1

Final Report
Study Council for Promoting Translation of Japanese Laws and Regulations into Foreign
Languages
March 23, 200621. Introduction
The "Study Council for Promoting Translation of Japanese Laws and
Regulations into Foreign Languages" (hereinafter referred to as the "Study Council"), to
which belonged experts as well as relevant ministries and agencies in a cross-sectoral
manner, was aimed at making comprehensive and multifaceted studies on matters
concerning the development of a foundation for promoting the translation of Japanese
laws and regulations into foreign languages. It was established under the "Liaison
Conference of the Relevant Ministries and Agencies for Developing a Foundation for
Promoting Translation of Japanese Laws and Regulations into Foreign Languages"
(hereinafter referred to as the "Liaison Conference") set up in the Cabinet Secretariat
based on the "Future Promotion of Justice System Reform" (adopted by the Office for
Promotion of Justice System Reform on November 26, 2004).
It was decided that the Study Council would, in accordance with instructions
from the Liaison Conference, discuss mainly (i) the basic principles of translation, (ii)
how translation should be promoted (what laws and regulations are to be translated, and
the method of translation), (iii) development of a framework for facilitating access to the
translations of laws and regulations, and (iv) development of a framework for continuous
maintenance of the translations, such as responding to legal amendments, with respect to
development of the foundation for promoting the translation of Japanese laws and
regulations into foreign languages. At the same time, the Study Council would (v)
compile a standard bilingual dictionary (see 3(2) of this report) and (vi) translate some of
the laws and regulations in the later-mentioned working group. Then, the Study Council
would report its recommendations, including the results achieved by the working group,
to the Liaison Conference.
To this end, the Study Council held nine meetings, during approximately one
year, since its first meeting on February 2, 2005, and mainly discussed the points (i) to
(iv) mentioned above. In September 2005, the Study Council published an interim report,
based on the available results of the studies at that time, summarizing the broad direction
that has been agreed upon, and the perspectives and the direction of studies for future
discussions. As a result of publishing the interim report and gathering public opinion, the
Study Council received a large number of opinions and requests from all types of
organizations and various quarters. The Study Council made further study by taking into
consideration these opinions and requests, as well as the results of interviews with
external experts that were conducted through the secretariat (Office for the Promotion of
Justice System Reform in the Cabinet Secretariat), among other matters.
Furthermore, the Study Council established a "working group" consisting of3scholars and attorneys at law for conducting expert studies on specific individual items
concerning the development of the foundation for promoting the translation of laws and
regulations into foreign languages. With the cooperation of research groups including the
Graduate School of Information Science at Nagoya University, as well as relevant
ministries and agencies, the working group proceeded with compiling a standard bilingual
dictionary, as well as selecting 14 laws and regulations as those to be translated first.
Then, the necessary work was conducted in the working group and in the relevant
ministries and agencies.
Since the Study Group, as a result of such study and work, reached a conclusion
with regard to the development of the foundation for promoting the translation of
Japanese laws and regulations into foreign languages, it hereby summarizes the final
report, submits the results of the work done by the working group among other
accomplishments, and makes recommendations to the Liaison Conference. The Study
Group strongly hopes that the necessary measures will be promptly taken by the
government for putting the final report into practice and that, under extensive
understanding and support of all quarters, steady progress will be made in the
development of the foundation for promoting the translation of Japanese laws and
regulations into foreign languages as recommended in this report.
2. Significance of and direction for promoting translation of Japanese laws and
regulations into foreign languages
(1) Significance of promoting translation of Japanese laws and regulations into
foreign languages
It is extremely important for Japanese laws and regulations to be easily and
accurately understood in the ever-globalizing world. Therefore, it is essential to
appropriately translate Japanese laws and regulations into foreign languages and to make
these translations easily accessible.
In other words, with the globalization of economic activities, it has become
extremely meaningful, from the viewpoint of strengthening Japan’s international
competitiveness, to have the Japanese legal system widely used as the governing law in
international transactions involving Japanese companies, and thereby to assist Japanese
companies engaging in international transactions. This goal can only be attained by
enabling the international community to understand the Japanese legal system easily and
accurately. Moreover, in order to promote foreign investment in Japan, which is
positioned as an important national strategy for Japanese economic development, higher
transparency must be achieved in the Japanese legal system, such as the details of laws4and regulations. Meanwhile, support for legal system development in developing
countries, which leads to enhancing the partnerships with the supported countries and
demonstrates to the world Japan’s international contributions, also serves Japan’s own
national interests. In order to promote such support effectively, with unhindered
collaboration and cooperation with other supporting countries, Japan’s main laws and
regulations need to be expressed in a form understandable not only to the supported
countries, but also to other countries concerned. Producing translations of highly relevant
Japanese laws and regulations into foreign languages would also be beneficial from the
viewpoint of enhancing international understanding of Japan and increasing convenience
in the lives of foreign nationals living in Japan. In this manner, appropriately translating
Japanese laws and regulations into foreign languages and making these translations easily
accessible is extremely significant for achieving important policy goals of the government.
