The 8th Inter-Ministerial General Directors' Meeting on digitalisation by Business Operators

Overview

Date and time: Monday, August 4, 2025 from 14:15 to 15:15
Location: Online
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Agenda
  1. Expansion of the membership
  2. Results of the Complete Survey of Administrative Procedures (2024) and Future Surveys
  3. Status of Consideration of G-Biz Portal (Business Operator Portal)
  4. Expansion of Delegated Functions of gBizID and Clarifying the Legal Basis of gBizID
  5. Major Points of Expansion of jGrants Functions in Fiscal 2025
  6. Efforts to Promote the Use of Low Cost Procurement Services
  7. Efforts to Strengthen the Information Dissemination Capacity of Government Websites
  8. Mynaportal Regarding the suspension period for the addition of new functions and rehearsals for the transition associated with the update of the backend system
  9. Other:
3. Adjournment

Material

Minutes, etc.

Members present

Mr. President

Tomohiro OKADA (Deputy Director-General, Group of Service for Citizens, Digital Agency)

Member

Teiichiro SEKI (Deputy Director-General of the Cabinet Secretariat Administration (Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Cabinet Secretariat))
*Representative: Ayaka Yamada (Chief, Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Cabinet Secretariat)
Rika Kishida (Deputy Director-General, Secretariat of the New Regional Economy and Living Environment Creation Division, Cabinet Secretariat)
*Representative: Eihiko Hirose (Deputy Director, Cabinet Secretariat Shinchiso Secretariat)
Hei Hiroshi Yoshida (Deputy Director-General, Secretariat of the Cabinet Secretariat Digital Administrative and Fiscal Reform Council)
Atsuyuki Ogawa (cybersecurity, Cabinet Office, Informatization Deputy Director-General)
Hironori Shigematsu (Deputy Director-General of National Police Agency Director-General's Secretariat)
Eiji NOZAKI (Deputy Director-General, Financial Services Agency Supervision Bureau)
Mitsuo Tanabe (Director, Planning Division, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)
Hiroshi Takita (cybersecurity, Ministry of Justice, Informatization Deputy Director-General)
Fumito Miyake (cybersecurity and Informatization Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
*Representative: Rei Goto (Chief, Information Systems Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs's Secretariat)
Yujiro FUJISAKI (Deputy Director-General, Director-General's Secretariat, Ministry of Finance and National Tax Agency)
Jugo Imaizumi (Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology University supervisor)
*Representative: Daigo Ishii (Section Chief, Administrative Reform Promotion Office, General Affairs Division, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Secretariat)
Lin Hongxiang (cybersecurity, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Informatization Deputy Director-General)
*Representative: Ya Fumi Okabe (Director, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Secretariat)
Masashi Itoh (cybersecurity, Deputy Director-General of Information Technology, Secretariat of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries)
Hidetaka NISHIMURA (cybersecurity and Deputy Director-General of Information Technology, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Secretariat)
*Representative: Takamasa Murakami (Director of Business Reform Division, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Secretariat)
Takuya Yamazaki (Director, Business Support Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency
*Representative: Kazuhiro Kazuhito (General Affairs Division, Director-General's Secretariat, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency
YAMAMOTO Yasushi (MLIT Minister's Secretariat, cybersecurity and ICT Deputy Director-General)
Masashi Norihisa (cybersecurity, Deputy Director-General of Information and Communication, Secretariat of Ministry of the Environment)
Noriyuki Nakano (cybersecurity, Ministry of Defense, IT Deputy Director-General)
Yoshihiro Komaki

Minutes

Deputy Director-General OKADA: time, and the 8th "Inter-Ministerial Meeting on digitalisation by Business Operators" will be held.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today.

My name is Katsuo Okada from Deputy Director-General, Group of Service for Citizens, Digital Agency, and I would like to say a few words as the new chairman, replacing my predecessor, Mr. Hasui.

In Japan, due to the impact of the labor shortage caused by the declining birthrate and aging population, it is an urgent task to improve the productivity of business operators through digitalisation and other measures. Under such circumstances, this liaison meeting was established with the aim of accelerating efforts in cooperation with related ministries and agencies regarding the digitalisation of business operators and the digitalisation of public procedures. This is the eighth meeting since the first meeting was held in November 2023. I believe this is all thanks to the efforts and support of all of you, including our members. I would like to express my sincere gratitude.

