I hereby promulgate the Law for Partial Amendments to the Commodity Tax Law. Signed:HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor This twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the twenty-fourth year of Showa (December 27, 1949) Prime Minister YOSHIDA Shigeru Law No.286 Law for Partial Amendments to the Commodity Tax Law The Commodity Tax Law (Law No.40 of 1940) shall be partially amended as follows: Article 1 paragraph 1 Class I Group A No.4 shall be deleted;No.5 of the same group shall be made No.4 of the same Group and the numbering up to No.9 shall be moved up by one;in No.10 of the same Group, "No.37" shall be amended as "No.41" , and the same number shall be made No.9 of the same Group;Group B No.11 of the same class shall be made No.10 of the same Group and the numbering up to No.17 shall be moved up by one;numbers from No.18 to No.20 of the same Group shall be deleted;and Group C, Group D and Group E of the same Class shall be amended as follows: Group C 17. Musical instruments, and parts snd accessories thereof. 18. Lighters for smoking and electric matches. 19. Toilet articles, excluding those mentioned in No.35. 20. Dry-plates, films and sensitive papers for photographs. 21. Records and needles for gramophones. 22. Electric fans and parts thereof. 23. Electric, gas and mineral oil stoves for heating. 24. Refrigerators and parts thereof. 25. Electric instruments, gas instruments and mineral oil instruments. 26. Fire-works, excluding those mentioned in No.45. 27. Incenses, joss sticks and the like. 28. Seasoning materials principally consisting of sodium glutamate. 29. Articles for interior decoration. 30. Articles for "Go" and chess. 31. Manufactures coated or covered with precious metals, not otherwise provided for. 32. Hanging lanterns, utensils for tea-art, incense-art and flower-arrangement-art. 33. Fishing tackles. Group D 34. Passenger automobile, excluding those mentioned in No.60. 35. Toilet creams, hair oils, and hair kneaded oils and hair drying stuffs. 36. Safes. 37. Marble, marble-like stones for ornamentation, and imitation stones made thereof, and tiles made for pottery. 38. Smoking utensils. 39. Black-tea, koolong-tea, ponshong-tea, coffee, cocoa, and substitutes thereof, and "hikicha" (grand tea). 40. Beverages for taste, excluding those enumerated in Class II No.5 and subject to liquor tax. 41. Fur of dogs, cats, rabbits, sheep, flying fox, cattle, and manufactures thereof. 42. Manufactures, of leather, not otherwise provided for. 43. Lighting appliances. 44. Bags, trunks and the like. 45. Ornaments, toys, cradles, amusement goods, perambulators, and parts and accessories thereof. 46. Clocks and watches, and parts thereof. 47. Iron kettles, lacquer-wares, pottery and glass manufactures, not otherwise provided for. 48. Stationary goods, excluding those mentioned in No.66. 49. Personal effects and toilet utensils. 50. Magic lantern apparatuses, body-projectors and cases thereof. 51. Picture post-cards, photos and printings and the likes for appreciation. 52. Hats, caps, walking-sticks and whips. 53. Furniture. 54. Flags, banners and the like, ornamental cloth-wrapper, ornamental apron, fibre manufactures for ornament and fixture, not otherwise provided for. Group E 55. Sporting goods. 56. Radio-receivers and parts thereof. 57. Vacuum-tubes for receiver, microphones, amplifiers for loudspeakers, and landspeakers. 58. Thermos and parts thereof. 59. Electric lamps. 60. Midget family automobiles, family automatic tricycles and automatic bicycles. 61. Wrought-up materials for food-stuffs. 62. Carpets and the like. Group F 63. Folding fans, round fans and calenders. 64. Bamboo-blinds and lanterns. 65. Portable or bicycle torches and cases thereof and batteries and dynamos. 66. Fountain-pens, pens for fountain-pen, axes of fountain-pen, sherppencils and cases of fountain-pen. 67. Sewing-machines and parts thereof, and irons and smoothing-irons. 68. Safety-razors. 69. Plate-glass. 70. Paper and cellophane. 71. Nourishing tovies and breath sweetness. 72. Pictures, writings and antiques. Class II No.5 of the same paragraph shall be amended as follows: 5. Soft drinks Paragraph 2 of the same Article shall be amended as follows: Commodities that come under Group A and also come under either of Groups B, C, D, E or F shall belong to Group A, commodities that come under Group B and also come under either of Groups C, D, E or F shall belong to Group B, commodities that come under Group C and also come under either of Groups D, S or F shall belong to Group C commodities that come under Group D and also come under either of Groups E or F shall belong to Group D, and commodities that come under Group E and also Group F shall belong to Group E. Article 2 shall be amended as follows:

