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Article 1. The Board of Audit shall have an independent status of the Cabinet.
Article 2. The Board of Audit shall be composed of an Audit Commission consisting of three Commissioners, and a General Executive Bureau.
Article 3. The President of the Board of Audit shall be appointed by the Cabinet, according to the result of mutual election among the Commissioners.
Article 4. (1) Commissioners shall be appointed by the Cabinet, with the consent of both Houses of the Diet.
(2) In case the term of office of a Commissioner expires or a vacancy in the membership of the Commission occurs and the consent of both Houses of the Diet cannot be obtained owing to its prorogation or the dissolution of the House of Representatives, the Cabinet may, regardless of the provision of paragraph 1, appoint a Commissioner without the consent of both Houses.
(3) In the case referred to in paragraph 2, the consent of both Houses shall be required at the first session of the Diet to be convoked after the appointment. Without the consent of both Houses, the Commissioner shall naturally retire from office.
(4) The Emperor shall attest appointment and dismissal of Commissioners.
(5) The remuneration for Commissioners shall be fixed by another law.
Article 5. (1) The term of office of Commissioners shall be seven years, and a Commissioner may be reappointed for one additional term.
(2) In case an office of a Commissioner loses the incumbent during his tenure, the successive Commissioner shall hold office for the remaining term of the predecessor.
(3) A Commissioner shall retire from office upon attainment to the age of sixty-five(65).
Article 6. A Commissioner shall retire from office with the decision of both Houses of the Diet, when, in the collegiate judgement of the other Commissioners, the Commissioner is unable to perform his duties due to mental or physical impediment or he is in violation of duties in office.
Article 7. A Commissioner shall forfeit his office, when he is condemned to a penalty more than a confinement by a criminal court.
Article 8. Except in cases referred to in the latter part of Article 4 paragraph 3 and Articles 6 and 7, a Commissioner shall not, against his will, forfeit his office.
Article 9. A Commissioner shall not hold another post under the authority of the government or a local public entity or become a member of the Diet or a local assembly.
Article 10. The Chairmanship of the Audit Commission shall be assumed by the President.
Article 11. The following matters shall be decided by the Audit Commission.
1. Enactment, amendment or repeal of the Board of Audit Regulations under the provision of Article 38
2. The Audit Report under the provision of Article 29
3. Decision of such accounts as are subject to the audit by the Board under the provision of Article 23
4. Matters concerning the verification of accounts under the provision of Article 24
5. Matters concerning the demand for disciplinary action under the provision of Article 31 of this Law, Article 13 paragraph 2 of the Law for Preventing Delay in the Payment under Government Contracts Law No.256 of 1949) or Article 6 paragraphs 1 and 4 (including the case where it is applied by Article 9 paragraph 2) of the Law concerning the Responsibility of the Budget Executing Officer Law No. 172 of 1950)
6. Adjudication and re-adjudication of the liabilities of cash handling officials under the provision of Article 32 of this Law (including the case where it is applied by Article 10 paragraph 3 or Article 11 paragraph 2 of the Law concerning the Responsibility of the Budget Executing Officer), or Article 4 paragraph 1 and Article 5(including the case where it is applied by Article 8 paragraph 3 or Article 9 paragraph 2) of the Law concerning the Responsibility of the Budget Executing Officer
7. Settlement of claims under the provision of Article 35
8. Presentation of opinions or demand for measures under the provision of Article 36
9. Presentation of opinions under the provisions of Article 37 of this Law and Article 9 paragraph 5 of the Law concerning the Responsibility of the Budget Executing Officer
Article 12. The General Executive Bureau shall, under direction and supervision by the Audit Commission, be engaged in administration work, audit and claims settlement. In the General Executive Bureau, there shall be a Secretariat and following five bureaus.
First Bureau
Second Bureau
Third Bureau
Fourth Bureau
Fifth Bureau
Assignment of tasks to the Secretariat and the Bureaus, and the organizational subdivisions thereof shall be provided for by the Board of Audit Regulations.
Article 13. In the General Executive Bureau, there shall be a Secretary General, a Deputy Secretary General on Assistant to the President and Secretaries to the Commissioners, Regular Staff, Technical Staff and such other employees as are required.
Article 14. (1) Officials referred to in Article 13 shall be appointed, dismissed and assigned by the President in accordance with the collegiate decision of Commissioners.
