Page 19 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 1

STS339 Takashi IOKA
1. Introduction
The current BR in Japan, formally called the Establishment Frame Database,
has been operated since January 2013 and the importance of and need for the
BR goes on increasing year after year. In this paper, two kinds of frameworks
which will start from 2019 to ensure the quality of the BR in the SBJ will be
introduced. The first framework is the Economic Census 2019 which will be
conducted from June 2019, and the second one is the Profiling. Before
mentioning the frameworks, outlines of the BR and the Economic Census will
be introduced first.
1.1 Outline of the Business Register
In the Statistics Act, it is stipulated that the Minister of Internal Affairs
and Communications shall develop the BR in Japan . Based on the Act, the
2
SBJ is in charge of operating the BR. The current BR aims mainly to provide
the latest business frame every year, which is called the “Annual Frame,”
for the sampling frame of business surveys conducted by the national and
local governments as well as incorporated administrative agencies, and to
reduce the burden on respondents of statistical surveys conducted by
these organizations. After the renovation in 2013, the BR has been storing
various survey data (survey results) such as the Economic Census, Financial
Statements Statistics of Corporations by Industry, and administrative data
consisting of the Labor Insurance Data , the Commercial and Corporation
3
Registration Data , and the Electronic Disclosure for Investors Network
4
5
Data . The information on all establishments and enterprises in Japan
(about 6 million establishments) is stored in the BR. The chart on the next
page summarizes the maintenance cycle of the BR for reference.

2 The Statistics Act (Article 27): The Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications shall
develop an establishment frame database by utilizing questionnaire information pertaining to
fundamental statistical surveys or general statistical surveys, questioning juridical persons and
other organizations or through other methods, for the purpose of contributing to the accurate
and efficient production of statistics by administrative organs, local public entities, and
incorporated administrative agencies, etc. and reduction of the burden on respondents of
statistical surveys.
3 The Labor Insurance Data: The data about businesses which were newly established and
discontinued is obtained from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare every month. After
obtaining the data, SBJ send a letter of inquiry to those new businesses to obtain the data
about industrial classification, number of employees and so on.
4 The Commercial and Corporate Registration Data: The data about businesses which were
newly established, transferred, changed trade names, merged and discontinued is obtained
from the Ministry of Justice every month. After obtaining the data, SBJ send a letter of inquiry
to those new businesses to obtain the data about industrial classification, number of
employees and so on.
System for investors to obtain disclosure documents including information on enterprise
5
name, address, and financial information based on the Financial Instruments and Exchange
Act.
8 | I S I W S C 2 0 1 9