①The Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications may designate, as a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, a specified telecommunications service provider that provides a specified telecommunications service that falls under all of the following items and for which it is found that there is a particularly high need for expediting the implementation procedures for measures for preventing transmission of violating information and for transparency of the implementation status of transmission prevention measures with regard to the dissemination of information through specified telecommunications pertaining to its use (hereinafter referred to as a "large-scale specified telecommunications service").

②If the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications finds that the grounds for the designation under the provisions of the preceding paragraph no longer exist with regard to a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, the Minister must, without delay, rescind the designation.

③To the extent necessary for the designation under the provisions of paragraph (1) and the rescission of designation under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications may, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, have a specified telecommunications service provider report the average monthly number of senders and the average monthly total number of senders of the specified telecommunications service it provides.

④If the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications finds that it is difficult to ascertain the average monthly number of senders or the average monthly total number of senders of a specified telecommunications service provided by a specified telecommunications service provider by means of the collection of reports under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the Minister may estimate that average monthly number of senders or average monthly total number of senders by a reasonable method specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and make the designation under the provisions of paragraph (1) and the rescission of designation under the provisions of paragraph (2).

①A large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must notify the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications of the following matters, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, within three months from the date on which it was designated under the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article.

②When there is a change in the matters set forth in the items of the preceding paragraph, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must notify the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications to that effect without delay.

①A large-scale specified telecommunications service provider (limited to one that has made the notification under Article 21, paragraph (1); the same applies hereinafter) must, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, establish and publish a method for a person who alleges that the person's rights have been violated due to dissemination of information through specified telecommunications conducted using the large-scale specified telecommunications service it provides (referred to as an "infringed party" in the following Article) to make a request to that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, by indicating the violating information, etc., to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information.

②The method under the preceding paragraph must be one that conforms to all of the following items:

When an infringed party has made a request to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information in accordance with the method under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must, without delay, conduct the necessary investigation into whether the rights of that infringed party are being unjustly violated due to the dissemination of the violating information pertaining to that request.

①In order to have those parts of the investigation under the preceding Article that require specialized knowledge and experience properly conducted, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must appoint a violating information investigation specialist (referred to as an "investigation specialist" in this Article and Article 25, paragraph (2), item (ii)) from among persons who have sufficient knowledge and experience in dealing with violations of rights arising from dissemination of information through specified telecommunications.

②The number of investigation specialists of a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must be the number specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications according to the average monthly number of senders or average monthly total number of senders, and the type, of the large-scale specified telecommunications service provided by that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider, or more (in the case where that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider provides multiple large-scale specified telecommunications services, the sum of the numbers specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications according to the average monthly number of senders or average monthly total number of senders, and the type, of each large-scale specified telecommunications service).

③When a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider has appointed an investigation specialist, it must, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, notify the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications to that effect and of the matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, without delay. The same applies when it has changed these.

①When a request under Article 23 has been made, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must determine, based on the results of the investigation under that Article, whether to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information, and notify the person making the request of the matters specified in each of the following items for the categories set forth in those items, within the period specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications that is within 14 days from the day on which it received the request; provided, however, that this does not apply when a request of the same content has previously been made by the person making the request or when there is otherwise a justifiable reason for not giving notification.

②Notwithstanding the main clause of the preceding paragraph, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider need only, if it falls under any of the following items, notify the person making the request of the matters specified in the relevant items of that paragraph for the categories set forth in the items of that paragraph, without delay after determining whether to take measures for preventing transmission of violating information based on the results of the investigation under Article 23. In this case, it must notify the person making the request, within the period specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications under that paragraph, of which of the following items it falls under (and, if it falls under item (iii), that fact and the content of the unavoidable reason).

①With regard to the dissemination of information through specified telecommunications conducted using the large-scale specified telecommunications service it provides, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider may take transmission prevention measures only where it complies with the standards that it has itself established and published, other than in a case falling under any of the following items. In this case, those standards must have been published no later than a fixed period specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications before the day on which the transmission prevention measures are taken.

