# 中小企業基本法 / Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Basic Act — 第二条 (Article 2)

This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2. Every law, and how to address a provision: https://japanlaw.org/llms.txt. The same laws as MCP tools (no sign-in): https://japanlaw.org/mcp.

- Law: 中小企業基本法 (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Basic Act), 昭和三十八年法律第百五十四号
- English title "Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Basic Act": Ministry of Justice translation database, which lists the title
- Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say.
- Provision: 第二条 (Article 2)（中小企業者の範囲及び用語の定義） — address `art-2`
- Text in force since: 2026-01-01
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2
- e-Gov law ID: 338AC0000000154 — never renamed. A permanent link, `/l/{lawId}/{address}` on this site, redirects to the page.
- Every provision below carries its address and its URL on the line under it.
- Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below.

Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text
below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and
says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this
site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names.
They are never merged and never substituted for one another.

---

### 第二条（中小企業者の範囲及び用語の定義） — Scope of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Definitions of Terms
<sup>caption: machine translation, not official</sup>
<sup>art-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2</sup>

**第一項**  この法律に基づいて講ずる国の施策の対象とする中小企業者は、おおむね次の各号に掲げるものとし、その範囲は、これらの施策が次条の基本理念の実現を図るため効率的に実施されるように施策ごとに定めるものとする。
<sup>art-2/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1</sup>
The small and medium-sized enterprises that are to be the subjects of the national government's policies implemented under this Act are, generally, those listed in the following items, and their scope is to be specified for each policy so that these policies are implemented efficiently to realize the basic principles of the following Article.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **一**  資本金の額又は出資の総額が三億円以下の会社並びに常時使用する従業員の数が三百人以下の会社及び個人であつて、製造業、建設業、運輸業その他の業種（次号から第四号までに掲げる業種を除く。）に属する事業を主たる事業として営むもの
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-1</sup>
  a company whose stated capital or total amount of contributions is 300 million yen or less, or a company or individual whose number of regularly employed employees is 300 or less, in either case one that mainly carries on a business belonging to the manufacturing industry, construction industry, transportation industry or another industry (excluding the industries listed in the following item through item (iv));
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **二**  資本金の額又は出資の総額が一億円以下の会社並びに常時使用する従業員の数が百人以下の会社及び個人であつて、卸売業に属する事業を主たる事業として営むもの
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-2</sup>
  a company whose stated capital or total amount of contributions is 100 million yen or less, or a company or individual whose number of regularly employed employees is 100 or less, in either case one that mainly carries on a business belonging to the wholesale industry;
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **三**  資本金の額又は出資の総額が五千万円以下の会社並びに常時使用する従業員の数が百人以下の会社及び個人であつて、サービス業に属する事業を主たる事業として営むもの
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-3</sup>
  a company whose stated capital or total amount of contributions is 50 million yen or less, or a company or individual whose number of regularly employed employees is 100 or less, in either case one that mainly carries on a business belonging to the service industry;
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **四**  資本金の額又は出資の総額が五千万円以下の会社並びに常時使用する従業員の数が五十人以下の会社及び個人であつて、小売業に属する事業を主たる事業として営むもの
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-4</sup>
  a company whose stated capital or total amount of contributions is 50 million yen or less, or a company or individual whose number of regularly employed employees is 50 or less, in either case one that mainly carries on a business belonging to the retail industry.
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第二項**  この法律において「経営の革新」とは、新商品の開発又は生産、新役務の開発又は提供、商品の新たな生産又は販売の方式の導入、役務の新たな提供の方式の導入、新たな経営管理方法の導入その他の新たな事業活動を行うことにより、その経営の相当程度の向上を図ることをいう。
<sup>art-2/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-2</sup>
In this Act, "business innovation" means to seek a considerable improvement in the management of an enterprise by carrying out new business activities, such as the development or production of new products, the development or provision of new services, the introduction of a new method of producing or selling products, the introduction of a new method of providing services, or the introduction of a new management method.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第三項**  この法律において「創造的な事業活動」とは、経営の革新又は創業の対象となる事業活動のうち、著しい新規性を有する技術又は著しく創造的な経営管理方法を活用したものをいう。
<sup>art-2/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-3</sup>
In this Act, "creative business activities" means business activities that are the object of business innovation or the founding of a business and that make use of technology having remarkable novelty or a remarkably creative management method.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第四項**  この法律において「経営資源」とは、設備、技術、個人の有する知識及び技能その他の事業活動に活用される資源をいう。
<sup>art-2/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-4</sup>
In this Act, "management resources" means equipment, technology, the knowledge and skills held by individuals, and other resources used in business activities.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第五項**  この法律において「小規模企業者」とは、おおむね常時使用する従業員の数が二十人（商業又はサービス業に属する事業を主たる事業として営む者については、五人）以下の事業者をいう。
<sup>art-2/par-5 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-5</sup>
In this Act, "small-scale enterprise" means a business operator whose number of regularly employed employees is, generally, 20 or less (5 or less for a person who mainly carries on a business belonging to the commerce or service industry).
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

---

## Cites
- art-2/par-1: 次条 → 中小企業基本法 第三条 (Article 3), art-3 — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-3
- art-2/par-1/item-1: 次号から第四号まで → 中小企業基本法 第二条第一項第二号 (Article 2, paragraph (1), item (ii)), art-2/par-1/item-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-2
- art-2/par-1/item-1: 次号から第四号まで → 中小企業基本法 第二条第一項第三号 (Article 2, paragraph (1), item (iii)), art-2/par-1/item-3 — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-3
- art-2/par-1/item-1: 次号から第四号まで → 中小企業基本法 第二条第一項第四号 (Article 2, paragraph (1), item (iv)), art-2/par-1/item-4 — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-4

## Cited by

5 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction.

- 中小企業基本法 第二条第一項第一号（中小企業者の範囲及び用語の定義） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/art-2/par-1/item-1
- 中小企業基本法 附則第二条第一項（容器包装に係る分別収集及び再商品化の促進等に関する法律の経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-basic-act/suppl-4111-146/art-2/par-1
- 出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令 第一条第一項第一号 — https://japanlaw.org/en/highly-skilled-professional-criteria-ordinance/art-1/par-1/item-1 (e-Gov law ID 426M60000010037)
- 租税特別措置法 第三十七条の十三第一項第二号（特定中小会社が発行した株式の取得に要した金額の控除等） — https://japanlaw.org/en/special-taxation-measures-act/art-37-13/par-1/item-2 (e-Gov law ID 332AC0000000026)
- 障害者の雇用の促進等に関する法律 第四十五条の三第二項（特定事業主に雇用される労働者に関する特例） — https://japanlaw.org/en/employment-of-persons-with-disabilities-act/art-45-3/par-2 (e-Gov law ID 335AC0000000123)

---

## Sources

- e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 中小企業基本法 — the text in force from 2026-01-01 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/338AC0000000154/20260101_507AC0000000041), retrieved 2026-11-06
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — 中小企業基本法 — its English title as the Ministry of Justice's translation database lists it (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/822), retrieved 2026-10-07
- claude-sonnet-5-5 — Machine translation, batch sme-basic-act-20261106T173426-001, translated 2026-11-07
- claude-sonnet-5-5, corrected on review by claude-opus-5-5 — Machine translation corrected on review, batch sme-basic-act-20261106T173426-001, translated 2026-11-07
- This site's parser, version 225 — 中小企業基本法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-11-06