Article 2. The commodity tax rates shall be as follows: Class I Group A...... 70 per cent of the value of commodity. Group B...... 60 per cent of the value of commodity. Group C...... 50 per cent of the value of commodity. Group D...... 30 per cent of the value of commodity. Group E...... 20 per cent of the value of commodity. Group F...... 10 per cent of the value of commodity. Class II 1. Matches...... 2 yen per 1,000 sticks. 2. Grape sugar and malt sugar...... 1,500 yen per 100 kin. 3. Saccharine&dulcin...... 3,000 yen per 1 kg. 4. Honey...... 1,500 yen per 100 kin. 5. Soft drinks: a. Tamaramune (lemonade sold in bottles with round glass stoppers)...... 3,000 yen per koku. b. Other bottled soft drinks...... 5,000 yen per koku. c. Soft drinks other than bottled...... 1,500 yen per 1 kg. of carbonic-acid gas used.

In Article 3, "Class I No.91" shall be amended as "Class I No.72" . In Article 4, "(as regards soft drinks other than bottled prescribed in Class II No.5, the quantity of carbonic-acid gas used for soft drinks carried out of the manufactory)" , shall be added next to "the price or quantity of commodities carried out of the manufactory" ;and "Class I No.91" shall be amended as "Class I No.72" . In Article 5, "Class I No.91" shall be amended as "Class I No.72" . The following one paragraph shall be added next to Article 6 paragraph 1: In the case of processing or filling into the receptacles the liquid which flows out naturally and involves carbonic-acid gas therein with an intention to provide it for drinking use or to make soft drinks of it, these actions shall be deemed to be the manufacture of bottled soft drinks other than tamaramune (lemonade sold in bottles with round glass stoppers) prescribed in Class II No.5. In paragraph 2 of the same Article, "Class I No.91" shall be amended as "Class I No.72" . Article 7 shall be amended as follows:

Article 7. In case the commodities of Class I or II (excluding those mentioned in Class I No.72) come under one of the following items, the commodities shall be deemed to have been carried out of the manufactory: 1. In case the commodities are used or consumed in the manufactory, excluding the case where honey is used for the raising of bees. 2. In case the commodities existing in the manufactory are sold at a public sale. 3. In case the commodities are existing in the manufactory at the time of abolishing the manufacture of commodities of Class I or II.

In Article 8 paragraph 1, "No.91" shall be amended as "No.72" , "(as regards soft drinks other than bottled prescribed in Class II No.5, the used quantity of carbonic-acid gas)" shall be added next to the last provision, and the following proviso shall be added to the same paragraph: However, in the case of coming under No.2 or No.3 of the preceding Article, the manufacturer shall submit immediately a report in respect to the commodities of Class I or Class II carried out of the manufactory or deemed to have been carried out according to the provision of the same Article (excluding the commodities prescribed in Class I No.72). In Article 9, "No.91" shall be amended as "No.72" . In Article 10 paragraph 1, "the end of next month" shall be amended as "the end of the month after next" ;and the following one paragraph shall be added next to the same paragraph: In the case of coming under the proviso to Article 8 paragraph 1, the commodity tax shall be immediately collected irrespective of the provision of main clause of the preceding paragraph. In paragraph 2 of the same Article, "excluding the case of the preceding paragraph)" shall be added before "when a security equal in value" ;and "Class I No.91" shall be amended as "Class I No.72" . In Article 11 paragraph 1, Article 12 paragraph 1 item 1, Article 15, Article 16 paragraph 2 and Article 16-(2), "Class I No.91" shall be amended as "Class I No.72" . Article 17-(3) shall be deleted. Article 18 shall be amended as follows:

