The National Public Service Act establishes basic standards for the administration of national public servants in the civil service referred to in Article 73 of the Constitution of Japan. It is consulted when a reader needs to identify the statutory source for service discipline, secrecy, political-activity limits, outside-work restrictions, disciplinary action, or personnel guarantees for national officials. This article focuses on those service and discipline provisions, as verified on e-Gov Law Search and Japanese Law Translation, and does not cover recruitment examinations, remuneration systems, or retirement management in detail.
Basic Standards, Regular Service, and Personnel Bodies
The Act's opening provisions explain why later service-discipline rules apply to officials. They also separate regular service from special service and identify the National Personnel Authority as the central personnel body.
Article 1 states that the Act establishes basic standards applicable to officials who are national public servants and provides for their selection and direction through democratic practices to promote efficiency in public duties. Article 1(2) limits the Act to standards for the administration of the civil service referred to in Article 73 of the Constitution. Article 1 also prohibits intentional violation of the Act or orders under it, fraud concerning enforcement, and obstruction of enforcement, while preserving the rest of the Act if a provision or application loses effect.
Article 2 divides the national public service into regular service and special service. Regular service comprises national public employee positions other than the special-service positions listed in Article 2(3). Article 2(4) states that the Act applies to all officials in the regular service, while Article 2(5) states that it does not apply to officials in the special service unless otherwise provided by law. This distinction is essential before reading service duties because the article defines the group to which the Act's regular-service standards apply.
Article 3 establishes the National Personnel Authority under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet. The provision gives the Authority authority over personnel administration and protection of officials' interests within the Act's scheme. Article 3-2 establishes the National Public Service Ethics Board within the National Personnel Authority for maintenance of ethics pertaining to officials' duties, with additional matters governed by the National Public Service Ethics Act.
Core Service Discipline and Secrecy
Section 7 of Chapter III contains the service-discipline rules. Articles 96 through 100 set the basic standard of service, the oath, obedience to laws and orders, restrictions on acts of dispute, discreditable conduct, and secrecy.
Article 96(1) states the basic standard: every official, as a servant of all citizens, must serve the public interest and exert utmost effort in performing duties. Article 96(2) delegates matters necessary for enforcing that basic standard to the Rules of the National Personnel Authority, except for matters specified by the Act or the National Public Service Ethics Act. Article 97 then requires officials to take an oath of service as provided by Cabinet Order. These provisions do not describe a specific misconduct case; they establish the statutory baseline against which later service rules and discipline provisions operate.
Article 98(1) requires officials, in performing duties, to comply with laws and regulations and faithfully observe orders of superiors in the course of duties. Article 98(2) prohibits officials from striking, engaging in delaying tactics, or engaging in other acts of dispute against the public represented by the government as employer, and it also prohibits attempts, conspiracy, instigation, or incitement of those illegal acts. Article 98(3) states a consequence for an official who resorts to a strike or other act violating Article 98(2): from the start of those acts, the official may not assert against the National Government the appointment or employment rights held under laws and regulations.
Article 99 prohibits an official from acting in a way that discredits the official's government position or brings dishonor on all government positions. Article 100(1) prohibits an official from divulging a secret learned in the course of duties, and applies the prohibition after leaving the position. Article 100(2) requires permission from the appointing government-agency head, or the corresponding post-retirement authority, before the official or former official states such a secret as a witness, expert witness, or in another capacity under laws and regulations. Article 100(3) states that permission may not be refused except in cases concerning conditions and procedures provided by law or Cabinet Order.
Political Acts, Private Enterprise, and Outside Work
Articles 101 through 104 regulate how officials allocate working time and what activities may sit outside their official duties. These provisions are practical because they connect service discipline to political activity, private enterprise, and remunerated outside work.
Article 101(1) requires officials, except where laws or orders provide otherwise, to give their full working hours and occupational attention to performing their duties and to engage only in duties for which the government assumes responsibility. The same paragraph restricts concurrent holding of two or more government positions unless laws or orders specify otherwise, and states that officials may not be paid for additional government positions even when concurrent holding is allowed. Article 101(2) makes clear that Article 101(1) does not preclude a relevant government agency from assigning officials to duties other than their regular duties in the event of earthquakes, fires, floods, or other serious disasters.
