Article 12Issuance of Copy, etc. of Certificate of Residence upon Request by Person Concerned, etc.

①A person recorded in the basic resident register kept by a municipality (including, in the case where the mayor of that municipality has prepared a certificate of residence on a household basis for the household to which that person belonged, a person excluded from that certificate of residence (excluding a person for whom all entries pertaining to that person were made due to an error of the mayor of the municipality, and that entry has been deleted); the same applies in paragraph (1) of the following Article) may request the mayor of that municipality to issue a copy of the certificate of residence pertaining to that person or to a person belonging to the same household as that person (in the case of a municipality that prepares its certificate of residence using a magnetic disk under the provision of Article 6, paragraph (3), a document stating the matters recorded in that certificate of residence; the same applies hereinafter), or a certificate concerning the matters entered in the certificate of residence (hereinafter referred to as "certificate of items stated in resident register").

②A request under the provision of the preceding paragraph must be made in a manner that makes clear the following matters, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

③When making a request under the provision of paragraph (1), the person actually undertaking the request must make clear to the mayor of the municipality, by the method of presenting an Individual Number Card (meaning the Individual Number Card prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (7) of the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures; the same applies hereinafter) or by another method specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, that the person actually undertaking the request is the person himself or herself.

④In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, where the person actually undertaking the request is the agent of the person making the request, or is otherwise a person different from the person making the request, the person actually undertaking the request must present or submit to the mayor of the municipality, by the method specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, a document making clear that that person is undertaking the request at the request of the person making the request or under the provisions of laws and regulations.

⑤The mayor of the municipality may, unless there is a special request, when a request has been made for the issuance of a copy of the certificate of residence prescribed in paragraph (1), issue the copy of the certificate of residence prescribed in that paragraph with all or part of the entries concerning the matters listed in Article 7, items (iv), (v), and (viii)-2 through (xiv) omitted.

⑥The mayor of the municipality may refuse a request under the provision of paragraph (1) when it is clear that the request is for an improper purpose.

⑦A person who intends to make a request under the provision of paragraph (1) may request the sending of a copy of the certificate of residence or a certificate of items stated in resident register prescribed in that paragraph, by mail or another method specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.