I hereby give Our sanction to the Ordinance on the Reports of Quantities etc. of Precious Metals under the Imperial Ordinance No. 542 of the twentieth year of Showa (1945) concerning the Orders to be issued in accordance with the Acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and cause the same to be promulgated.
Signed: Hirohito, Seal of the Emreror
This fifteenth day of the fifth month of the twenty-first year of Showa (15 May, 1946)
Countersigned: Baron Kijuro Shidehara Prime Minister
Viscount Keizo Shibusawa Minister of Finance
Imperial Ordinance No. 275
The Ordinance on Reports of Quantities etc. of Precious Metals.
Article 1. Any person who was the owner (custodian or possesser in cases prescribed by the Minister of Finance) of the following precious metals within this country at 00.00 o'clock May 1st, 1946 (hereafter called the Investigation Time), shall report the Minister of Finance, the quantities and other matters thereof in accordance with what the Minister of Finance may prescribe on or before June 15th, 1946.
1. gold, silver and/or platinum bullion or alloys.
2. gold and/or silver coins (including foreign gold and silver coins, but excluding the silver coins issued by the Japanese Government in denomination of 50 sen or less).
The reports of the preceding paragraph shall not be required of those precious metals which were in the custody of the United States Army Forces at the Investigation Time.
Article 2. If any person designated by the Minister of Finance acquires or comes into custody or possession of any of the precious metals prescribed in paragraph 1 of the preceding Article after the Investigation Time, he shall report the aggregate of the quantities and other matters thereof during the course of each month on or before the 10th of the following month in accordance with what the Minister of Finance may prescribe.
Article 3. Any person who has failed to submit a report or has submitted a false report in violation of the provisions of Article 1 and or Article 2 shall be subject to penal servitude or imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding 10,000 yen, provided that, if the sum three times that the value of the precious metals on which the report is required exceeds 10,000 yen, the fine shall be an amount not exceeding three times the value of the said precious metals.
Article 4. In case, a representative, agent, employee or other worker has acted in violation of the preceding Article in connection with the business of a juridical corporation or person, the said juridical corporation or person shall be subject to a fine of the preceding Article in addition to the punishment given to the actual offender.
Supplementary Provision:
The present Ordinance shall come into force as from the day of its promulgation.