Asset Acquisition Documents Private Acquisitions (Japan)

On April 21, 2023, the House of Councilors, the National Diet of Japan approved and enacted the following three bills: (i) the Act to Partially Amend the Arbitration Act, (ii) the Act on the Implementation of the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, and (ii) the Act to Partially Amend the Act on Promotion of the Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution. They were promulgated on April 28, 2023. This article provides an overview of the enacted laws and their impact on practice of international arbitration and mediation. In the meantime, on June 9, 2023, the House of Councilors, the National Diet of Japan passed and approved a proposal to request approval of the conclusion of the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation.

In Japan, in order to maintain appropriate public services under the current situation of aging public facilities, etc., severe financial conditions of national and local governments, and population decline, administrators of public facilities, etc. need to carry out improvement of efficiency of costs related to the reconstruction, renovation, repair, and operation of public facilities, etc., wide-area management of public facilities, etc., and consolidation of facilities of public facilities, etc. The use of PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) is considered to be effective as one of the means to achieve these goals. In Japan, the “Act on Promotion of Private Finance Initiative” (PFI Act) was enacted in July 1999, and the PPP method that complies with this law is called PFI (Private-Finance-Initiative). As of the end of March 2022, there have been 932 projects nationwide that are planning to carry out public works using the PFI method (implementation policies have been announced), including those of the national and local governments, and some projects have already completed construction and started operation, and some have expired project periods.

Carbon markets are an instrumental tool to assist countries in achieving GHG emissions reduction commitments. Emissions trading systems in smaller countries face the problem of insufficient market participants and investors which can result in volume and liquidity levels which are insufficient to determine market pricing effectively. To address this, some countries and regions have harmonised emissions trading systems, to create larger and more liquid carbon markets. In this insight, we consider potential opportunities for cooperation and harmonisation of carbon trading across Southeast Asia and the broader region.