Two bills passed: The Law to Promote Measures to Support Fostering Next-Generation Youths and the Revised Child Welfare Law

The Law to Promote Measures to Support Fostering Next-Generation Youths and the Revised Child Welfare Law were established on July 9 exactly as in the original governmental drafts. Both laws, with the exception of certain sections thereof, will be enforced beginning April 2005.

The Law to Promote Measures to Support Fostering Next-Generation Youths is a temporary law that will expire in March 2015. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will position the two years from 2003 to 2004 as a period for building the necessary infrastructure to support fostering next-generation youths, and carry out a series of legislative measures. The two bills mark the first step of these measures. The Ministry plans to continue studying various systems including the reexamination of child benefit and childcare leave systems, as well as the improvement of conditions such as public pensions that help realize diverse working styles.

The Law to Promote Measures to Support Fostering Next-Generation Youths mandates local governments and employers to formulate concrete action plans for supporting their employees to work and raise families at the same time. The aim is to have 10% of male workers and 80% of female workers take childcare leave, which were the numerical goals set up in September 2002. The law will mandate SMEs with 300 or fewer employees to "make such efforts." Local governments and employers will draw up plans by the end of FY2004 and implement them beginning FY2005.

The Revised Child Welfare Law, meanwhile, obligates municipalities to make efforts to implement programs and activities to strengthen childcare support carried out in the regional community. Among these programs they are to carry out include (1) home-based services, (2) extended childcare services, and (3) childrearing consultations. The law will call on municipalities with a growing demand for childcare services to draw up their own programs to accommodate children who are waiting to be admitted to childcare facilities.

In passing the two bills, moreover, the government added twelve supplementary resolutions such as (1) encouraging companies to study, as soon as possible, ways to enable all individuals applying for leave of absence to nurse their children to obtain it, (2) mandating local governments to provide consultations, advice, and assistance to employers to encourage the latter to introduce a system for employees taking leave of absence to nurse their children, and (3) encouraging companies to reduce overtime work during childrearing periods.

It must be noted, however, that the supplementary clauses regarding employers' action plans met strong opposition from the business community, and for this reason, the content has become somewhat diluted. At a meeting of the Upper House's Committee on Health, Welfare and Labor, moreover, several members questioned the appropriateness of mandating companies to implement programs to support fostering next-generation youths. Now that the bills have been passed, it appears that the challenge from here on will be to find ways to make these bills effective.