# 中小企業退職金共済法 / Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Retirement Allowance Cooperative Act — 第二条 (Article 2)

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- Law: 中小企業退職金共済法 (Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Retirement Allowance Cooperative Act), 昭和三十四年法律第百六十号
- English title "Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Retirement Allowance Cooperative 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)（定義） — address `art-2`
- Text in force since: 2025-06-01
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2
- e-Gov law ID: 334AC0000000160 — 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.

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### 第二条（定義） — Definitions
<sup>caption: machine translation, not official</sup>
<sup>art-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2</sup>

**第一項**  この法律で「中小企業者」とは、次の各号のいずれかに該当する事業主（国、地方公共団体その他厚生労働省令で定めるこれらに準ずる者を除く。）をいう。
<sup>art-2/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1</sup>
In this Act, "small and medium-sized enterprise" means an employer that falls under any of the following items (excluding the State, local governments, and other persons specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as equivalent to them):
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **一**  常時雇用する従業員の数が三百人以下の事業主及び資本金の額又は出資の総額が三億円以下の法人である事業主（次号から第四号までに掲げる業種に属する事業を主たる事業として営む事業主を除く。）
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-1</sup>
  an employer that regularly employs 300 employees or less, and an employer that is a corporation with stated capital or total contributions of 300 million yen or less (excluding an employer principally engaged in a business belonging to an industry listed in the following item through item (iv));
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **二**  卸売業に属する事業を主たる事業として営む事業主であつて、常時雇用する従業員の数が百人以下のもの及び資本金の額又は出資の総額が一億円以下の法人であるもの
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-2</sup>
  an employer principally engaged in a business belonging to the wholesale industry that regularly employs 100 employees or less, and one that is a corporation with stated capital or total contributions of 100 million yen or less;
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **三**  サービス業に属する事業を主たる事業として営む事業主であつて、常時雇用する従業員の数が百人以下のもの及び資本金の額又は出資の総額が五千万円以下の法人であるもの
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-3</sup>
  an employer principally engaged in a business belonging to the service industry that regularly employs 100 employees or less, and one that is a corporation with stated capital or total contributions of 50 million yen or less;
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **四**  小売業に属する事業を主たる事業として営む事業主であつて、常時雇用する従業員の数が五十人以下のもの及び資本金の額又は出資の総額が五千万円以下の法人であるもの
  <sup>art-2/par-1/item-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-4</sup>
  an employer principally engaged in a business belonging to the retail industry that regularly employs 50 employees or less, and one that is a corporation with stated capital or total contributions of 50 million yen or less.
  <sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第二項**  この法律で「退職」とは、従業員について、事業主との雇用関係が終了することをいう。
<sup>art-2/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-2</sup>
In this Act, "retirement" means the termination of the employment relationship between an employee and an employer.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第三項**  この法律で「退職金共済契約」とは、事業主が独立行政法人勤労者退職金共済機構（第五十六条及び第五十七条を除き、以下「機構」という。）に掛金を納付することを約し、機構がその事業主の雇用する従業員の退職について、この法律の定めるところにより、退職金を支給することを約する契約であつて、特定業種退職金共済契約以外のものをいう。
<sup>art-2/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-3</sup>
In this Act, "retirement allowance mutual aid contract" means a contract, other than a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract, under which an employer promises to pay premiums to the Organization for Workers' Retirement Allowance Mutual Aid (hereinafter referred to as the "Organization", except in Articles 56 and 57) and the Organization promises to pay retirement allowances, as provided for in this Act, upon the retirement of the employees employed by that employer.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第四項**  この法律で「特定業種」とは、建設業その他従業員の相当数が、通常、当該業種に属する多数の事業の間を移動してこれらの事業の事業主に雇用される業種であつて、厚生労働大臣が指定するものをいう。
<sup>art-2/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-4</sup>
In this Act, "specified industry" means an industry, such as the construction industry, in which a considerable number of employees ordinarily move between many businesses belonging to that industry and are employed by the employers of those businesses, and which is designated by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第五項**  この法律で「特定業種退職金共済契約」とは、特定業種に属する事業の事業主が機構に掛金を納付することを約し、機構が、期間を定めて雇用される者としてその事業主に雇用され、かつ、当該特定業種に属する事業に従事することを常態とする者の退職について、この法律の定めるところにより、退職金を支給することを約する契約をいう。
<sup>art-2/par-5 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-5</sup>
In this Act, "specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract" means a contract under which an employer of a business belonging to a specified industry promises to pay premiums to the Organization and the Organization promises to pay retirement allowances, as provided for in this Act, upon the retirement of a person who is employed by that employer as a person employed for a fixed period and who habitually engages in a business belonging to that specified industry.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第六項**  この法律で「共済契約者」とは、退職金共済契約又は特定業種退職金共済契約の当事者である事業主をいう。
<sup>art-2/par-6 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-6</sup>
In this Act, "mutual aid policyholder" means an employer that is a party to a retirement allowance mutual aid contract or a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

