Provisional Minutes of the 18th Meeting of the Family Law Subcommittee of the
Legislative Council (provisional translation)
On July 19, 2022, the 18th meeting of the Family Law Subcommittee of the Legislative
Council was held at the Ministry of Justice (in person and online). Nearly all the members
and non-voting members attended the meeting. The Chairman, Prof. OMURA Atsushi,
presided over the meeting.
The Subcommittee reviewed and deliberated the draft interim proposal, which was
prepared by the Secretariat based on the opinions given by the Subcommittee members
and non-voting members at the two previous meetings, in order to summarize the interim
proposal.
Most of the Subcommittee members and non-voting members commented that the
contents of the draft interim proposal appropriately reflect their opinions given at the two
previous meetings. Thus, there were few objections to the overall contents of the draft,
on the condition that the interim proposal is to be made available for public comment.
In addition, some members pointed out that the details of the interim proposal need to
be rephrased so as to make them more comprehensible. For example, some members
expressed opinions that when explaining "custody arrangements for a child", it would be
better to provide specific details of "custody arrangements for a child" instead of just
providing the relevant article number of the current Civil Code, in order to solicit opinions
by citizens who do not have detailed knowledge of the law. Regarding suggestions, some
members pointed out that the Subcommittee should enrich the information in the text and
notes of the interim proposal and provide through explanations in the "supplementary
explanation" that will be prepared by the Secretariat.
The Subcommittee will finalize the interim proposal at the next meeting, taking all
prior discussions into account.
※(注記)These provisional minutes are the summarized results of the subcommittee meeting and are to be
provided by the Secretariat of the Subcommittee in both Japanese and English on an as-needed
basis. The official meeting minutes (in Japanese) will be published at a later date.