In particular, it is an urgent task to translate laws and regulations into English, which
serves as a common language in today’s international community.
(2) Direction for promoting translation of Japanese laws and regulations into foreign
languages
Conventionally, Japanese laws and regulations have been translated, mainly into
English, under the individual efforts of the competent ministries and agencies, and of the
private sector, and a certain level of achievement has been made. Nevertheless, a number
of problems have been repeatedly pointed out. For example, the translations of laws and
regulations for which there is a high need have not sufficiently responded to the latest
amendments; even when translations exist, there is lack of consistency in the terms and
expressions used, causing unnecessary misunderstandings; and the translations are not
easy to use due to a lack of centralized information on whether or not translations exist,
and where the translations can be found. With regard to translation of Japanese laws and
regulations into foreign languages, sufficient progress cannot be expected in efforts
addressing such problems if such efforts were left solely to the private sector, due among
other reasons to the lack of profitability. Meanwhile, individual efforts by the competent
ministries and agencies alone would have such limitations so as to not be able to meet the
needs of various fields or secure consistency in the translations, so efforts across
ministries and agencies would be necessary. Accordingly, just as the aforementioned
"Future Promotion of Justice System Reform" indicates the "need to promptly promote
development of the foundation for advancing translation of Japanese laws and regulations
into foreign languages," the government needs to work on developing the necessary
foundation for continuously maintaining consistent and reliable English translations of the5necessary laws and regulations, and providing easy access to such translations.
Specifically, the government should: (i) formulate translation rules that should be
observed in translation; (ii) produce translations of important laws and regulations that
will serve as the foundation for promoting the translation of Japanese laws and
regulations into foreign languages; (iii) develop an environment that provides easy access
to the translations; and (iv) establish a framework for carrying out continuous
maintenance. Since the private sector could also take part to a certain extent in translating
Japanese laws and regulations into foreign languages, consideration should also be given
to adequate role-sharing between the public and private sectors. However, in order to
optimize the efforts of the private sector, such measures as securing consistency and
reliability of the translations and ensuring easy access must be taken as basic tenets. As
development of such a foundation is also an indispensable premise for optimizing the
efforts of the private sector, the government should make a united effort toward its
prompt development. The foundation development should be first promoted with respect
to English language, which serves as a common language in today’s international
community, as mentioned in (1) above, and translations in other languages should be
made subject to future study.
3. Formulation of translation rules to be observed when translating
(Basic principles of translation)
(1) Basic concept
In order to ensure that consistent and reliable English translations of laws and
regulations are produced on an ongoing basis, the government should formulate
translation rules comprising (i) the basic approach of translation and (ii) a list of
Japanese-English translations of main terms and expressions, and take measures to ensure
that translations are made in compliance with these translation rules.
The translation rules should basically be used as a reference by the relevant
ministries and agencies as well as by private organizations when making translations.
Even when these organizations make translations in compliance with the translation rules,
the translations should not be deemed as official translations. In other words, legal force
pertains only to the original law or regulation, and the translation should be considered to
be a reference material to help understand the law or regulation. Furthermore, when
preparing a translation, the function of the translated law or regulation should be clearly
indicated, including the fact that it complies with the translation rules and that it is not an
official translation, in order to prevent disputes over the details or legal merit of the
translation.6(2) Formulation and use of translation rules
The Study Council indicated specific ideas on desirable translation rules in its
interim report, and in response to the subsequent study results by the working group,
summarized (i) the basic approach of translation and (ii) a list of Japanese-English
translations of main terms and expressions, among other matters, as the
"Japanese-English Standard Dictionary of Legal Terms" (hereinafter referred to as the
"Standard Dictionary" shown in Appendix 1).
The government should adopt this Standard Dictionary as part of the
government’s translation rules, and ensure that the relevant ministries and agencies
comply with the Standard Dictionary when translating laws and regulations into English.
