①The organ that establishes administrative orders or other orders (if administrative orders or other orders are established by Cabinet Decision, the minister in charge of drafting the administrative orders or other orders; referred to as "organs establishing administrative orders or other orders" below) must establish the administrative orders or other orders so that they will comply with the purpose of the laws and regulations which are to be the basis for the administrative orders or other orders.

②After establishing administrative orders or other orders, organs establishing administrative orders or other orders must endeavor to maintain the appropriateness of the orders by taking into account of their implementation status and social and economic trends, and review the content of the administrative orders or other orders as necessary.

①When an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders intends to establish administrative orders or other orders, it must publicize a draft of the orders (meaning a draft indicating the content to be established; the same applies below) and the materials relating to the administrative orders or other orders in advance and establish the place the comments (including information; the same applies below) are to be submitted, and the period for submitting comments (referred to as "period for submitting comments" below) and widely request comments from the general public.

②The draft of the administrative orders or other orders to be publicized pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph must have a concrete and clear content, and, must clearly indicate the title of the orders and the provisions of the laws and regulations which are to be the basis for them.

③The period for submitting comments specified pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) must be 30 days or more commencing from the date of public notice referred to in that paragraph.

④The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply in cases that fall under any of the following items:

①When intending to establish administrative orders or other orders, if there are compelling reasons for not being able to specify a minimum 30-day period for submitting comments, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (3) of the preceding Article, organs establishing administrative orders or other orders may specify a period for submitting comments that is less than 30 days. In such a case, the organs establishing administrative orders or other orders must clarify the reasons at the time of giving the public notice of the proposed administrative orders or other orders.

②If organs establishing administrative orders intend to establish administrative orders or other orders through deliberation by the committees or other councils (except for cases that fall under paragraph (4), item (iv) of the preceding Article) and the committees or other councils has conducted a procedure equivalent to the public comment procedures, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of that Article, they are not required to conduct the public comment procedures themselves.

In conducting public comment procedures and establishing administrative orders or other orders, organs establishing administrative orders or other orders are to endeavor to publicize the implementation of the public comment procedures, and provide information on the implementation of the public comment procedures to the public, as necessary.

In the case of conducting public comment procedures and establishing administrative orders or other orders, organs establishing administrative orders or other orders must sufficiently consider the comments submitted to them (referred to as "submitted comments" below) within the period for submitting comments.

①When an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders has conducted the public comment procedures and has established administrative orders or other orders, it must make the following matters public at the same time as the promulgation of the administrative orders or other orders (for those not to be promulgated, an act of making the administrative orders or other orders public; the same applies in paragraph (5));

②Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders may issue a public notice of the submitted comments that have been organized or summarized in lieu of the submitted comments referred to in item (iii) of that paragraph, as necessary. In such a case, the organ establishing administrative orders or other orders must publicize the submitted comments by keeping the administrative orders or other orders at the office of the organ establishing administrative orders or other orders, or by other appropriate means, without delay after the issuance of the public notice.

③When there is a risk that the interests of a third party would be harmed by giving public notification of or making public the submitted comments pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, or when there are other legitimate grounds, an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders may exclude all or part of the submitted comments.

④When an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders decides not to establish orders despite conducting the public comment procedures, the organ establishing administrative orders or other orders must promptly publicize that fact (if public comment procedures are to be conducted anew for other proposed administrative orders or other orders, including that fact) and the matters stated in items (i) and (ii) of paragraph (1).

⑤When an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders has established administrative orders or other orders without conducting the public comment procedures due to falling under any of the items of Article 39, paragraph (4), it must make the following matters public at the same time as the promulgation of the administrative orders or other orders; provided, however, that the organs have publish the purpose of the administrative orders or other orders specified in item (i), only when the organs has not implemented the public comment procedures comment due to falling under any of the provisions of Article 39, paragraph (4), items (i) through (iv), and the purpose of the administrative orders or other orders is not obvious by the administrative orders or other orders.

The provisions of Article 42 apply mutatis mutandis to cases in which an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders establishes the administrative orders or other orders without conducting the public comment procedures due to the case falling under Article 40, paragraph (2); the provisions of paragraphs (1) through (3) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to the case in which an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders has established the administrative orders or other orders without conducting the public comment procedures due to the case falling under Article 40, paragraph (2); and the provisions of paragraph (4) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to the case in which an organ establishing administrative orders or other orders has decided not to establish the administrative orders or other orders without conducting the public comment procedures due to the case falling under Article 40, paragraph (2). In these cases, the term "organs establishing administrative orders or other order" in Article 42 is deemed to be replaced by "committees or other councils", the term "the date of the public notice of the proposed administrative orders or other orders" in paragraph (1), item (ii) of the preceding Article is deemed to be replaced by "the date on which the committees or other councils have conducted a procedure equivalent to the public comment procedures concerning the proposed administrative orders or other orders", and the phrase "the public comment procedures have been conducted" in item (iv) of that paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "the procedure equivalent to the public comment procedures have been conducted by the committees or other councils ".

①The public notice under the provisions of Article 39, paragraph (1), and Article 43, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to the preceding Article following the deemed replacement of terms), paragraph (4) (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to the preceding Article), and paragraph (5) is to be provided by the means of using an electronic data processing system or other means using information and communications technology.

②The Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications specifies the necessary matters concerning the public notice referred to in the preceding paragraph.