(2) The President may entrust the Secretary General with the authority referred to in paragraph 1 in accordance with the collegiate decision of Commissioners.
Article 15. The Secretary General shall preside over the task of the General Executive Bureau, and sign the official documents.
The Deputy Secretary General shall assist the Secretary General and, in case the Secretary General cannot perform his functions or during a vacancy in that office, shall act for him.
Article 16. (1) In each Bureau, there shall be a Director General.
(2) The Director General, subject to the orders of the Secretary General, shall manage the task of the Bureau.
Article 17. (1) The speaker of the House of Representatives, President of the House of Councilors, Chief Judge of the Supreme Court and President of the Board of Audit shall, every fiscal year, prepare documents on revenue, expenditure, continued expenses, approved expenses to be carried over to the following year and the act of bearing liabilities with national treasury funds within each jurisdiction, and submit the said documents to the Cabinet so as to help the Cabinet incorporating and coordinating the budget plan.
(2) The Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Cabinet shall, every fiscal year, prepare documents on revenue, expenditure, continued expenses, approved expenses to be carried over to the following year and the act of bearing liabilities with the national treasury funds within each jurisdiction, and send the said documents to the Minister of Finance.
Article 18. (1) The Minister of Justice shall take the estimate mentioned in the preceding Article into account and make the necessary adjustments, and prepare the estimate of revenue, expenditure, continued expenses, approved expenses to be carried over to the following year and the act of bearing liabilities with national treasury funds to be subject to the Cabinet decision.
(2) When the Cabinet intends to make the decision mentioned in the preceding paragraph, with regard to the estimate of expenditure concerning the Diet, the court and the Board of Audit, the Cabinet shall previously ask the speaker of the House of Representatives, President of the Houseof Councilors, Chief Judge of the Supreme Court and President of the Board of Audit for the opinions on the said decision.
Article 19. In cases where the Cabinet reduces the estimated expenditure of the Diet, the court and the Board of Audit, and the Cabinet shall, with regard to the estimated expenditure of the Diet, the court and the Board of Audit, report the details of the said reduction in the revenue and expenditure budget, and also specify the necessary finance for the Diet to correct the amount of expenditure pertaining to the Diet, the court and the Board of Audit.
Article 19-2. The Information Disclosure Review Commission shall be established in the Board of Audit in order to examine and deliberate appeals in response to request by the President of the Board under the provision of Article 18 of the Law concerning Access to Information held by Administrative Organs.
The Information Disclosure Review Commission shall be composed of three Members.
Members shall serve on a part-time basis.
Article 19-3. (1) Members shall be appointed, from among those people of superior insight, with the consent of both Houses, by the President.
(2) In case the term of office of a Member expires or a vacancy in the Membership occurs and the consent of both Houses of the Diet cannot be obtained owing to its prorogation or the dissolution of the House of Representatives, the President may, regardless of the provision of paragraph 1, appoint a Member from among those holding the qualifications as provided for in paragraph 1.
(3) In the case referred to in paragraph 2, ex post facto consent of both Houses shall be obtained at the first session of the Diet after the appointment. In case the ex post facto consent of both Houses cannot be obtained, the President shall immediately remove the Member.
The term of office of a Member shall be three years. However, the term of office of the Member filling vacancy shall be the remaining period of that of the predecessor. Members may be reappointed.
Although the term of office of a Member expires, the Member shall continue to discharge his duties until a successor is appointed.
When the President judges that a Member is incapable of his duties due to mental or physical impediment, or judges that a Member is in violation of duties in office or commits some other inappropriate misconduct as a Member, the President, with the consent of both Houses of the Diet, may remove the Member.
Members shall not leak any secret he has come to know in the course of his official duties. The same shall be applied after the term of office expires.
Members, while in office, shall not be an officer of a political party or other political association, or actively take part in a political movement.
The remuneration for Members shall be fixed by another law.
Article 19-4. Members who, in violation of Article 19-3 paragraph 8, leak secret shall be sentenced to penal servitude for one year or less, or shall be fined three hundreds thousand(300,000) yen or less.
Article 19-5. Besides the provision of Articles 19-2,19-3 and 19-4, matters necessary for organizing and administering the Information Disclosure Review Commission shall be determined by the Board of Audit Regulations.