**第七項**  この法律で「被共済者」とは、退職金共済契約又は特定業種退職金共済契約により機構がその者の退職について退職金を支給すべき者をいう。
<sup>art-2/par-7 · https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-7</sup>
In this Act, "covered employee" means a person upon whose retirement the Organization is to pay a retirement allowance under a retirement allowance mutual aid contract or a specified-industry retirement allowance mutual aid contract.
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

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## Cites
- art-2/par-1/item-1: 次号から第四号まで → 中小企業退職金共済法 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-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-2
- art-2/par-1/item-1: 次号から第四号まで → 中小企業退職金共済法 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-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-3
- art-2/par-1/item-1: 次号から第四号まで → 中小企業退職金共済法 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-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-4
- art-2/par-3: 第五十六条 → 中小企業退職金共済法 第五十六条 (Article 56), art-56 — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-56
- art-2/par-3: 第五十七条 → 中小企業退職金共済法 第五十七条 (Article 57), art-57 — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-57

## Cited by

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

- 中小企業退職金共済法 第二条第一項第一号（定義） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-2/par-1/item-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 第七十九条第一項第一号（協議） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/art-79/par-1/item-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第二項（経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-3481-115/par-2
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第七条第一項（従前の積立事業についての取扱い） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-3551-45/art-7/par-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第十条第一項（退職金共済契約等に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4091-68/art-10/par-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第十条第二項（退職金共済契約等に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4091-68/art-10/par-2
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第十条第一項（中小企業退職金共済法の一部改正に伴う経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4111-146/art-10/par-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第二十八条第一項（適格退職年金契約に係る資産の独立行政法人勤労者退職金共済機構への移換） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4131-50/art-28/par-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第十一条第一項（退職金共済契約等に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4141-164/art-11/par-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第十一条第二項（退職金共済契約等に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4141-164/art-11/par-2
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第二条第一項（解約手当金に相当する額の引渡しに関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4271-17/art-2/par-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第三条第一項（掛金納付月数の通算等に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4271-17/art-3/par-1
- 中小企業退職金共済法 附則第四条第三項（退職金共済事業を廃止した団体からの受入金額の受入れ等に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/sme-retirement-allowance-act/suppl-4271-17/art-4/par-3
- 印紙税法 別表第三（非課税文書の表） — https://japanlaw.org/en/stamp-tax-act/appdx-3 (e-Gov law ID 342AC0000000023)
- 厚生年金保険法 附則第三十六条第一項（解散存続厚生年金基金の残余財産の独立行政法人勤労者退職金共済機構への交付） — https://japanlaw.org/en/employees-pension-insurance-act/suppl-4251-63/art-36/par-1 (e-Gov law ID 329AC0000000115)
- 法人税法 附則第二十八条第一項（適格退職年金契約に係る資産の独立行政法人勤労者退職金共済機構への移換） — https://japanlaw.org/en/corporation-tax-act/suppl-4131-50/art-28/par-1 (e-Gov law ID 340AC0000000034)
- 確定拠出年金法 第五十四条の六第一項（退職金共済契約の被共済者となった者等の個人別管理資産の移換） — https://japanlaw.org/en/defined-contribution-pension-act/art-54-6/par-1 (e-Gov law ID 413AC0000000088)
- 賃金の支払の確保等に関する法律 第五条第一項（退職手当の保全措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/wage-payment-act/art-5/par-1 (e-Gov law ID 351AC0000000034)

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## Sources

- e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 中小企業退職金共済法 — the text in force from 2025-06-01 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/334AC0000000160/20250601_504AC0000000068), retrieved 2026-11-06
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — 中小企業退職金共済法 — its English title as the Ministry of Justice's translation database lists it (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/1775), retrieved 2026-09-23
- claude-sonnet-5-5 — Machine translation, batch sme-retirement-allowance-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-retirement-allowance-act-20261106T173426-001, translated 2026-11-07
- This site's parser, version 225 — 中小企業退職金共済法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-11-06