At the same time, the government should publish the Standard Dictionary for free access
by the public so that, in the private sector as well, the translation rules will be respected as
a de facto standard. There may be those stating the view that some kind of public
certification system should be established in order to ensure the compliance of individual
translations with the translation rules, but from the standpoint of promptly producing a
large line-up of translated laws and regulations, there is a problem in setting up a system
for broadly certifying the many translations produced by the government and the private
sector. In practice, compliance with the translation rules is likely to become a problem
with respect to translations by the private sector, but such a problem can be resolved to a
considerable extent by market selection, so the introduction of a certification system
should be made a task for the future.
(3) Improvement and revision of translation rules
The Standard Dictionary referred to in (1) above has been compiled through the
dedicated efforts of the working group members and other people under severe time
constraints. Nonetheless, even though the Standard Dictionary was formulated consuming
an enormous amount of time and labor, if it is left as it is without any revision, it will
eventually become obsolete. In addition, there would be need to improve or review the
content based on new translations made and on outside opinions in the future. Since the
Standard Dictionary is the basic tool for ensuring consistency and reliability of the
translations, its improvement and revision are extremely important processes. At the same
time, it is difficult to expect the private sector to deal with such improvement and revision
from the point of view of cost-effectiveness, and the purpose of the process is to maintain
the foundation for translation that has been developed by the government. Accordingly,
the improvement and revision process should be conducted on an ongoing basis by the7government, or under an equivalent framework that is capable of securely implementing
ongoing maintenance while hearing and incorporating outside opinions from experts and
users.
Specifically, the Standard Dictionary should first be published within the Office
for the Promotion of Justice System Reform in the Cabinet Secretariat, and by promptly
setting up a study framework consisting of experts such as scholars and attorneys at law
who have expert knowledge of the major legal domains, Anglo-American law, or other
relevant areas, the Standard Dictionary should be intensively reviewed by checking the
existing entries and adding new entries, while also taking into account outside opinions.
This process must be conducted in collaboration and cooperation with the relevant
ministries and agencies as well as outside researcher groups having knowledge of
information technology. Then, after the launch of the maintenance framework that is later
referred to in Section 6, a similar process should be subsequently conducted by said
framework.
4. Producing translations of important laws and regulations that will serve as the
basis for promoting translation of Japanese laws and regulations into foreign
languages
(How translation should be promoted (what and how to translate))
(1) Basic concept
In order to continuously make consistent and reliable English translations of
Japanese laws and regulations, the government should not only formulate translation rules,
but also make independent efforts to produce high-quality English translations (for a
certain scope of laws and regulations) that comply with the translation rules, as part of its
effort to develop the foundation for translation.
As indicated in 2(1), the promotion of translation of Japanese laws and
regulations into foreign languages is directly linked to the development of the
infrastructure required for Japan to respond to globalization, for example, by
strengthening Japan’s international competitiveness, promoting foreign investment in
Japan, and increasing Japan’s presence in the international community. Therefore, it
needs to be proactively implemented as Japan’s national policy. However, consistent and
reliable foreign language translations of the necessary laws and regulations cannot be
developed by leaving the process solely to the private sector. Formulation of translation
rules would serve as one means for promoting private sector efforts, but this alone is not
enough. Thus, translations of important laws and regulations for which there is a high
need should be produced promptly and intensively under the government’s initiative, as8part of its effort to develop the foundation for translation. As a matter of course, it is in no
way justifiable (from the viewpoint of appropriate role-sharing between the public and
private sectors, reasonable allocation of limited resources, and the principle of burden by
the beneficiary) for the government, at its own expense, to uniformly and perpetually
translate the entirety of the enormous number of laws and regulations irrespective of the
actual needs and the status of private sector efforts. Nevertheless, by producing
translations of highly needed, important laws and regulations under the government’s
initiative, it can be expected that private sector efforts would be advanced on that basis.
Accordingly, such government effort would meet the objective of developing the
foundation for promoting the translation of Japanese laws and regulations into foreign
languages.
Specifically, English translations of highly needed laws and regulations that are
important in light of the significance of translating laws and regulations into foreign
languages as referred to in 2(1) above, such as basic laws, finance-related laws, tax laws,
intellectual property laws, economic laws, administrative procedure laws, and labor laws,
should be produced promptly in an intensive and organized manner, under the
government’s initiative. In particular, basic laws including the Civil Code and the
Corporations Code contain extensive, basic legal terminology and serve as the foundation
for other laws and regulations, so particularly high-quality translations of these laws must
be produced as early as possible.
