①A retirement allowance mutual aid contract may not be concluded by anyone other than a small and medium-sized enterprise.

②With respect to a person who is currently a covered employee under a retirement allowance mutual aid contract, a new retirement allowance mutual aid contract naming that person as a covered employee may not be concluded.

③A small and medium-sized enterprise must see to it that it concludes retirement allowance mutual aid contracts for all of its employees, excluding the persons listed in the following items:

④The Organization must not refuse to conclude a retirement allowance mutual aid contract, except in the cases listed in the following items:

①A retirement allowance mutual aid contract is to be concluded for each covered employee, specifying the monthly premium.

②The monthly premium must be 5,000 yen or more and 30,000 yen or less per covered employee (2,000 yen in the case of a covered employee who, on the date of application for the retirement allowance mutual aid contract, is a person whose prescribed weekly working hours are shorter than the prescribed weekly working hours of an ordinary employee employed by the mutual aid policyholder and are less than the number of hours determined by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare (referred to as a "short-time covered employee" in Article 27, paragraph (4))).

③The monthly premium must be, where it exceeds 2,000 yen but is less than 10,000 yen, an amount obtained by multiplying 1,000 yen by an integer, and, where it exceeds 10,000 yen but is less than 30,000 yen, an amount obtained by multiplying 2,000 yen by an integer.

Covered employees and their bereaved family members automatically receive the benefit of the retirement allowance mutual aid contract.

①A small and medium-sized enterprise must not apply for a retirement allowance mutual aid contract naming an employee it employs as the covered employee against the will of that employee.

②When applying for a retirement allowance mutual aid contract, a small and medium-sized enterprise must state clearly the name of the person who is to be the covered employee under that retirement allowance mutual aid contract and the monthly premium.

①A retirement allowance mutual aid contract is deemed to have been formed on the date of the application when the Organization accepts the application, and takes effect from that date.

②When a retirement allowance mutual aid contract has been formed, the mutual aid policyholder must notify the covered employee to that effect without delay.

③The Organization must, without delay after the formation of a retirement allowance mutual aid contract, deliver a retirement allowance mutual aid book to the mutual aid policyholder.

④The retirement allowance mutual aid book must be capable of showing the status of premium payments.

①Neither the Organization nor a mutual aid policyholder may cancel a retirement allowance mutual aid contract, except in the cases prescribed in paragraph (2) or paragraph (3).

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

③A mutual aid policyholder may cancel a retirement allowance mutual aid contract in the cases set out in the following items.

④The cancellation of a retirement allowance mutual aid contract takes effect only prospectively.

⑤The provisions of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to the cancellation of a retirement allowance mutual aid contract.

①The Organization must accept an application from a mutual aid policyholder for an increase in the monthly premium.

②The Organization must not accept an application from a mutual aid policyholder for a decrease in the monthly premium, except in the cases set out in the items of paragraph (3) of the preceding Article.

③An application under the preceding two paragraphs must be made by stating clearly the name of the covered employee and the monthly premium after the increase or decrease.

④The provisions of Article 7, paragraphs (1) and (2) apply mutatis mutandis to an increase or decrease in the monthly premium.

①When a covered employee retires, the Organization is to pay a retirement allowance to that person (or, where the retirement is due to death, to the bereaved family members); provided, however, that this does not apply where the number of months for which premiums have been paid for the covered employee (hereinafter referred to as the "number of months of paid premiums") is less than 12 months.

②The amount of the retirement allowance is the amount specified in each of the following items according to the category of the number of months of paid premiums set out in that item.

③The amounts specified by Cabinet Order referred to in item (i), item (ii) and item (iii), (a) of the preceding paragraph are 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 estimated number of retirements of covered employees and the estimated number of cancellations of retirement allowance mutual aid contracts.

④The payment rate under paragraph (2), item (iii), (b) is to be determined by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, for each fiscal year, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, by the end of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year, after hearing the opinion of the Labour Policy Council, on the basis of the rate obtained by dividing the amount calculated as the portion of the investment income of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year that is to be applied to the payment of the amount prescribed in paragraph (2), item (iii), (b) by the total amount of the hypothetical retirement allowance amounts of covered employees who will have a calculation month in that fiscal year, and taking into account the estimated amount of investment income for that fiscal year and thereafter and other circumstances.

⑤Where a covered employee has retired for a reason attributable to that employee and the mutual aid policyholder has made a request, and the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare finds it appropriate in accordance with the standards specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Organization may pay a reduced retirement allowance, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

A retirement allowance is paid as a lump sum.

①Notwithstanding the preceding Article, at the request of a covered employee, the Organization may pay all or part of the retirement allowance by way of installment payment; provided, however, that this does not apply in any of the cases set out in the following items.

②Where a covered employee intends to receive part of the retirement allowance by way of installment payment, the request under the preceding paragraph must be made by specifying the amount of the part of the retirement allowance that the covered employee intends to receive by way of installment payment (hereinafter referred to in this Article as the "amount subject to installment payment").

③The payment months for a retirement allowance paid by way of installment payment are February, May, August and November of each year.

④The period of payment of a retirement allowance by way of installment payment (referred to as the "installment payment period" in the following paragraph) is either five years or 10 years from the first payment month after the request under paragraph (1), as selected by the covered employee.

⑤The amount of the retirement allowance for each payment month (referred to as the "retirement allowance installment" in the following Article) is the amount obtained by multiplying the amount of the retirement allowance (the amount subject to installment payment, where part of the retirement allowance is paid by way of installment payment) by the rate specified by Cabinet Order in accordance with the installment payment period (referred to as the "installment payment rate" in paragraph (2) of the following Article).

⑥Where, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), part of the retirement allowance is to be paid by way of installment payment, the amount obtained by deducting the amount subject to installment payment from the full amount of that retirement allowance is paid as a lump sum.