Today, we plan to report on the results of the complete survey of administrative procedures and provide information on the portal for business operators, the so-called G-Biz portal.

In addition, today, I have asked representatives from Cabinet Legislation Bureau, National Personnel Authority, The Imperial Household Agency, Japan Fair Trade Commission, Personal Information Protection Commission, Japan Casino Regulatory Commission, Consumer Affairs Agency, Reconstruction Agency, Children and Families Agency, the Supreme Court, and the Board of Audit to attend as observers. Thank you for your coordination.

Through this conference, we will further deepen cooperation with relevant ministries and agencies, and continue to work together with them on the digitalisation of business operators. I would like to ask for your continued cooperation and understanding.

Mr. Hasui from Director-General, Digital Agency, the former chairman of the meeting, will be able to attend part of the meeting, so I would like to give him an opportunity to deliver his farewell speech.

Now, let's get down to business.

There are a total of nine items on today's agenda as per the agenda in the materials sent in advance. The materials for each agenda item have been sent in advance, but due to time constraints, it will be difficult to explain the details of each material here, so I would like to ask you to make efforts to make Materials 2 to 8 fully known within the organization through the PMO, etc.

First, the person in charge will explain agenda items (1) to (3).

My name is Director for Policy Planning Yoshida from Digital Agency. Nice to meet you.

Director for Policy Planning Yoshida: Thank you for the introduction. I'm Yoshida from Director for Policy Planning.

First, I would like to explain agenda items (1) through (3).

The first is about the expansion of the membership.

As Deputy Director-General Okada has already explained, the Inter-Ministerial General Directors' Meeting on the digitalisation of Business Operators and Other Matters has been held a total of seven times thus far. In addition, we have conducted a stocktaking of administrative procedures and provided explanations on the G-Biz portal and other matters.

Based on this, especially for the complete survey, ministries and agencies other than the members of this Liaison Committee participated and cooperated. Based on this, we are proposing that such administrative organizations be allowed to participate in the future in the form of members or observers.

As you can see in the list, I believe some of the people from the ministries and agencies listed here are participating as observers today, and I hope they will continue to use this as a place to gather information when holding the Inter-Ministerial General Directors' Meeting. That is the first point.

Next, I will explain the results of the complete survey and future surveys in Document 2.

I would like to thank everyone at each ministry and agency for their great efforts in the comprehensive survey on administrative procedures, which has already been published on Digital Agency's website. As an initiative, from October to December of last year and from December to June of this year in 2024, we surveyed what kind of administrative procedures were actually in place and the status of their online status.

As you may know because we have already distributed the results to each ministry and agency, first of all, we have discovered more than 10,000 new procedures. However, even taking that into account, the ratio of online procedures has increased, and the amount of procedures actually done online has increased compared to fiscal 2021.

In addition, when we actually investigate, procedures with more than 10,000 cases account for 2.3%, but those account for 99.8% of the procedures. In particular, when we look at administrative procedures with more than 1 million cases, more than 80% of them are online, and more than 85% of them are used online. On the other hand, when we look below that, the online rate is 60-70%, and the online rate is 50-60%.

I would like to ask how these online services are actually being advanced. About 40% of them are being made online by email. Other than that, they are being made online by various systems. The plan is to use e-Gov, which Digital Agency has also developed, as a tool to make these services online.

In terms of the number of actual procedures, the number of e-Gov procedures has exceeded 100 million. In terms of other procedures, we can see in the figures that NACCS, a system that handles trade transactions, e-Tax, and tax returns are widely used.

As for why online procedures are not progressing where they are not, some answered that the cost effectiveness of online procedures is low or unclear. For this, I think you answered that the less the number of procedures, the less the cost effectiveness of online procedures.

In addition, as for the payment of fees, nearly 60% are still offline only. This is the number of types of procedures. Even if we look at the number of cases, about 50% are offline only, and we see that there are places where electronic payment is not progressing well and the procedures themselves are not progressing online.

In addition, when it comes to attached documents, there are many types of documents such as certificate of registered matters, articles of incorporation, certificate of residence, and financial statements. However, there are some documents that do not need to be attached, so I think it is necessary to take them into consideration.