(2) Formulation and implementation of a Translation Development Program
With regard to the production of foreign language translations of Japanese laws
and regulations under the government’s initiative, the government has already decided
that it will "produce English translations of highly needed, important laws and regulations
during the three years from fiscal 2006 through fiscal 2008, and formulate a translation
development program in order to securely implement this translation work" in "In
Response to the Interim Report of the Study Council for Promoting Translation of
Japanese Laws and Regulations into Foreign Languages" (adopted by the Liaison
Conference on September 30, 2005), based on the Study Council’s recommendations in
the interim report. As for the laws and regulations to be covered by the translation
development program, the Study Council attached a "Discussion Springboard for
Formulating the Translation Development Program" to the interim report in order to
provide material for discussion and gather opinions on it from various quarters. Based on
the opinions gathered, the Study Council held further discussions, and formulated the
"Guidelines on Formulation of the Translation Development Program, etc." (adopted by9the Study Council on December 27, 2005; hereinafter referred to as the "Program
Formulation Guidelines") shown in Appendix 3 as guidelines for making an in-depth
examination of the laws and regulations to be covered by the translation development
program. Further, the Study Council examined the laws and regulations listed in the
above-mentioned Discussion Springboard and those laws and regulations that were
indicated in the opinions gathered in response thereto, in accordance with "1. Regarding
the laws and regulations to be covered by the Translation Development Program" of the
Program Formulation Guidelines. The laws and regulations that were judged desirable to
be covered by the Translation Development Program as a result are shown in the
"Translation Development Program (Draft)" in Appendix 2. Therefore, the government
should adopt this as the Translation Development Program mentioned above, and take
necessary measures to produce translations in compliance with the translation rules in
accordance with the program.
As for the actual production of translations, it is considered reasonable for the
work to be conducted under the responsibility of the competent ministries and agencies
for the respective laws and regulations, both from the perspective of using their
knowledge of the respective laws and regulations, and from the perspective of practical
division of labor. Regarding the method of producing translations, the Study Council has
formulated "2. Regarding the method of producing translation" in the Program
Formulation Guidelines. Therefore, the relevant ministries and agencies should steadily
implement the above program by selecting an appropriate method, and the government
should make a unified effort to ensure the secure implementation of the program.
Furthermore, in order to make sure that translations are produced according to
the above program, the government should continue to hold meetings of the Liaison
Conference from fiscal 2006 onward to follow up on the status of implementation of the
Translation Development Program and to externally publish the results. Meanwhile, the
Liaison Conference should also consider revising the details of the Translation
Development Program as required based on the follow-up results. As the Study Council,
to which belonged experts as well as relevant ministries and agencies in a cross-sectoral
manner, will conclude its role with the submission of this report, a framework should be
established so that outside opinions and requests can continue to be heard and
incorporated into the government’s process of producing translations, such as asking a
representative of the study framework referred to in 3(3) to the Liaison Conference.
(3) Government efforts after the term of the Translation Development Program
Once the English translations of the important laws and regulations are produced10according to the Translation Development Program, and the translation rules become
established as a de facto standard, efforts by the private sector are likely to make progress
thereafter. Nevertheless, as it is difficult to predict the future situation, government
involvement will continue to be required with respect to production of translations. The
government should take necessary measures to respond to legal amendments and the
establishment of new laws from the viewpoint of developing the foundation for
translation, even after the term of the Translation Development Program ends (from fiscal
2009 onward).
Specifically: (i) when a law or regulation that has been translated in compliance
with the translation rules according to the Translation Development Program is amended,
a translation responding to the amendment should be promptly produced under the
government’s initiative, in principle (there is room for adjustment if the private sector is
to deal with such amendment; in the case of a full-fledged amendment, a response
equivalent to the following response for enactment of a new law would suffice); (ii) when
a new law is enacted, the government should respond within the necessary scope
according to the concepts set forth in "1. Regarding the laws and regulations to be
covered by the Translation Development Program" of the Program Formulation
Guidelines, while considering specific user needs and the status of implementation of
translation by the private sector; and (iii) the government should also consider translating
other laws and regulations according to the concepts set forth in the above guidelines
whenever new needs arise.
Such production of translations under the government’s initiative, after the term
of the Translation Development Program ends, should continue to be conducted under the
responsibility of the competent ministries and agencies for the respective laws and
regulations. Such efforts of the ministries and agencies should be kept consistent and
strategic by having the Liaison Conference follow up on the status of the development of
the translations and decide on policy concerning the laws and regulations to be translated
according to the above concepts, as required.
