I hereby give My sanction to the Imperial Ordinance concerning partial amendments to Imperial Ordinance No. 1 of 1947 (relating to the exclusion, retirement, etc. in respect to public offices) under Imperial Ordinance No. 542 of 1945 concerning the Orders to be issued in consequence of the Acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, and cause the same to be promulgated.
Signed: HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor
This twelfth day of the third month of the twenty-second year of Showa (March 12, 1947)
Countersigned: Prime Minister YOSHIDA Shigeru
Minister for Home Affairs UEHARA Etsujiro
Imperial Ordinance No. 77
A part of Imperial Ordinance No. 1 of 1947 shall be amended as follows:
In Art. 4, "in respect to a person in public office or a person who desires to hold public office" shall be added after "the designation" and the following paragraph shall be added in the same Article:
The Prime Minister or prefectural governor may, in respect to a person other than those prescribed in the preceding paragraph who is regarded to fall clearly under the provisions of the Memorandum, designate him as a person who falls under the Memorandum in accordance with the result of the examination by the Public Office Qualifications Examination Committee as prescribed by the Prime Minister.
In Art. 15, par. 1, item 6, "the preceding Article" shall read "Art. 14," the following item shall be added in the same paragraph and the said Article shall be made Art. 16.
(7) Any person who has violated the provisions of Art. 15, par. 1 or par. 4.
Article 15. Any person who falls under the provisions of the Memorandum must not file the notification of recommendation of a candidate for any elective position in the public service (including the notification of a candidate or the joint signature pertaining to the notification of recommendation) or must not take an active part in election campaign or any other political activities.
The Prime Minister or prefectural governor shall, in cases where any person who is regarded to fall clearly under the provisions of the Memorandum takes any active part in politics, order the suspension of the political activity, demand the questionnaire provided in Art. 7, par. 1 from the individual concerned without delay and forward the same to the Public Office Qualifications Examination Committee as prescribed by the Prime Minister.
In cases prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the Prime Minister or prefectural governor shall designate the individual concerned as a person who falls under the Memorandum or give confirmation to the effect that the individual concerned does not fall under the provisions of the Memorandum in accordance with the result of the examination by the Public Office Qualifications Examination Committee.
Any person who has been ordered the suspension of political activity in accordance with the provisions of par. 2 must not take any active part in politics until he obtains the confirmation to the effect that he does not fall under the provisions of the Memorandum in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
Supplementary Provision:
The present Ordinance shall come into force as from the day of its promulgation.