JAPAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Yuko Kanamaru, Gaien Partners
Developments of the Application of the 2023 CEA Amendment in Japan It has been three years since the latest amendment of the Civil Enforcement Act (Act No 4 of 1979) (CEA) was made in 2023. While the CEA was amended quite recently, in 2020, which included the expansion of the means for property disclosure and relaxation of the requirements for the application thereof, the amend - ment in 2023 was made from the perspective of digi - talisation of civil proceedings. This article will explain the background and details of the amendments to the CEA in 2023 (the “2023 CEA Amendment”), together with the prospect of impact from an international perspective. Background of the 2023 CEA Amendment – digitalisation of civil proceedings In 2018, the Cabinet established the Investigative Commission for Digitalisation of the Court Proceed - ings, etc, which released the “Report for the Digitalisa - tion of the Court Proceedings, etc – to Realize Three ‘e’s.” “Three ‘e’s” here stand for: • e-Filing (which expects (i) the submissions of briefs and evidence only online, (ii) the court records only in digital form, and (iii) fees only by electronic pay - ment); • e-Court (which expects (i) the implementation and expansion of web conference and TV conference, (ii) reform of the first oral argument proceedings, and (iii) utilisation of IT tools during the arrange - ment of allegations and evidence); and • e-Case Management (which expects (i) online access to the briefs and evidence whenever necessary, (ii) the arrangement of the proceedings schedule online, and (iii) the parties’ (and coun - sels’) checking and confirmation of the status of the case). With these “three ‘e’s”, this report suggested the “full digitalisation of the court proceedings” that expects no paperwork through the whole process (assuming all the case materials to be digitalised), from the filing/ application of the case to all of the following proceed - ings in civil cases. The amendment consists of the following three phases and was implemented in full, through the amendments to and phased enactment
of the Code of Civil Procedure (No 109 of 1996) (CCP) in May 2026. • Phase One was to enable the arrangement of issues and evidence through web-meetings. This was implemented using the Teams application provided by Microsoft in all the district courts, high courts (including the branches) and summary courts by January 2024. Phase One also included the implementation of the “System for Digital Submission of the Civil Litigation Materials” (so- called “mints”, abbreviation for “ MINji saibansyorui denshi Teisyutsu System ”), where all the materials that can be submitted by facsimile (such as briefs, copies of evidence and lists of evidence) were to be submitted online in all the district courts, high courts (including branches) and summary courts by November 2023. • Phase Two was to enable both parties to attend the hearings (including the oral argument, preparatory proceedings and settlement proceedings) online, which were implemented by March 2024. • Phase Three was to implement all the amendments to the CCP and expect the full digitalisation of the civil proceedings’ materials, including the submis - sion of the complaint. This was implemented in May 2026. Together with the amendments to the CCP for the dig - italisation of the civil proceedings, the laws and regu - lations have been amended regarding the systems for other civil court-related business, including civil execution, civil preservation, bankruptcy proceedings, civil rehabilitation, corporate reorganisation, special liquidation, recognition of and assistance for foreign insolvency proceedings, non-contentious cases, civil mediation, labour tribunal proceedings, personal sta - tus litigation, domestic relations cases and cases relating to the return of a child. Overview of the 2023 CEA Amendment The 2023 CEA Amendment relates to this digitalisa - tion reform of civil proceedings, an overview of which is as follows.
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