(4) Measures for securing the quality of translation
If the production of translations under the government’s initiative is left solely to
the independent determinations of the competent ministries and agencies for the
respective laws and regulations, the quality of the translations may considerably vary by
ministry or agency (or the entrusted translator). Thus, the relevant ministries and agencies
should make English translations of the laws and regulations in compliance with the
translation rules in order to produce consistent and reliable English translations on a11continuous basis, as mentioned in 3(2). However, this is not enough to ensure that the
quality of the translations clears a certain standard.
Accordingly, when outsourcing the translation work, the competent ministries
and agencies of the respective laws and regulations should follow the "Guidelines on
Outsourcing Translation of Japanese Laws and Regulations into Foreign Languages"
shown in Appendix 4, and make effort to secure the quality of translation by measures
such as setting appropriate conditions for bidding. In addition, an ex post facto measure
should also be taken to keep the consistency and quality of translation above a certain
standard with respect to the translations produced by the competent ministries and
agencies of the respective laws and regulations, by establishing a framework for
adequately hearing and incorporating outside opinions from experts and users, such as
placing an electronic opinion box on the Website later referred to in 5, submitting the
gathered user opinions to the experts of the study framework referred to in 3(3), and
pointing out any problem in the quality of translation that has been found to the relevant
ministry or agency through the Liaison Conference, etc. Furthermore, the competent
ministries and agencies for the respective laws and regulations should consider
developing an internal framework as required, including measures for efficiently securing
the quality of translation such as using retired officials who have expert knowledge.
5. Developing an environment that provides easy access to the translations
(Developing a framework that facilitates access to the translated laws and
regulations)
(1) Basic concept
As mentioned in 2(2) of this report, it has been pointed out that English
translations of Japanese laws and regulations are not easily accessible even if the
translations exist. The specific problems include the difficulty of accessing the
translations due to a lack of centralized information on whether or not translations exist
and where the translations can be found, the difficulty of searching for the translation of a
certain law or regulation or a certain provision of law, and lack of necessary information
such as whether the translation corresponds to the latest law or regulation.
In order to resolve these problems, development of a user-friendly access
framework should be considered, such as making the translations of laws and regulations
searchable and usable in a centralized manner as much as possible, and creating a system
that allows users to check the necessary information such as the status of response to legal
amendments. Also, sufficient access should be provided to the translation rules referred to
in 3 above, similar to the translations of laws and regulations, in order to have them used12by the general public.
Such effort is indispensable for allowing use of the translations of laws and
regulations, and the translation rules that have been developed under the government’s
initiative, and it also complies with the government’s policy to introduce information and
communications technology to administrative information (provision of user-oriented,
highly transparent, efficient and safe administrative services). Therefore, in order to
secure centralized access to translations made in compliance with the translation rules, an
environment that provides easy access to the translations should be developed with the
involvement of the government, including setting up and maintaining an easy to use,
functional Website.
(2) Setting up and maintaining a functional Website
Specifically, the Office for the Promotion of Justice System Reform in the
Cabinet Secretariat should set up a provisional Website in the beginning of fiscal 2006,
and start a centralized service offering information free of charge. This provisional
Website should at least provide the Standard Dictionary (translation rules) (that has been
finalized by the Study Council after going through examination of the working group) and
Japanese-English side-by-side translations of 14 laws and regulations (see Appendix 5)
made in compliance with the Standard Dictionary, as well as links to the existing English
translations of laws and regulations that are currently published on the Websites of the
relevant ministries and agencies. The Website should also provide an electronic opinion
box to receive outside opinions. From fiscal 2006 onward, information such as the data
for side-by-side translations of laws and regulations that have been produced according to
the Translation Development Program should in addition be provided on the Website, and
more functional ways of providing information on the Website should be considered.
Then, a full-fledged Website should be launched by the maintenance framework
later referred to in 6. This full-fledged Website needs to offer user-friendly functions such
as a sufficient search function and reference function, and should preferably comply with
the specifications shown in Appendix 6. How information should be provided by the
maintenance framework, including whether or not the information offering should be
made through a service for payment, should be discussed further in the Liaison
Conference or in the maintenance framework by giving sufficient consideration to the
purpose of promoting the translation of Japanese laws and regulations into foreign
languages and the convenience of users.
In any case, close collaboration and cooperation of the relevant ministries and
agencies are indispensable for setting up and maintaining these Websites. While the data13for side-by-side translations that have been produced by the relevant ministries and
agencies will be uploaded onto the Website, such data would have to be processed in
advance in order to conform to the functions of the Website. In this manner, certain
burdens and labor would be required for smoothly setting up and maintaining the Website.
