JAPAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Yuko Kanamaru, Gaien Partners
The Amendments to the Civil Enforcement Act and Their Impact on the Enforcement of Judgments in Japan Among the most recent developments in the enforce - ment of judgments in Japan are the amendments to the Civil Enforcement Act (Act No 4 of 1979) (CEA). A recent amendment, in 2020, included the expansion of the means for property disclosure and relaxation of the requirements to apply for this. The amendments discussed here, promulgated on 14 June 2023, were made from a totally different perspective. This article will explain the background to and details of the amendments to the CEA in 2023 (the “2023 CEA Amendments”), together with the possible impact from an international point of view. Background to the 2023 CEA Amendments – digitalisation of civil proceedings In 2018, the cabinet established the Investigative Commission for Digitalisation of Court Proceedings, etc, which released the “Report for the Digitalisation of Court Proceedings, etc – to Realize Three e’s”. The three e’s here stand for: • e-filing, which anticipates (i) the submission of briefs and evidence only online, (ii) court records to be only in a digital form, and (iii) fees only by electronic payment; • e-courts, which anticipate (i) the implementation and expansion of web conferences and TV confer - ences, (ii) reform of the first oral argument pro - ceedings, and (iii) utilisation of IT tools during the arrangement of allegations and evidence; and • e-case management, which anticipates (i) online access to briefs and evidence when necessary, (ii) the arrangement of the proceedings schedule online, and (iii) the parties’ (and counsels’) checking and confirmation of the status of the case online. With these “three e’s”, this report suggests the “full digitalisation of court proceedings” which anticipates there will be no paperwork through the whole process (assuming all the case materials to be digitalised) – from the filing/application of the case to all the fol - lowing proceedings in civil cases. The plan consists of the following three phases and has been partly
implemented as follows, through amendments to and phased enactment of the Code of Civil Procedure (No 109 of 1996) (CCP). • Phase One is 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 imple - mentation of the “System for Digital Submission of Civil Litigation Materials” (the so-called mints, an abbreviation for “ MINji saibansyorui denshi Teisy- utsu System”), where all the materials that can be submitted by facsimile (such as briefs, copies of evidence and lists of evidence) have been sub - mitted online in all the district courts, high courts (including branches) and summary courts, since November 2023. • Phase Two – to enable both parties to attend the hearings (including the oral argument, preparatory proceedings and settlement proceedings) – was implemented by March 2024. • Phase Three is to implement all the amendments to the CCP and anticipates the full digitalisation of civil proceedings materials, including the submis - sion of the complaint. Together with the amendments to the CCP for the digitalisation of civil proceedings, the laws and regula - tions regarding the systems for other court civil-relat - ed business have been amended. These include civil execution, civil preservation, bankruptcy proceedings, civil rehabilitation, corporate reorganisation, special liquidation, recognition of and assistance in foreign insolvency proceedings, non-contentious cases, civil mediation, labour tribunal proceedings, personal status litigation, domestic relations cases and cases relating to the return of a child. Overview of the 2023 CEA Amendments The 2023 CEA Amendments relate to this digitalisation of civil proceedings, as follows. Implementation of the provisions pertaining to digitalisation and inspection of case records The first item is to enable access to court materials by the person who has an interest in the outcome of the
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