IPA IP 2022 Question 13

A question IPA Japan published in 令和4年度 ITパスポート試験公開問題問13, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.

Which of the following is an appropriate document for which disclosure can be requested on the basis of the Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs?

a)Legislative documents created and held by legislative bodies such as the National Dietb)Judicial documents created and held by judicial bodies such as the Supreme Courtc)Internal documents created and held by companies listed on a stock exchanged)Administrative documents created and held by administrative organs such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Explanation

Administrative documents of administrative organs — Japan's information disclosure law covers documents held by the executive branch.

Japan's Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs (the Information Disclosure Act) lets anyone, Japanese or not, request the disclosure of administrative documents: documents that officials of an administrative organ, such as a ministry or agency, created or obtained in their duties and that the organ holds for organizational use. The organ must disclose them unless they contain non-disclosure information, such as personal information or information that would harm national security.

Answer (d)

Why not others:

•(a) — the National Diet is the legislature, outside the Act's scope; the Diet handles access to its records under its own rules
•(b) — the courts are the judiciary, also outside the Act, which covers administrative organs only
•(c) — a private company, listed or not, is not an administrative organ; its duty is to disclose financial information to investors under securities law, not to release internal documents on request

Key rule: The Information Disclosure Act gives a right to request administrative documents held by administrative organs; the Diet, the courts and private companies are not covered.

Legal Affairs · AI-written, may contain errors

Previous Next

Practice this exam

This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.