Gyoseisoshikiho no Riron to Jitsumu (Theory and Practice of Administrative Organization Law)

The Administrative Organization Law is not usually directly involved in the rights and obligations of the general public. So generally, there tends to be a low level of interest in this law. However, the way that administrative organizations are set up significantly affects the rights and obligations of the general public, and thus is an important research subject in this field. This book first considers the Basic Act on Central Government Reform enacted in 1998, because it is not simply limited to reorganization of government ministries but is also known as the Basic Law on Administrative Reform, as it includes a large number of important issues for both the Administrative Organization Law, and for administrative law as a whole. A major feature of this book is the detailed analysis of American government corporations, including the historical development of these corporations, an area almost entirely lacking in cumulative research, followed by a discussion comparing these corporations with the Special Public Corporations and Incorporated Administrative Agencies in Japan. Although these entities are often established to streamline administration by outsourcing administrative duties and business, it has been found that, in the U.S., the process of incorporation itself is not immediately regarded as outsourcing, instead these corporations are positioned as part of the department and are often subject to the same regulations as general administrative organizations. Furthermore, in Japan, it is not unusual to consider incorporation as a means to evade the budgetary and personnel regulations that are applicable to administrative organizations. However, the U.S. has introduced mechanisms of deregulation without incorporation, known as Performance Based Organization and Waiver. The other important point that has been indicated in Japan is unreasonable deregulation, and incorporation itself should not be the goal. This book conducts a detailed examination of the Consumer Affairs Agency and the Environment Agency as rare examples of new agencies in the sense that they were exceptions to the scrap and build principle of abolishing another ministry or agency of the same rank to establish a new ministry or agency. The Consumer Affairs Agency has proved to be significant due to the intention for it to act as a unified centralized system on information related to consumer damage and to ensure correct law enforcement based on that information. It has also proven important because legislation has been enacted to deal with matters that cannot be regulated because those matters fall into a gap of regulatory authority within the vertical administrative structure. This book also examines the Consumer Safety Investigation Commission and the Transport Safety Board, which are important accident investigation organs in Japan, and discusses ensuring the impartial neutrality of investigations and deliberation, information disclosure, and the relationship between government surveillance and criminal investigation. The Financial Reconstruction Commission is also closely scrutinized, clarifying for the first time that ministerial committees chaired by the Minister of State include committees such as the National Public Safety Commission where the chair only has the right of arbitration if the votes are tied, and committees such as the Financial Reconstruction Commission where the chair has voting rights. The standard certification system and designated inspection agencies are also analyzed using the telecommunications business as an example, and the Specific Personal Information Protection Commission which was established without the scrap and build principle is investigated.
 

(Written by UGA Katsuya, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2021)