The National Government Organization Act establishes standards for the organization of administrative organs of the State under the control and jurisdiction of the Cabinet, excluding the Cabinet Office and the Digital Agency. It is consulted when a reader needs to identify whether an organ is a ministry, commission, agency, internal bureau, local branch office, council, or special organ, and what legal instrument establishes or changes that organization. This article explains the Act's organizational rules and delegation devices, but it does not cover the separate establishment Act of each ministry or agency.
Administrative Organs Under the Cabinet
The Act begins by defining the national organization that it regulates. Article 1 limits the Act's subject matter to administrative organs under the Cabinet, while expressly excluding the Cabinet Office and the Digital Agency.
Article 1 states that the purpose of the Act is to establish standards for the organization of administrative organs under the Cabinet's control and jurisdiction, other than the Cabinet Office and Digital Agency, and to arrange the organization of national government needed for efficient execution of State administrative matters. Article 2 then describes the organization of national government as a systematic organization of administrative organs that have duties and a clearly defined scope of affairs under their jurisdiction. Article 2(2) requires administrative organs of the State to conduct self-evaluation, plan and draft their policies, promote coordination and liaison among themselves, and function as a unified entity; the same coordination and liaison rule applies in relation to the Cabinet Office and Digital Agency.
Article 3 identifies the main institutional forms. Administrative organs of the State placed in the government organization are ministries, commissions, and agencies, and their establishment and abolition are separately prescribed by law. A ministry is established as an organ that oversees administrative matters managed by a minister under the Cabinet, while commissions and agencies are established as external organs of ministries. Article 3(4) points to Appended Table 1 for the organs established as ministries, commissions, and agencies. Article 4 then assigns each organ's duties and scope of affairs under jurisdiction to separate laws, so the National Government Organization Act provides the organizational standard while ministry-specific establishment laws provide the detailed mission and portfolio.
Ministries, External Organs, and Internal Structures
The Act next describes how ministries, commissions, and agencies are headed and subdivided. These provisions are useful when a reader needs to understand whether an office exists by law, Cabinet Order, Ministerial Order, or another instrument.
Article 5 provides that the head of each ministry is a minister who manages the relevant administrative matters as the competent minister under the Cabinet Act. It also gives ministers responsibility for planning, drafting, and overall coordination for specific important Cabinet policies related to their ministries' missions, based on basic policies decided at cabinet meetings. Article 6 states that the head of a commission is a chairperson and the head of an agency is a director-general.
Article 7 gives the basic vocabulary for internal organization. A ministry establishes a secretariat and bureaus to carry out its affairs, and bureaus or the secretariat may establish departments when particularly necessary. An agency may establish a secretariat and departments. The establishment of secretariats, bureaus, and departments and the scope of their affairs are specified by Cabinet Order. Article 7 also distinguishes implementing agencies listed in Appended Table 2. For ordinary agencies, secretariats, bureaus, and departments, divisions and equivalent offices are established by Cabinet Order; for implementing agencies and their internal secretariats and departments, divisions and equivalent offices are established within Cabinet Order limits and specified by Ministerial Order.
Articles 8, 8-2, 8-3, and 9 add specialized organizational forms. Article 8 allows an administrative organ to establish a council-system organ for study and deliberation of important matters, administrative review, or other affairs suited to consultation among persons with expertise, as provided by law or Cabinet Order. Article 8-2 covers organs such as testing and research laboratories, inspection and certification institutes, education and training facilities, medical and rehabilitation facilities, reformatory detention facilities, and work facilities. Article 8-3 allows special organs when particularly necessary, as provided by law. Article 9 allows local branch offices and departments when delegation of affairs under jurisdiction is necessary, as provided by law.
Authority of Heads and Forms of Administrative Rules
Articles 10 to 15-2 explain what ministers, commissions, and agency directors-general may do in managing their organizations and issuing instruments. This part is especially important because it distinguishes laws, Cabinet Orders, Ministerial Orders, public notices, instructions, and circular notices.
Article 10 states that a minister, commission chairperson, or agency director-general oversees the affairs of the respective ministry, commission, or agency and supervises the public service provided by its employees. Article 11 requires a minister who finds it necessary to establish, amend, or abolish a law or Cabinet Order on matters under the minister's responsibility to prepare a proposal, submit it to the Prime Minister, and request a cabinet meeting. This provision places legislative and Cabinet Order proposals within the minister-to-Prime-Minister route rather than leaving each ministry to enact them independently.
Article 12 governs Ministerial Orders. A minister may issue Ministerial Orders to enforce a law or Cabinet Order concerning affairs under the ministry's jurisdiction, or based on special delegation under a law or Cabinet Order. The head of an external organ may prepare a proposal and request the competent minister to issue a Ministerial Order for matters under the external organ's jurisdiction. Article 12(3) limits Ministerial Orders: without delegation under law, they may not establish penal provisions, impose obligations, or restrict citizens' rights.
Article 13 allows a commission or agency director-general, where separately prescribed by law, to issue rules and other special orders other than Cabinet Orders and Ministerial Orders, and applies the Article 12(3) limitation mutatis mutandis. Article 14 allows ministers, commissions, and agency directors-general to issue public notifications when public notice is necessary and to issue instructions or circular notices to competent organs and personnel for orders or directions about affairs under their jurisdiction. Article 15 allows requests for materials and explanations, and expression of views, when needed for policy coordination with other administrative organs. Article 15-2 gives ministers additional tools for specific important Cabinet policies: requests for materials and explanations, recommendations, requests for reports on measures taken based on recommendations, and submission of opinions to the Prime Minister suggesting Cabinet Act Article 6 measures.
Senior Officials, Organizational Caps, and Diet Reporting
The final main provisions address positions inside ministries and agencies, the numerical limits for some organizational units, and reporting duties to the Diet. These provisions show which parts of the structure are fixed in the Act itself and which parts are left to Cabinet Order or Ministerial Order.
Article 16 establishes senior vice-ministers in each ministry. Their fixed number is set in Appended Table 3, and they act under the direction of the minister, take charge of policies and planning, handle state affairs, and assume the minister's duties in the minister's absence under prior direction. Article 17 establishes parliamentary secretaries in each ministry. Their fixed number is also set in Appended Table 3, and they assist the minister, participate in specified policies and planning, and handle state affairs. Article 17-2 allows one special advisor to the minister when particularly necessary, with appointment and dismissal by the Cabinet upon the minister's proposal and with rules on part-time service and restrictions for full-time service.
Article 18 establishes one administrative vice-minister in each ministry. The administrative vice-minister assists the minister, coordinates ministry affairs, and supervises affairs of bureaus, departments, and organs. Article 18 also allows agencies, when particularly necessary, to establish deputy directors-general by Cabinet Order, and allows ministries or agencies to establish positions for collective coordination of part of their affairs by law or, for an agency, Cabinet Order. Article 19 establishes private secretaries in each ministry, with the fixed number specified by Cabinet Order.
Articles 20 and 21 deal with positions outside ordinary bureau and division lines. Article 20 allows ministries and agencies to establish positions equivalent to directors-general or department directors-general for affairs outside the jurisdiction of the secretariat and bureaus, and related division-director-equivalent positions. Article 21 sets positions such as bureau director-general, department director-general, division director, office director, and related deputy or coordinating positions. Article 23 caps the combined number of secretariats and bureaus under this Act and the Act for Establishment of the Cabinet Office at 97 or less. Article 25 requires the government to report to the next Diet session when certain Cabinet Order-established organizations or equivalent major organizations are newly established, amended, or abolished, and to give public notice of a list of the organizational structure of administrative organs of the State in the Official Gazette at least once a year.