In addition, especially for certificates of registered matters of commercial registration and certificates of registered matters of real estate, Digital Agency will develop a base registry in the future, and I believe that by cooperating and utilizing these things, we will be able to further eliminate the need for attached documents.

This is for reference, but we are actually looking at the online conversion rate and online usage rate of the procedures for the central government and local governments from business operators and residents. This survey was conducted by each ministry and agency, and it was organized based on the premise that there are many parts that we cannot grasp how far local governments are going online. As a reference value, I think there is a tendency that many local governments are not yet online.

This is a summary of the survey results. As a whole, the online adoption rate and online usage rate have increased compared to FY 2021. As expected, the larger the number of procedures, the more online adoption and online usage have progressed. Also, from the perspective of cost-effectiveness, those with fewer procedures have not made much progress online.

As for future points, I believe it will be important to make fee payments online, make attached documents online, or omit submission by linking data.

Based on these points, when we further promote online applications going forward, rather than increasing the online ratio, we believe it is necessary to make them online based on cost effectiveness and user convenience. As for local governments, some e-Gov are moving forward with making applications online, and we would like to support them.

In addition, the results of the Full Survey of Ministries and Agencies Going Online have been published on their websites in this manner.

As for the future survey, we have conducted a complete survey so far, and based on the results, we would like to spread the system developed by Digital Agency, such as gBizID, e-Gov and jGrants, so that each ministry and agency can use it.

Based on that, this time, as a result of the complete survey, we found that it was a fairly comprehensive survey. Therefore, in the future, we would like to proceed with the survey on administrative procedures and the survey on what kind of subsidies each ministry and agency receives according to the schedule shown.

Now that Director-General Hasui is here, I would like to have a word with him.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.

In the middle of the meeting, as Director for Policy Planning Yoshida mentioned, Director-General Group of Strategy and Organization Hasui has just joined the meeting, and I would like to ask him to make a farewell speech.

Nice to meet you, Director-General Hasui.

Director-General Hasui: Thank you very much for all your help.

At first, many of you may have thought what the purpose of the meeting was. However, the original purpose of the meeting was to advance cooperation with Mr. National Tax Agency. I believe that it was to advance digitalisation related to business operators in particular while thoroughly investigating administrative procedures or investigating jGrants. Somehow I would like to do it loosely. Thank you for holding this meeting, perhaps the eighth time. I truly believe that we have been making progress thanks to everyone, and I apologize for the various burdens, etc., but I hope that we will continue to receive your support and that digitalisation will be meaningful for business operators as well.

As I will continue to be in Digital Agency, I would like to participate in this meeting if I am permitted to do so. I would like to ask for your continued support.

Anyway, in Digital Agency, I think it is important to empower everyone in charge of information systems, including Deputy Director-General, who is in charge of informatization in each ministry, so I would like to receive any suggestions, including complaints.

Thank you very much for your help.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.

Now, I'd like to return to the agenda.

Nice to meet you, Director for Policy Planning Yoshida.

Director for Policy Planning Yoshida: Thank you very much.

Next, I would like to share the status of consideration of the G-Biz portal (operator portal).

The Priority Plan Basic Policies and other policies position the development of portal sites for business operators to carry out administrative procedures going forward.

In terms of what form we are actually considering, by accessing and logging in to gBizID, we will be able to recommend what kind of administrative procedures can be done and what kind of support can be obtained in line with the attributes of business operators. Furthermore, in the form of an electronic locker, which I will explain later, we will first upload the necessary information in the form of an electronic file. Alternatively, we are considering a form in which administrative scriveners and others can share files in the process of creating them on the spot.

In addition, we would like to build a system that allows one stop access to various administrative procedure systems from the portal, as well as a system that allows us to receive notifications from each ministry and agency after procedures are completed.

In this way, we would like to promote a project called G-Biz Portal that will make it easier for each business operator to access the various administrative procedures currently available, using G-Biz Portal as a starting point.

To give you an analogy, for individuals, My Number Card is the key to authentication, but for that, Mynaportal has been set up as an online window. In order to respond to that, gBizID will be used for authentication, and we are considering developing a G-Biz portal from there.

