放送法第175条資料の提出と総務省通知

放送法施行令を逸脱した通知と放送事業者の対応

抄録

Article 175 of Broadcasting Act （“the Act”） requires the submission of

materials by broadcasters, and the Order for Enforcement of Broadcasting Act

（“the Order”） sets out a list of materials to be submitted. But the Order

excludes the details of broadcast programs.

　　For that reason, the Order requires to submit an outline of deliberations of

the Broadcast Program Council, an internal council to discuss broadcast programs

（“the Council”）. The discussion in the Council relates to program contents

and the detailed minutes includes broadcast program material.

　　However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications （“MIC”）,

the ministry in charge of the Act, issued a circular notice requiring the submission

of detailed minutes in addition to the outline of deliberations of the Council.

The circular notice goes beyond the mandate of the Order, which excludes the

details of broadcast programs from the list of the materials to be submitted.

　　While broadcasters comply with the circular notice and submit the minutes

to MIC, which might lead to MIC’s intervention in broadcast programs, they do

not disclose the minutes to their audiences. This is due to the broadcasters’ lack

of understanding of the fundamental purpose of the Act, as well as their lack of

awareness regarding the protection of their freedom of broadcasting.