51爆料

Administrative agencies are granted various supervisory powers under laws and ordinances to protect the rights and interests of the public. However, if an administrative agency, which is supposed to exercise such powers to safeguard those rights and interests, neglects to do so, harm may befall the public. For example, if after approval  of  the manufacture and sale of a pharmaceutical product, it becomes apparent that the drug causes serious adverse side effects—so severe that, even considering its benefits, it is clear that the manufacturing approval should be revoked—yet the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare fails to revoke it, drug-related harm due to such severe side effects will inevitably spread. Accordingly, the supervisory powers granted to administrative agencies must be exercised in a timely and appropriate manner. Nevertheless, in Japan, the mechanisms to ensure that such powers are exercised in this way are inadequate. As a result, situations may not infrequently arise in which the lives, health, and environment of the public—matters that ought to be protected by administrative action—are instead infringed. This awareness of the problem lies at the heart of this book.
 
This book, therefore, examines whether the various powers granted to administrative agencies are exercised in a timely and appropriate manner to protect the rights and interests of the public. Where such powers—particularly supervisory powers—are found to be lacking in effectiveness, it explores the causes of that deficiency and offers proposals for necessary improvements.
 
The introduction clarifies the awareness of the problem that underlies this book. Chapter 1 identifies general issues regarding measures to secure the effectiveness of administrative action. Chapter 2, the core of the work, provides a detailed interpretive analysis of the Administrative Substitution of Execution Act (Gyōsei Daisekkō-hō). Chapter 3 explains simplified substitution of execution. Chapter 4 reveals the reality that administrative substitution of execution, except in certain limited fields, has fallen into dysfunction, and discusses improvement measures both from the standpoint of legislative reform and operational practice. Chapter 5 addresses administrative coercive fines (indirect compulsory money) and examines what institutional design is necessary for their effective use. Chapter 6 discusses direct compulsion, identifying areas where it should be effectively applied while preventing abuse, and develops legislative proposals toward that end. Chapter 7 examines administrative compulsory collection, questioning the prevailing theory that civil execution is impermissible where administrative compulsory collection is authorized. Chapter 8 considers immediate compulsion, in which an administrative agency exercises physical force directly upon the person or property of the public without imposing any prior obligation on them. Chapter 9 discusses administrative sanctions, including criminal penalties, administrative fines for breaches of order, surcharges, public disclosure, and restrictions on the provision of administrative services.　The concluding chapter discusses how the legal framework should be reformed to ensure the effectiveness of administrative action. I believe that one of the most pressing tasks in Japanese administrative law today is to develop such a legal framework to secure the effectiveness of administration, and it would be an unexpected and profound pleasure if this book could make any contribution toward that goal.
 

(Written by UGA Katsuya, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2025)