Therefore, the Liaison Conference should formulate necessary rules regarding the
offering of data to the entity administrating the Website before deciding on the
maintenance framework.
6. Establishing a framework for conducting continuous maintenance
(Establishing a framework for conducting continuous maintenance, such as
responding to legal amendments)
As mentioned in 2 and 5 above, the work of improving and revising the
translation rules and setting up and maintaining a functional Website is considerably
unprofitable, so if it is completely entrusted to the private sector, the business may fail,
and the accomplishments of the whole project may be wasted. Thus, in order to maintain
and further expand the government’s accomplishment of developing the foundation for
translation, it is necessary to conduct continuous maintenance. A framework that can
meet such demand would be a specific ministry of the government, or an independent
administrative corporation (IAC) or other public corporation that can engage in business
perpetually (hereinafter referred to as an "IAC, etc.").
The Study Council examined the development of a framework for conducting
such continuous maintenance, and concluded that neither a ministry of the government
nor an IAC, etc. had a decisive demerit. Comparing the two, if a maintenance framework
is established within an IAC, etc., there is merit in the possibility of publishing printed
matter as business, and using the proceeds for further promoting the translation of
Japanese laws and regulations into foreign languages. However, the Study Council did
not go so far as to assess whether there is an appropriate IAC to undertake the task or if
there is any other public corporation wishing to undertake the task. At any rate, as long as
the business can be conducted securely and perpetually, there would be no great
difference in the services provided to users whether the maintenance framework is
established within the government or within an IAC, etc. The specific organization
undertaking the task should be further examined by the government, and a conclusion
should be reached at the earliest possible point of time in fiscal 2006 so that full-fledged
operation can be launched by at least the beginning of fiscal 2009 (which is after the term
of the Translation Development Program ends). In examining this matter, consideration
should first be made to decide upon a specific IAC, etc. to undertake the task, and if that14is difficult, an organization within the government should be decided upon to undertake
the task while also complying with efforts toward achieving a small government, such as
cutting the overall personnel expenditure.
7. Closing remarks
The Study Council has compiled this final report to summarize the results of the
study and work that were conducted over a period of approximately one year, and to
report them to the Liaison Conference as well as express them to people in various
quarters who have been following the discussions in the Study Council with a high level
of interest and expectations.
As mentioned earlier, allowing easy and accurate understanding of Japanese
laws and regulations is extremely important for Japan to respond to the world’s
globalization, for instance, by strengthening Japan’s international competitiveness and
increasing Japan’s presence in the international community. To this end, it is
indispensable that Japanese laws and regulations are appropriately translated into foreign
languages and that these translations are easily accessible. This report starts out from such
awareness, emphasizes the need for the government to develop the foundation for
promoting the translation of Japanese laws and regulations into foreign languages, and
recommends the various specific measures that that should be taken. The Study Council
wishes that these measures would be promptly taken by conducting the necessary
government decision-making within the Liaison Conference. Meanwhile, the issues for
which conclusions could not be reached in this report should be intensively examined (as
the government’s responsibility) by sufficiently taking into account the purport of this
report, so as to reach conclusions at an early stage.
The need for foreign language translations of Japanese laws and regulations is
expected to increase even more in line with further progress of globalization. In order to
respond promptly and precisely to such a need, studies would have to be conducted in the
future with respect to matters including translation into languages other than English,
further use of information and communications technologies including machine
translation, as well as collaboration and cooperation with the private sector, relevant
organizations, and also international frameworks. It is hoped that translation of Japanese
laws and regulations into foreign languages will continue to be vigorously promoted with
the broad understanding and further cooperation and assistance of all quarters.
Appendices
1. Japanese-English Standard Dictionary of Legal Terms152-1. Translation Development Program (Ordered by Ministry/Agency)
2-2. Translation Development Program (Japanese Alphabetical Order)
3. Guidelines on Formulation of the Translation Development Program, etc. (Adopted by
the Study Council for Promoting Translation of Japanese Laws and Regulations into
Foreign Languages on December 27, 2005)
4. Guidelines on Outsourcing Translation of Japanese Laws and Regulations into Foreign
Languages
5. List of Laws and Regulations to be Translated in Fiscal 2005
6. Specifications of the Website on Translation of Japanese Laws and Regulations into
Foreign Languages
- List of Liaison Conference members
- List of Study Council members
- List of working group members
- List of meetings of Liaison Conference and Study Council