I hereby give Our sanction to the Ordinance concerning the Special Exceptions to the Penal Regulations and others of the Customs Law under the Imperial Ordinance No. 542 of the twentieth year of Showa (1945) concerning the order to be issued in accordance with the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and cause the same to be promulgated.
Signed: Hirohito, Seal of the Emperor
This sixteenth day of the fifth month of the twenty-first year of Showa (16 May, 1946)
Countersigned: Baron Kijuro Shidehara Prime Minister
Viscount Keizo Shibusawa Minister of Finance
Imperial Ordinance No. 277
Article 1. A person who has attempted to import or has imported such contraband articles as mentioned in Article 11 of the Customs Tariff Law shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding ten thousand yen, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 74 of the Customs Law, except that, in case the cost price of the article exceeds ten thousand yen, the fine shall be equal to or under the cost price of the article.
The same penalty, as prescribed in the foregoing paragraph, is applied to a person who has imported or exported, or attempted to do so without license as prescribed in Article 31 of the Customs Law, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 76 of the said law.
Article 2. A person who has transported, stored, received, purchased or dealt in, the article imported or to be imported in violation of the law as mentioned in Article 1. shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding three thousand yen, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 75-2 of the Customs Law.
Article 3. A person who has violated the law as mentioned in the foregoing two articles shall be liable to imprisonment as well as a fine, in case the circumstance of the crime justifies.
Article 4. When a ship has violated the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 18 of the Customs Law, the master of the ship shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding ten thousand yen, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 78 of the said law.
Article 5. A person who has violated the provisions of Article 28 of the Customs Law shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two thousand yen, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 81 of the said Law.
Article 6. No person who is liable to penalty under the foregoing two articles may plead non guilty on the ground of in advertency.
Article 7. When a representative of a legal person, or an agent, employer or other person engaged by a legal or natural person has violated the law, as mentioned in Articles 1 and 2, in prosecution of the business of the legal or natural person, the said legal or natural person as well as the person who has actually violated the law shall be liable to a fine as provided in the sail articles.
Article 8. The provisions of the proviso of Paragraph 3 of Article 38, Paragraph 2 of Article 9, Article 40, Article 41, Paragraph 2 of Article 48, Article 63 and Article 66 of the Penal Code shall not apply to a person who has violated the provisions of the present Ordinance, except in case of imprisonment provided in Articles 1-4.
Article 9. In case the article imported or to be imported in violation of the law as mentioned in Article 1 or the ship used for the said violation is owned or possessed by a person who has violated the law, the said article or ship shall be confiscated.
In case, persons other than the above-mentioned person have acquired the article or ship mentioned in the foregoing paragraph after the violation and the acquisition is not considered to have been made in good faith, the said article or ship shall be confiscated.
When it is impossible to confiscate in whole or in part the article or ship which is liable to confiscation by virtue of the provisions of the foregoing two paragraphs, the person who has violated the law shall pay the amount equal to the original cost price of the article or the amount equal to the original cost price of the article or the amount equal to the value of the ship.
Article 10. The provisions of Articles 84-97 and Articles 100-101 shall apply mutatis mutandis to violation as referred to in the present Ordinance.
When, as a result of investigation, made in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Law as applied mutatis mutandis by virtue of the foregoing paragraph, it is ascertained that there has been a violation of the law and the circumstance justifies imprisonment, the person engaged in such violation shall be immediately prosecuted without notification as prescribed in Article 94 of the Customs Law as applied mutatis mutandis by virtue of the foregoing paragraph.
The running of the statute of limitations in renewed by notification as prescribed in Article 94 of the Customs Law as applied mutatis mutandis by virtue of Paragraph 1 of this Article.
Article 11. With regard to the application of the provisions of Article 1 of the present Ordinance, Articles 10, 13, 14, 16-18, 21-31, Paragraph 1 of Article 32, Articles 34 (except when with the permission of the official concerned money has been deposited as security for the duties), 37, 38, paragraph 1 of Article 39, Articles 39-4-40, 41, 45, 56, and 98-101 of the Customs Law and Articles 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the Wartime Emergency Measures relating to the Customs Law, the areas outside of Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu and their adjacent islands which may be prescribed by Ordinance shall be treated as foreign territory, pending final determination of their status.
Supplementary Provision:
The present Ordinance shall come into force as from the day of its promulgation.