Reform of the secured transactions law in Japan: the form and function tested against the global standard

Abstract

Since 2021, the reform of the secured transactions law is officially tabled before the Legislative Council of Japan. Prior to this official deliberation, three preparatory study groups, each sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency and Financial Services Agency, discussed the agenda. With differences in the details, these three groups have proposed introducing the new approach to secured transactions, namely enabling the creation of security interests in all the debtor’s assets without specifying each piece of asset included. These arguments indicate that the modern principles of secured transactions that have emerged from the global efforts towards unification and harmonisation affect domestic law reform.