Article 20. (1) The Board of Audit shall audit the final accounts of revenues and expenditures of the State under the provision of Article 90 of the Constitution of Japan and also such accounts as are provided for by laws.
(2) The Board of Audit shall constantly audit and monitor the public accounts to secure their adequacy and to rectify their defects.
(3) The Board of Audit shall conduct its audit from the viewpoints of accuracy, regularity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness, and from other necessary viewpoints of auditing.
Article 21. The Board of Audit shall, in accordance with the results of audit, certify the final accounts of revenues and expenditures of the State.
Article 22. The following matters shall be subject to the audit by the Board of Audit.
1. Monthly accounts of revenues and expenditures of the State
2. Acceptance and distribution of cash and goods owned by the State, and State properties
3. Charge and collection of government claims and increase or decrease of Government bonds and other obligation of the State
4. Acceptance and distribution of cash, precious metals and securities by the Bank of Japan on behalf of the State
5. The accounts of juridical persons more than half of whose capital is invested by the State
6. The account to be subject to audit by the Board of Audit in accordance with a provision of the law.
Article 23.
(1) The Board of Audit may audit, if it considers necessary, or at the request of the Cabinet, the following matters.
1. Securities which are owned or taken custody of by the State, and cash and goods taken custody of by the State
2. Acceptance and distribution of cash, goods and securities by entities other than the State, on behalf of the State
3. The accounts of such bodies as are given subsidies, incentive grants, bounties or other financial assistance such as loan or indemnity of loss directly or indirectly by the State
4. The accounts of bodies a part of whose capital is invested by the State
5. The accounts of business enterprises operating under the Commerce Law whose shares are wholly or partly owned by the Government Corporations subject to audit by the Board in accordance with the provisions in Article 22 item (5) or item (4) of this Article.
6. The accounts of bodies for which the State guarantees payment of the principal of or the interest of debt
7. The accounts of contractors of construction with, or suppliers of goods to, the State (in regard to the contracts concerned).
(2) When the Board of Audit decides to audit any of the accounts mentioned in paragraph 1, it shall inform the parties concerned thereof.
Article 24. (1) Those bodies, whose accounts are subject to audit by the Board of Audit, shall regularly submit to the Board statements together with vouchers and supporting documents in accordance with the regulations for the verification of accounts enacted by the Board.
(2) As regards acceptance and distribution of cash, goods and securities which are owned or taken custody of by the State, such other documents as are designated by the Board may be submitted to the Board in place of the statements and vouchers and supporting documents mentioned in paragraph 1.
Article 25. The Board of Audit may dispatch its staff to conduct field audit on regular or temporary basis.
Article 26. The Board of Audit, if necessary for its audit, may demand submittance of books, documents or reports from those bodies whose accounts are subject to audit by the Board, or may ask questions or demand appearance before it to the persons concerned.
Article 27. The competent superior, the supervising authority, or a responsible person shall report immediately to the Board of Audit on the following matters, concerning the accounts subject to audit by the Board.
1. Discovery of a crime concerning accounting
2. Discovery of loss of cash, securities or other properties
Article 28. The Board of Audit may, if necessary for its audit, ask government agencies, public bodies and the similar entities to submit reference materials and evaluation report.
Article 29. The audit report to be prepared according to Article 90 of the Constitution of Japan shall contain the following matters.
1. Certification of the final accounts of revenues and expenditures of the State
2. Whether or not the amounts of final accounts revenues and expenditures of State correspond to the amounts of the statement of accounts of the Bank of Japan
3. Whether or not, as results of audit, there exist any matters which are deemed in violation of, or improper against laws, government ordinances or the approved budget
4. Whether or not there is any disbursement from the reserve fund, for which no action has been taken to ask approval of the Diet
5. Matters on which the Board demanded disciplinary action under the provisions of Article 31 of this Law, Article 13 paragraph 2 of the Law for Preventing Delay in the Payment concerning Government Contracts or Article 6 paragraph 1 of the Law concerning the Responsibility of the Budget Executing Officer (including the case where this is applied by Article 9 paragraph 2 of the same Law), and the results thereof
6. Adjudication and re-adjudication under the provisions of Article 32 of this Law (including the case where this is applied by Article 10 paragraph 3 or Article 11 paragraph 2 of the Law concerning the Responsibility of the Budget Executing Officer), or Article 4 paragraph 1 or Article 5 of the Law concerning the Responsibility of the Budget Executing Officer (including the case where this is applied by Article 8 paragraph 3 or Article 9 paragraph 2 of the same Law)
7. Matters on which the Board presented its opinions or demanded measures under the provision of Article 34, and the results thereof
8. Matters on which the Board presented its opinions or demanded measures under the provision of Article 36, and the results thereof
Article 30. The Board of Audit may, if it deems it necessary to make explanations at the Diet with regard to the audit report provided for in Article 29, make a Commissioner attend the Diet or make explanations by presenting documents.
