched worker, who is or was engaged in the business within one year before the date of the report, when a business operator specified in the preceding two items conducts or conducted the business based on a contract for work or other contract with another business operator: the relevant other business operator;

an officer: the following business operators:

a business operator that has the officer perform duties;

another business operator if the business operator stated in (a) engages in business based on a contract for work or other contract with that other business operator and the officer is engaged in the business.

The term "whistleblower" as used in this Act means a person who has conducted whistleblowing.

The term "reportable fact" as used in this Act means any of the facts listed in the following items:

the facts of criminal acts constituting the crimes provided for in this Act and in the laws listed in the Appended Table (including orders based on those laws; the same applies in this paragraph) as those concerning the protection of the life or physical wellbeing of an individual, or the interests of consumers, the conservation of the environment, the protection of fair competition, or the protection of the life, physical wellbeing, property, or other interests of the citizens; or the facts constituting the grounds for a civil fine provided for in this Act and the laws stated in the Appended Table; or

the facts constituting the grounds for a disposition based on the provisions of the laws listed in the Appended Table, if the violation of the disposition constitutes the facts stated in the preceding item (including the facts constituting the grounds for issuing any other disposition, or grounds for issuing a recommendation, etc., if the facts constituting the grounds for the disposition constitute the violation of any other disposition based on the provisions of any of the laws listed in the Appended Table or the non-compliance with a recommendation, etc.).

The term "administrative body" as used in this Act means any of the following organizations:

organizations (excluding assemblies) of local governments.