After looking into government procedures carried out 10,000 times or more annually across all ministries and agencies, it was found that about 800 of them required seals on application forms and accompanying documents, according to Tao Kono, the minister in charge of administrative and regulatory reform. And in an interview with media outlets on Thursday, he said he intends to abolish the personal seals currently required for most of the about 800 procedures.
For all but 35 of them, the ministries and agencies responded that they would either abolish or consider abolishing the seals, he said.
Kono said that he thinks seals can be abolished even in those 35 categories. "Indeed, the seals are required [for those procedures] under the related laws, government ordinances and public notices," Kano said. "But all we have to do is change those rules."
He also said he told each ministry and agency to reconsider the issue. Regarding administrative procedures carried out less than 10,000 times per year, Kono said they will be reviewed in the first half of this month to determine whether seals should be required.
Meanwhile, in an effort to promote work style reforms for government officials, Kono revealed that he has instructed all ministries and agencies to survey their working conditions in October and November. He intends to reduce wasteful work by making them "report on their hours at the office by type of job and organization," he said.
As for reorganizing the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, he said: "Various tasks are being undertaken [by the ministry] in response to the novel coronavirus. It's not a good time to take up the issue."
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