Article 30-2. When the Board of Audit receives a request, from either House, any of the Committees of either House or any of the Research Committees of the House of Councilors, under the provision of Article 105 of the Diet Law (Law No.79 of 1947)(including the case where this is applied by Article 54-4 paragraph 1 of the same Law), it may conduct the audit upon specific matters requested and report the results.
Article 31 (1) In case the Board of Audit deems, as a result of audit, that an official in charge of fiscal transaction of the State has caused a grave loss to the State intentionally or through gross negligence, it may demand a disciplinary action against the official from the head of the department he belongs to or from other persons responsible for supervising him.
(2) The provision of paragraph 1 shall apply to the case where an official in charge of fiscal transaction of the State does not observe the regulations for the verification of accounts, for instance by neglecting to submit statements of accounts and vouchers and supporting documents, or does not comply with the demand made upon him under the provision of Article 26
Article 32. (1) The Board of Audit shall, in case a cash handling official lost cash, adjudicate whether or not he is liable for indemnity, after examining whether or not he caused an actual loss to the State by lack of due professional care.
(2) The Board of Audit shall, in case a goods handling official lost or damaged goods or otherwise caused a loss to the State through either handling goods in violation of provisions of Goods Management Law or not handling goods in compliance with the provisions of the same Law, adjudicate whether or not he is liable for indemnity, after examining whether or not he caused an actual loss to the State . intentionally, or through gross negligence.
(3) In case the Board of Audit adjudicates that a cash handling official or a goods handling official is liable for indemnity, the head of the department he belongs -" to or other persons responsible for supervising him shall order him to pay the indemnity in accordance with the adjudication made under provisions of paragraph 1 or 2.
(4) The liability to pay an indemnity provided for in paragraph 1 or 2 shall not be remitted or reduced unless decided by the Diet.
The Board of Audit may, when it discovers that the original adjudication was improper due to any error or omission in the statement of accounts and vouchers and supporting documents re-adjudicate the liability of the cash handling official on the goods handling official within five(5) years after the adjudication of non-indemnity under the provision of paragraph 1 or 2 of this Article. The provision of paragraphs 3 and 4 shall apply to this case.
Article 33. In case the Board of Audit deems that an official in charge of fiscal transaction of the State has committed a crime while discharging his duties, it shall notify the Public Prosecutors Office of the matter.
Article 34. In case the Board of Audit finds in the course of its audit, such matters as it deems illegal or improper concerning financial transactions, it may immediately present its opinions upon them to, or demand appropriate measures for them from, the head of the department or persons concerned, and may make them take necessary measures to rectify and improve thereof.
Article 35. (1) The Board of Audit shall examine the claims from the interested parties concerning the conduct made by officials in charge of fiscal transaction of the State, and in case the Board deems it necessary to correct such conduct in consequence, it shall notify its settlement decision to the competent authorities or other responsible persons.
(2) The competent authorities or responsible persons shall take appropriate measures based on the settlement decision made by the Board, when they are notified of it as provided for in the paragraph (1).
Article 36. In case the Board of Audit finds such matters as it deems necessary to improve with regard to laws and ordinances, systems or administration, it may present its opinions upon them to, or demand measures for them from the competent authorities or other responsible persons.
(1) The Board of Audit shall be informed of prior notice and may present its opinions in the following cases.
1. Enactment, amendment or repeal of laws or ordinances concerning the financial transactions of the State
2. Enactment, amendment or repeal of regulations concerning handling and accounting /bookkeeping of cash, goods and securities.
(2) In case an official in charge of fiscal transaction of the State asks comments from the Board of Audit on such matters he is in doubt in executing his official duties, the Board shall make comments upon them.
Article 38. The Board of Audit shall enact such regulations as are necessary with regard to its audit, in addition to those provided by this law.