②In establishing the standards under the preceding paragraph, a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must endeavor to ensure that the content of those standards conforms to all of the following items:

③When a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider has taken transmission prevention measures on the ground that it falls under paragraph (1), item (iii), it must promptly amend the standards under that paragraph so that it becomes clear that the type of information for which it took those transmission prevention measures is a subject of transmission prevention measures.

④A large-scale specified telecommunications service provider that has published the standards under paragraph (1) must endeavor to prepare and publish, approximately once a year, materials that organize, by type of information, those cases of information for which transmission prevention measures were taken in accordance with those standards that should serve as a reference for senders and other persons concerned.

When a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider has taken transmission prevention measures with regard to the dissemination of information through specified telecommunications conducted using the large-scale specified telecommunications service it provides, it must, except in a case falling under either of the following items, without delay, take measures to notify the sender of the information whose transmission was prevented by those transmission prevention measures of that fact and the reasons therefor, or to place that fact and those reasons in a state in which the sender of that information can readily learn of them (referred to as "notification or similar measures" in item (ii) and in item (iii) of the following Article). In this case, if those transmission prevention measures were taken in accordance with the standards under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, it must make clear, in those reasons, the relationship between those transmission prevention measures and those standards.

A large-scale specified telecommunications service provider must, once every year, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, publish the following matters:

The Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications may, to the extent necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of Article 22, Article 24, Article 25, Article 26, paragraph (1) or (3), Article 27 or the preceding Article, require a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider to make a report on its business.

①When the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications finds that a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider is in violation of the provisions of Article 22, Article 24, Article 25, Article 26, paragraph (1) or (3), Article 27 or Article 28, the Minister may recommend to that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider that it take the measures necessary to rectify the violation.

②If a large-scale specified telecommunications service provider that has received a recommendation under the preceding paragraph fails, without a justifiable reason, to take the measures pertaining to the recommendation, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications may order that large-scale specified telecommunications service provider to take the measures pertaining to the recommendation.

①A designation under Article 20, paragraph (1), the collection of reports under the provisions of Article 29, a recommendation under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, or an order under paragraph (2) of that Article is made by serving the document specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

②The notice under Article 30 of the Administrative Procedure Act (Act No. 88 of 1993) pertaining to a designation under Article 20, paragraph (1) or an order under paragraph (2) of the preceding Article is given by serving the document under that Article. In this case, the provisions of Article 15, paragraph (3) of that Act as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 31 of that Act with the terms deemed to be replaced do not apply.

The provisions of Article 100, paragraph (1), Article 101, Article 102-2, Article 103, Article 105, Article 106 and Article 108 of the Code of Civil Procedure apply mutatis mutandis to service under the preceding Article. In this case, the term "court" in that paragraph and the term "presiding judge" in that Article are deemed to be replaced with "Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications", and the term "court execution officer" in Article 101, paragraph (1) of that Act is deemed to be replaced with "official of the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications".

①The Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications may effect service by publication in the following cases:

②Service by publication is carried out by taking measures to place in a state where it can be viewed by unspecified and numerous persons, by the method specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the effect that the documents to be served will be delivered to the person to be served at any time, and to place in a state where it can be viewed a document stating that effect posted on the bulletin board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, or that effect displayed on the screen of a computer installed at an office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

③Service by publication takes effect upon the lapse of two weeks from the day on which the measures were commenced under the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

④In the case of service by publication made in respect of service to be effected in a foreign country, the period referred to in the preceding paragraph is six weeks.

If an employee of the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications has handled affairs relating to a disposition notice, etc. prescribed in Article 3, item (ix) of the Act on the Advancement of Government Administration Processes That Utilize Information and Communications Technology (Act No. 151 of 2002) that is to be given by serving a document pursuant to the provisions of Article 31, using the electronic data processing system prescribed in Article 6, paragraph (1) of that Act pursuant to Article 7, paragraph (1) of that Act, the employee must, in lieu of preparing and submitting a document stating the matters concerning service under the provisions of Article 100, paragraph (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure as applied mutatis mutandis with the terms replaced pursuant to Article 32, record those matters, using that electronic data processing system, in a file kept on a computer (including input-output devices) used by the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications.