①If an employer fixes the mandatory retirement age (limited to under 65 years of age; hereinafter, the same applies in this Article), the employer must take a measure that is one of those listed in the following items in order to secure stable employment for elderly persons employed by the employer until 65 years of age (hereinafter referred to as the "measures for securing employment for elderly persons"):

②Continuous employment systems are to include a mechanism whereby an employer concludes a contract with a specially related employer (referring to an employer in a relationship with a given employer that allows it to have substantial control of the business of the given employer and any other employer specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as being in a special relationship with the given employer; hereinafter, the same applies in this paragraph and Article 10-2, paragraph (1)) promising that the specially related employer will continue to employ elderly persons currently employed by the employer who wish to be employed after the mandatory retirement age, etc., and the employment of elderly persons is secured based on the contract.

③The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare is to specify the guidelines concerning the implementation and operation of the measures for securing employment for elderly persons (referred to as the "guidelines" in the following paragraph) that the employer in paragraph (1) should take (including treatment of persons that have difficulty fulfilling their duties in the continuous employment system due to a mental or physical disorder).

④The provisions of Article 6, paragraphs (3) and (4) apply mutatis mutandis to formulations of and amendments to the guidelines.