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Evaluating the New Japanese Civil Rehabilitation Law Volume 2, No. 1 Stacey Steele Stacey Steele is Associate Director (Japan), Asian Law Centre, University of Melbourne. She is currently with the Melbourne office of Blake Dawson Waldron. Japan's new Civil Rehabilitation Law (Minji saisei hô Law No 225, 1999) is the first component in a comprehensive reform of its insolvency law regime. The law was passed by the Diet (Japanese Parliament) on 14 December 1999 and came into effect on 1 April 2000. It will replace the Composition Law (Wagi hô Law No 72, 1922). This commentary compares the new provisions of the Civil Rehabilitation Law with those they are designed to improve. A full translation of the law will be published in Volume 2(2) of Asian Law. The pressure created by Japan's financial crisis has meant that the new reforms are not revolutionary; they are largely a response to long-standing deficiencies in existing laws and represent a codification of current practice and judicial precedent evolved to bridge the gaps in existing law. However, the introduction of new business transfer provisions and a security interest extinguishing scheme [tampo shometsu seikyu seido] are two innovations which may lead to the civil rehabilitation procedure being used to facilitate the expanding mergers and acquisitions market in Japan. |