Article 847-3Action to Enforce Specific Liability by Shareholders of Ultimate, Wholly Owning Parent Company

①A shareholder who holds votes of one-hundredths (or, if a lesser proportion is prescribed in the articles of incorporation, that proportion) or more of the votes of all shareholders (excluding shareholders who cannot exercise voting rights for all of matters that can be resolved at the shareholders meeting) of the ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. of a stock company (meaning the wholly owning parent company, etc. of the stock company which itself has no wholly owning parent company, etc.; hereinafter the same applies in this Section) continuously over six months (or, if a shorter period is prescribed in the articles of incorporation, that period or more) or a shareholder who holds shares at or more than one-hundredths (or, if a shorter period is prescribed in the articles of incorporation, that period or more) of issued shares (excluding treasury shares) of the ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. may demand the stock company to file an action to enforce specific liability (hereinafter referred to as "action to enforce specific liability" hereinafter in this Section) in writing or by any other methods specified by Ministry of Justice Order; provided, however, that this does not apply to cases corresponding to any of the following:

②An "ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc." as prescribed in the preceding paragraph means the stock companies set forth in the following:

③In the cases set forth in item (ii) of the preceding paragraph, when another stock company and its wholly owned subsidiary companies, etc. as referred to in that item, or the wholly owned subsidiary companies, etc. of another stock company as referred to in the same item, hold all of the shares or equity interests of another corporation, the relevant other corporation is deemed to be the wholly owned subsidiary company, etc. of that other stock company.

④"Specific liability" as prescribed in paragraph (1) means the liability of the incorporator, etc. of a stock company, if the book value of the stock company's shares at the ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. and its wholly owned subsidiary companies, etc. (including anything deemed to be the wholly owned subsidiary company, etc. thereof pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph; the same applies in the following paragraph and Article 849, paragraph (3)) exceeds one-fifth (or, if a lesser proportion is prescribed in the articles of incorporation, the proportion) of the value calculated by the method prescribed by Ministry of Justice Order as the total assets of the ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. on the day when the fact giving rise to the liability of the incorporator, etc. occurred (the same applies in paragraph (10) and paragraph (7) of the same Article).

⑤If an ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. takes, as its wholly owned subsidiary company, etc., a stock company that, on the day when the fact giving rise to the liability of the incorporator, etc. occurred, was an ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc., the stock company that was formerly an ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. is deemed to be the ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. set forth in the preceding paragraph and the provisions of that paragraph apply.

⑥For the purpose of the application of the provisions of paragraph (1) to an ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. that is not a public company, "a stock company continuously over six months (or, if a shorter period is prescribed in the articles of incorporation, that period or more)" in the same paragraph is read as "stock company".

⑦If a stock company does not file an action to enforce specific liability within sixty days from the day of demand pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), shareholders of the ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. that made the demand may file an action to enforce specific liability for the stock company.

⑧If a stock company does not file an action to enforce specific liability within sixty days from the day of demand pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), when receiving a demand from a shareholder of an ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. which has made the demand or an incorporator, etc. who will become a defendant of the action to enforce specific liability related to the demand, the stock company must notify the person who made the demand the reason for not filing an action to enforce specific liability in writing or other method prescribed by Ministry of Justice Order without delay.

⑨Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (7), if a stock company is likely to suffer irreparable damages due to the elapsing of the period set forth in the same paragraph, the shareholder prescribed in paragraph (1) may file an action to enforce specific liability immediately for the stock company; provided, however, that this does not apply to cases where it is prescribed in the proviso to the same paragraph.

⑩If there is an ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. with a stock company, for the purpose of the application of the provisions of Article 55, Article 103, paragraph (3), Article 120, paragraph (5), Article 424 (including cases where it is applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 486, paragraph (4)), proviso to Article 462, paragraph (3), Article 464, paragraph (2), and Article 465, paragraph (2) to cases of exempting specific liability, "all shareholders" in these provisions is read as "all shareholders and all shareholders of an ultimate, wholly owning parent company, etc. as prescribed in Article 847-3, paragraph (1)".