Article 18. A person coming under one of the following items shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years or fined not more than 500,000 yen, or may be both imprisoned and fined. 1. A person who has engaged himself in the retail business of the commodities as prescribed by Class I, No.72 or who has manufactured the commodities as prescribed in Class I or Class II (excluding commodity as prescribed in Class I No.72), without reporting to the Government; 2. A person who has evaded or tried to evade the commodity tax by an act of fraud or other unjust actions. In case the amount of 10 times the amount of the commodity tax upon the commodity in connection with the offense as referred to under the preceding paragraph exceeds 500,000 yen, the fine as referred to under the said paragraph may be the amount more than 500,000 yen but not more than 10 times the said amount according to the circumstances. In the case of paragraph 1, the commodity tax shall be collected at once.

In Article 20 item 1, "to provide with the book" , shall be added next to "has failed" . In Article 21, "Article 17-(3) paragraph 1 or" shall be deleted;and in the same Article, "to cases where a person is punished with penal servitude in the case of Article 17-(3) paragraph 2, of Article 18 paragraph 2" shall be amended as "to the penal servitude in cases where penal servitude or both penal servitude and fine are indicted" . In Article 22, "Article 17-(3)" shall be amended as "Article 18" . The following one Article shall be added next to Article 22:

Article 22-(2). The provisions of Article 16, Article 17 and Article 20 to the preceding Article shall apply mutatis mutandis to a person who produces carbonic-acid gas for the purpose of selling or to a person who sells carbonic-acid gas.

In Article 25, "No.91" shall be amended as "No.72" , and "or honey" shall be amended as "honey or soft drinks" . Supplementary Provisions: 1. In this Law, the amended provision of Article 10 paragraph 1 of the Commodity Tax Law shall come into force as from April 1, 1950, and other provisions, from January 1, 1950. 2. As to the commodity tax which was imposed or should have been imposed before the enforcement of this Law, the old Law shall still prevail. 3. A person who has been manufacturing the commodities of Class I which become subject to commodity tax under the amended provision of Article 1 of the Commodity Tax, from the time prior to the enforcement of this Law, shall report the matters to the competent taxation office within one month after the enforcement of this Law. 4. A person who reports the matters to the competent taxation office according to the provision of the preceding paragraph, shall file the return stating therein the manufactory, manufactured commodities, his address and name or title as well as the fact that he has been manufacturing the commodities of Class I which became subject to the commodity tax under the amended provision of Article 1 of the Commodity Tax Law from the time prior to the enforcement of this Law. 5. A person who has filed a return pursuant to the provision of the preceding two paragraphs shall be deemed to have filed a return on the enforcement date of the present Law pursuant to the provision of Article 15 of the Commodity Tax Law. 6. A person who has filed a return pursuant to the provision of Article 10-(2) of the Soft Drinks Tax Law (Law No.16 of 1926) and who manufactures soft drinks at the time of enforcement of this Law, shall be deemed to have filed a return on the enforcement date of the present Law pursuant to the provision of Article 15 of the Commodity Tax Law. 7. In case the soft drinks which were carried back to the manufactory or carried in from the outside of the manufactory before the enforcement of this Law are carried out of ths manufactory after the enforcement of this Law, the commodity tax shall not be collected, notwithstanding the provision of Article 4 of the Commodity Tax Law. 8. As to the application of the penal provisions to actions made before the enforcement of this law, the old Law shall still prevail. Minister of Finance IKEDA Hayato Prime Minister YOSHIDA Shigeru