I hereby give My sanction to the Administrative Office Law, for which the concurrence of the Imperial Diet has been obtained, and cause the same to be promulgated.
Signed:HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor
This seventeenth day of the fourth month of the twenty-second year of Showa (April 17, 1947)
Countersigned: Prime Minister and concurrently Minister for Foreign Affairs YOSHIDA Shigeru
Minister of State Baron SHIDEHARA Kijuro
Minister of Justice KIMURA Tokutaro
Minister of State SAITO Takao
Minister of Communications HITOTSUMATSU Sadayoshi
Minister of State HOSHIJIMA Niro
Minister of Welfare KAWAI Yoshinari
Minister for Home Affairs UEHARA Etsujiro
Minister of Finance ISHIBASHI Tanzan
Minister of State KANAMORI Tokujiro
Minister of Transportation MASUDA Kaneshichi
Minister of Commerce and Industry ISHII Mitsujiro
Minister of Education TAKAHASHI Seiichiro
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry KIMURA Kozaemon
Minister of State TANAKA Man'itsu
Minister of State TAKASE Sotaro
THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES LAW
Article 1. The scope of the administrative affairs which are under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister and the Ministers of the various Ministries respectively, shall be the same as heretofore, except as otherwise provided for by law or government ordinance.
Article 2. The Ministers of the various Ministries shall be appointed from among the Ministers of State by the Prime Minister. This shall not, however, preclude the Prime Minister from assuming in person any of those posts.
Article 3. The affairs which are under the jurisdiction of Minister shall be managed by the Prime Minister's Office or the existing Ministries and the existing outer bureaux under the jurisdiction of the various Ministers, except as otherwise provided for by law or government ordinance.
Article 4. Each Minister shall control and supervise the personnel under his jurisdiction with regard to their performance of duties.
Article 5. When each Minister considers it necessary to enact, revise or repeal a law or a government ordinance concerning matters under his jurisdiction, he shall submit a draft to the Prime Minister and ask for a cabinet council.
Article 6. Each Minister may issue an ordinance of the Prime Minister's Office or a ministerial ordinance for the purpose of executing a law or a government ordinance concerning matters under his charge, or as specially authorized by law or government ordinance.
Unless authorized by law, no penal clause, nor any provision which imposes obligations or restricts rights, may be included in an ordinance of the Prime Minister's Office or a ministerial ordinance.
Article 7. With respect to matters under his charge, each Minister may direct and supervise the heads of local public entities in relation to such administrative affairs as are executed by them on the basis of law in their capacity as state organs. If any measure effected by such head as a state organ is deemed to be in violation of law or order, or ultra vires, such measure may be suspended or rescinded.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to the administrative affairs of a local autonomous entity which are carried out by the head thereof on the basis of the laws which are in accordance with the principle of local autonomy.
Article 8. The types and duties of the personnel to be appointed in the offices under the jurisdiction of each Minister, shall be the same as under the existing general regulations concerning government personnel, except as otherwise provided for by law or government ordinance.
Article 9. The Cabinet Secretariat and the Legislation Bureau may manage matters under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister, as provided for by government ordinance.
Article 10. The Cabinet Secretariat and the Legislation Bureau shall have each Director-General. He shall be an official of the First Class.
The Director-General of the Cabinet Secretariat and the Director-General of the Legislation Bureau shall control and manage respectively the affairs of the Cabinet Secretariat and the Legislation Bureau, and direct and supervise the personnel thereof with regard to their performance of duties.
The types and duties of the personnel to be appointed in the Cabinet Secretariat and the Legislation Bureau besides those mentioned in paragraph 1, shall be the same as heretofore, except as otherwise provided for by law or government ordinance.
Article 11. With regard to the application of the provisions of Articles 4 to 6 inclusive, matters related to the Cabinet Secretariat and the Legislation Bureau shall be considered as matters under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister.
Article 12. The Prime Minister's Office, the various Ministries, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Legislation Bureau, shall have respectively the necessary bureaux, divisions and organs as provided by law or government ordinance. However, with regard to the establishment and abolition of a local special governmental office, it shall be in accordance with the provisions of law.
Article 13. In addition to the Ministers of State and the officials as separately provided for by law, the officials whose appointment and dismissal require the attestation by the Emperor shall be ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary, ministers extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and the President of the Reconstruction Board.
Article 14. Necessary matters in connection with the procedure relative to the appointment, dismissal, promotion, suspension, reinstatement and other matters concerning the status of officials shall be provided by government ordinance, except as otherwise provided for by law.
Supplementary Provisions:
The Present Law shall come into force as from the day of the enforcement of the Constitution of Japan.
This Law shall be valid only for the period of one year from the date of its enforcement.
The Ministers of the various Ministries in office on the effective date of this Law, when no special writs are issued, shall be considered as having been appointed the Ministers of the various Ministries in accordance with this Law.
Besides the provision of the preceding paragraph, necessary matters in relation to the enforcement of this Law shall be provided for by government ordinance.
The Cabinet Law shall be partly amended as follows:
In Article 2, paragraph 1, "and Ministers of State not more than sixteen in number" ashall read "and Ministers of State whose number shall not be more than the present fixed number of the Ministers of the various Ministries and the Ministers of State."