Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law. Copyright Roderick Seeman

Article 24 (Capital transactions, etc., requiring license from the Minister of International Trade and Industry)

1. Only in such an event as when the Minister of International Trade and Industry deems that, among the capital transactions mentioned in Article 20, Item (2) (including those designated by a Cabinet Order under the provisions of Item (12) of the same Article as being similar to those transactions defined by Item (2) thereof), if any transaction or act of an exporter or importer of goods which is designated by a Cabinet Order as being directly related to export or import, or any transaction or act designated by a Cabinet Order as being that for transfer of a right of mining, industrial property rights, or other similar rights, or for creation of a right to use such rights (except for those capital transactions designated by a Cabinet Order as intending to settle short-term international commercial transactions) were allowed without any restriction it might result in one of the consequences mentioned in each Item of Article 21, Paragraph 2, and the achievement of the objective of this Law might become difficult, he may require, as provided by Cabinet Order, any resident who is to carry out such a capital transaction to obtain a license therefor.

2. Unless a Cabinet Order otherwise so provides, any resident who is to become a party to any capital transaction mentioned in the preceding Paragraph must give prior notice, as provided by Cabinet Order, to the Minister of International Trade and Industry of those matters as designated by the Cabinet Order such as particulars of the capital transaction, time of execution thereof, and others.

3. Any resident who has given a notice under the provisions of the preceding Paragraph 1 concerning the capital transactions mentioned in the same Paragraph (excluding those designated by a Cabinet Order as being related to a money borrowing contract by a resident from a non-resident) shall not execute that capital transaction under notice until a period of twenty (20) days has elapsed, counting from the day of receipt of the notice by the Minister of International Trade and Industry. However, the Minister of International Trade and Industry may shorten this period when he deems it not specifically harmful, judging from the particulars, etc., of the capital transactions under notice.

4. The provisions of Items (2) through (8) of the preceding Article shall apply mutatis mutandis to the capital transactions mentioned in the preceding Paragraph, and a Cabinet Order shall provide for the technical re-readings of such mutatis mutandis application.

5. When imposing an obligation to obtain a license under the provisions of Paragraph 1 upon the capital transactions defined by Paragraph 3 (except for those for which a notice has already been given under the provisions of Paragraph 2), the Minister of International Trade and Industry shall do so, also considering whether, if such capital transactions were executed, any one of the consequences mentioned in each Item of Paragraph 2 of the preceding Article, of which mutatis mutandis application is provided by the preceding Paragraph, might ensue therefrom, in addition to those mentioned in each Item of Article 21, Paragraph 2, thus resulting in a difficulty for achieving the objective of this Law.

6. When an obligation to obtain a license from the Minister of International Trade and Industry is imposed under the provisions of Paragraph 1, the provisions of Paragraph 2 through Paragraph 4 shall not apply, irrespective of the provisions of Paragraph 2, to any capital transaction mentioned in Paragraph 1 upon which the above-mentioned obligation is imposed.