Article 102 addresses political acts. It prohibits an official from soliciting, receiving, or being concerned in soliciting or receiving donations or other benefits for a political party or political purpose, and from engaging in political acts provided for by Rules of the National Personnel Authority other than exercising the right to vote. Article 102 also provides that an official may not be a candidate for elective public office and may not serve as an officer, political adviser, or equivalent member of a political party or political organization.
Article 103 excludes officials from private enterprise by regulating positions in companies or other profit-making enterprises. Article 103(1) states that an official may not, except as provided by Rules of the National Personnel Authority, concurrently hold an officer, advisor, or councilor position in a company or other profit-making enterprise, operate a profit-making enterprise, or be engaged in a profit-making enterprise. Article 104 covers other remunerated work. If an official is to concurrently hold an officer, advisor, or councilor position in an organization other than a for-profit enterprise, or engage in another undertaking or carry on business for remuneration, permission is required from the Prime Minister and the head of the government agency appointing that official.
Disciplinary Action and Criminal Proceedings
Subsection 2 of Section 6 addresses disciplinary action. Articles 82, 83, 84, 84-2, and 85 define the grounds, effects, authority, ethics-board delegation, and relation to criminal proceedings.
Article 82(1) provides the main grounds and types of disciplinary action. When an official falls within one of the listed cases, the official may be dismissed, suspended from duty, suffer a reduction in pay, or be reprimanded as disciplinary action. The listed cases are violation of the National Public Service Act, the National Public Service Ethics Act, or orders issued under those laws; breach of obligations in the course of duties or neglect of duties; and malfeasance rendering the official unfit to fulfill the role as a servant of all citizens. Article 82(2) and later paragraphs address cases involving continuity of service across certain appointments and retirements, so the article is not limited only to misconduct discovered during a single uninterrupted ordinary appointment.
Article 83 states the effect of suspension from duty. The period of suspension is provided for by Rules of the National Personnel Authority within a limit not exceeding one year. During suspension, the official retains the status of official but does not attend to duties, and the suspended official may not receive remuneration during the suspension period except under Article 92. Article 84 provides that disciplinary action is taken by an appointer, and that the National Personnel Authority may initiate disciplinary proceedings against officials through investigation as provided in the Act. Article 84-2 requires the National Personnel Authority to delegate specified authority under Article 84(2), limited to acts violating the National Public Service Ethics Act or related orders, to the National Public Service Ethics Board.
Article 85 separates disciplinary proceedings from criminal proceedings. Even while a case subject to disciplinary action is pending in a criminal court, disciplinary proceedings may be taken for the same case at the discretion of the National Personnel Authority or by the appointer with approval of the National Personnel Authority. The same article states that disciplinary action under the Act does not preclude criminal prosecution of the official for the same or related cases.
Working-Condition Requests and Disadvantageous Dispositions
The guarantee provisions following disciplinary action give officials administrative routes to raise working-condition matters and to seek review of disadvantageous dispositions made against their will. Articles 86 through 92-2 are separate from ordinary disciplinary grounds, but they matter because disciplinary action and other status measures may trigger procedural protections.
Article 86 allows officials to request the National Personnel Authority to accord appropriate administrative action, by the Authority, the Prime Minister, or the appointing government-agency head, concerning salary, compensation, or other working conditions. Article 87 requires the National Personnel Authority, when it receives such a request, to conduct investigations, hearings, or other fact-finding review that it finds necessary, and to reach a determination with due regard to impartiality to the general public and the persons concerned and to developing and improving the efficiency of officials. Article 88 then concerns measures to be taken as a result of that determination.
Articles 89 through 92-2 concern review of disadvantageous dispositions made against the will of officials. Article 89 requires delivery of an explanation when a significantly disadvantageous disposition prescribed by Rules of the National Personnel Authority is made against the official's will. Article 90 allows the official who received such a disposition to file an appeal with the National Personnel Authority. Article 91 requires the National Personnel Authority or an organ designated by it to investigate the case immediately after receiving the appeal, and gives the official a hearing when requested. Article 92 provides for measures after investigation, including approval, revision, or rescission of the disposition. Article 92-2 applies rules on request for administrative review to the disadvantageous-disposition review route with specified replacements.