Other Information
The "Law Translation Guidelines" are a collection of points that translators are urged to treat with particular care. They have been compiled following discussions by the Japanese Law Translation Council, based on the results of the quality-control assessments undertaken to-date for translations in the JLT database. Their drafting was handled by the Judicial System Department of the Minister's Secretariat at the Ministry of Justice, the office responsible for the clerical functions of the Law Translation Council.
We have decided to make these Guidelines available to the public in the hopes that they will be of service - not just to the relevant ministries and agencies - but also to translators, researchers, business persons, and other users.
As the Law Translation Guidelines give a set of rules that are specific to the translation of laws and regulations, some of the English phrasing may differ from what would be used in a general context.
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NOTICE TO USERS
Translations
The translations contained in the Japanese Law Translation Database System are not official texts, and not all of the translations are finalized versions. Only the original Japanese texts of the laws and regulations have legal effect, and the translations are to be used solely as reference materials to aid in the understanding of Japanese laws and regulations. The government of Japan is not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or currency of the legislative material provided in this website, or for any consequence resulting from use of the information in this website. For all purposes of interpreting and applying law to any legal issue or dispute, users should consult the original Japanese texts published in the Official Gazette.
Translation of laws and regulations is carried out in accordance with the plan (Translation Development Plan) decided by the "Liaison Conference of Relevant Ministries and Agencies on the Development of Infrastructure for Promoting Translation of Laws and Regulations into Foreign Languages".
Tentative Translations
Any translation that the title of a law indicates to be a tentative translation has not yet been proofread or corrected by a native English speaker or legal translation expert; this translation may be revised in the future.
Citation, Reproduction and Reprinting
The data contained in the Japanese Law Translation Database System may be cited, reproduced, or reprinted in accordance with the Terms of Use.