Announced Aug 15, 2026 — comments accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Sept 13, handled by MHLW's Foreign Workers' Employment Measures Division
On August 15, 2026, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) published a draft ministerial ordinance partially amending the Enforcement Regulations of the Employment Insurance Act and opened a public comment period. Comments are accepted from 0:00 on August 15, 2026 to 23:59 on September 13, 2026. This is a formal procedure under the Administrative Procedure Act (case number 495260147, category "Labour"). The stated legal basis is Article 62, paragraph 1, item 6 and paragraph 2 of the Employment Insurance Act (Act No. 116 of 1974). Article 62 covers the "employment stability projects" run by the government: item 6 of paragraph 1 is a catch-all allowing projects necessary to stabilise the employment of insured persons, and paragraph 2 provides that the standards needed to implement those projects are set by MHLW ordinance. Because the detailed rules — such as who qualifies for subsidies and under what conditions — sit in the enforcement regulations rather than the Act itself, this revision is made at ordinance level without amending the Act. The responsible office is the Foreign Workers' Employment Measures Division, Employment Security Bureau, MHLW. The concrete content of the amendment is set out in the "Draft of the order (outline)" PDF and the "Guidelines for submitting comments (including where to submit)" PDF on the e-Gov case page. At this stage it is only a draft, not a finalised system; the ordinance will be promulgated and take effect after the submitted comments are taken into account.
The division in charge of this draft ordinance is the Foreign Workers' Employment Measures Division of MHLW's Employment Security Bureau. The fact that the office responsible for policy on foreign employment is the contact point makes this worth watching for foreign workers in Japan and for companies that employ them. Employment stability projects under Article 62 are delivered mainly as subsidies to employers, aimed at preventing job losses and supporting re-employment. If subsidy requirements are revised at ordinance level, the support menu available to your workplace can change, which may indirectly affect employment and working conditions. Public comment is open to anyone regardless of nationality. Submissions are normally made in Japanese, but this is one of the few official routes through which foreign workers and employers can feed their views into the system. Start by checking the outline PDF to see whether the change touches you or your employer.
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