(Designated Injurious Animals or Plants and Forecast of the Outburst)
Article 22. "Designated injurious animals or plants" as used in this and next Capters shall mean injurious animals or plants designated by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, deemed by him as necessary to take special measure in the control thereof due to the tendency that the same, being in wide distribution within the country and through the rapid spread thereof, will cause a great damage to agricultural crops.
2 "Forecast of the outburst" as used in this and next Chapters shall mean forecast of the damage caused by animals or plants injurious to agricultural crops by investigating the conditions of propagation of the injurious animals or plants, weather, growth of agricultural crops, etc. in order to make the control of injurious animals or plants timely and economic.
(Forecast of the Outburst by the National Government)
Article 23. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry shall conduct the forecast of the outburst of designated injurious animals or plants.
2 The governor of To, Do, Fu or prefecture shall cooperate with the forecast of the outburst under the preceding paragraph, in accordance with the plan set forth by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry with the approval therefor from To, Do, Fu or prefecture.
3 The Government shall bear the expenses necessary for To, Do, Fu or prefecture to cooperate in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph (excluding the expenses necessary for the employees).
4 The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry shall set forth the plan under paragraph 2 in such a way as the total amount of expenses to be borne by the Government in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph shall not exceed the amount of budget appropriated by the Diet.
(Control Plan)
Article 24. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry shall, in case he deems it necessary due to the data obtained through the conduct of the forecast of the outburst under paragraph 1 of the preceding Article or in view of other conditions, establish a salient gist of the plan to be the basis for control of designated injurious animals or plants to be conducted by local public body, farmers or any association composed thereof (hereinafter referred to as "control plan" ) and instruct the governor of To, Do, Fu or prefecture of the salient gist.
2 The governor of To, Do, Fu or prefecture shall, in case he has received the instruction under the preceding paragraph, establish, on the basis of the salient gist under the same paragraph, a control plan with respect to To, Do, Fu or prefecture concerned without delay.
3 In the control plan under the preceding paragraph, district and period to conduct the control, kinds of injurious animals or plants, procedure for control and other necessary matters shall be set forth.
4 The governor of To, Do, Fu or prefecture shall, in case he establishes or changes the control plan under paragraph 2, report, without delay, to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and obtain the approval therefor from him. However, in case the enforcement of the said control plan requires exigency, the report is enough for the purpose.
5 The governor of To, Do, Fu or prefecture shall, upon obtaining the approval under the preceding paragraph or upon reporting under the proviso to the same paragraph, make, without delay, a public notification of the control plan with respect to the said approval or report.
(Subsidy for Chemicals and Machineries for Control Use)
Article 25. The Government may grant a subsidy to local public body, farmers or any association composed thereof who conducted control based upon the control plan with respect to the public notification under paragraph 5 of the preceding Article within the limit of 1/2 of the expense needed for the purchase of the chemicals necessary for the control (including any matter which can be used as chemicals;hereinafter the same) and the sprayer, duster, fumigator and other machineries necessary for the control (hereinafter referred to as "control machineries" ).
2 Any person who intends to obtain the grant of subsidy under the preceding paragraph shall submit to the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry an application for grant of subsidy with the documents set forth by Ministerial Ordinance.
3 The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry shall, in case he has investigated the application under the preceding paragraph and deems the same as proper, hand down the decision to grant the subsidy.
Article 26. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry may, in granting the subsidy in order to attain the purpose of the granting of subsidy in accordance with the provision of the preceding Article, attach a condition concerning the disposal or management of the control machineries in connection with the subsidy, or make a necessary investigation on the person receiving the subsidy or demand a necessary report therefrom.
2 The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry may, in case any person who received subsidy falls under any one of the following items, instruct the said person to return whole or a part of the subsidy:
(1) When it becomes clear that false information is prescribed in the application under paragraph 2 of the preceding Article;
(2) When he does not comply with the condition in case the same has been attached in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph:
(3) When he evades, obstructs or refuses the investigation in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph;
(4) When he does not report in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph or submits a false report.
3 Subsidy to be returned, with the exception of that which is to be returned by a local public body, may be collected in the same way as in the case of measure to be taken to the arrears of national taxes. However, the order of the preferential right shall be next to national and local taxes.
(Grant of Chemicals and Loan of Control Machineries Without Compensation, etc.)
Article 27. The Government may, in case it is especially necessary for the control of designated injurious animals or plants, grant chemicals necessary for control or transfer the same at the price lower than the market price or loan the control machineries withont compensation to local public body, farmers or any association composed thereof who is to conduct control based upon the control plan with respect to the notification under Article 24 paragraph 5.
2 Any necessary matters in connection with the grant, transfer or loan in accordance with the provision of the preceding paragraph shall be set forth by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
3 In the case of the preceding paragraph, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry shall confer with the Minister of Finance.
4 The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry shall make an effort to provide, upkeep and adjust necessary chemical and control machineries at all time in order to grant, transfer or loan the same in accordance with the provision of paragraph 1.
(Prohibition of Rumour)
Article 28. No one shall circulate a rumour concerning the far-reaching outburst of damages owing to the spread of the designated injurious animals or plants with respect to farm products aiming at the unfair interest of himself or others in the property thereof.