One is, we plan to use the information from the administrative procedures stocktaking survey that I explained earlier to create a search engine that will allow people to search for what kind of administrative procedures are actually required. We would like to create a flow line that allows people to fly from here to the actual online application site in one stop.

In addition to that, there are cases where various procedures across ministries and agencies are required in accordance with the use cases of procedures that are often conducted by business operators, so I think it would be good to develop such things in the form of a guide journey. For example, we will develop a use case that organizes and displays necessary procedures for starting a business and the support obtained at that time in a single website that is easy to understand.

I believe that there are various use cases depending on each industry, so I am thinking of gradually increasing this guide journey while listening to the people of each ministry and agency.

In addition, regarding the electronic locker that I explained earlier, in the past, business operators obtained documents individually and submitted them to each ministry or electronic system. However, this would require business operators to send electronic documents to each ministry or system every time. Therefore, we are developing a system called an electronic locker, in which files are placed so that each administrative procedure agency can refer to the files, as a function together with the G-Biz portal.

This is the actual schedule. First of all, we plan to release a trial version of the site in the form of an alpha version this fiscal year. Based on that, we will proceed with the development, and we aim to release an improved version around September or October of the next fiscal year, in about half a year. Finally, at the end of next year, as a beta version, we plan to release it in a form that can be used officially.

That's all from me.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.

There will be time for all the questions later, so I would like to proceed with the agenda as it is.

Next, the person in charge will explain agenda items (4) and (5).

Digital Agency no Mori Director, nice to meet you.

MORI Director: I would like to explain topics (4) and (5).

First of all, please refer to Material 4. I would like to explain the details of the improvement of delegated functions in gBizID and the amendment of the ministerial ordinance to clarify the legal basis.

First of all, I would like to explain the improvements to the delegation function.

As many of you may know, gBizID is a certification service for business operators such as corporations and sole proprietors, and as of the end of July 2025, the cumulative number of accounts issued has reached approximately 1.32 million, and the number of services for business operators that can log in has reached 220 services provided by the national and local governments.

In gBizID, it is not practical for the representative to complete all the procedures themselves, so we provide a function that allows people other than the representative to complete the procedures using their own account. The left side of the slide is the member account function for employees within the organization, and the right side is the delegation function for third parties outside the organization. The improved function this time is the delegation function, and we are planning to release it at the end of this fiscal year, 7th fiscal year.

Regarding the specific improvements to the delegation function, the left side is the current operational image, and the right side is the post-improvement operational image.

Based on (1), we will make it possible for either the mandator or the trustee to start setting the delegation in gBizID. At present, as shown in the figure on the left, the business operator needs to start the operation by themselves, but some business operators may be unfamiliar with the operation, so we will make it possible for the trustee, such as an administrative scrivener, to request it in the future. The administrative scrivener, etc. will set the scope of delegation and the delegation deadline, and the business operator will confirm and approve it.

However, it is not necessary to implement additional APIs that are required for the gBizID connection service to use the delegation function of gBizID. Currently, it is necessary to separately implement an API to obtain only the delegation information in addition to the user information such as the corporate name. However, in the future, it will be possible to obtain the delegation information together with the user information, so there will be no need to implement additional APIs.

It is ③. We will provide a function that can set the scope of delegation in more detail. Currently, if delegation is set, the entire procedure of the service will be delegated, but in the future, delegation can be set in the form of procedure B in service A at a finer granularity.

The details of each improvement are listed on the following pages. I will omit the explanation today due to time constraints, but I would like to ask everyone who is in charge of services for business operators to familiarize themselves internally and consider the active utilization of gBizID and its delegation functions.

Next, we are considering revising the ministerial ordinance to clarify the legal basis of gBizID, and I will give you an overview of it.

Currently, as gBizID expands its collaboration with administrative services, some systems are requesting us to clarify their legal basis. As a response to this, we are planning to partially revise the ordinance of the competent ministry for the Digital Government Promotion Act.

Under the Act on the Promotion of Digital Government, as underlined in the green column, the signature and seal required in applications, etc. can be replaced with "measures to clarify the name and specified by the ordinance of the competent ministry."

Under the current ordinance of the competent ministry, for example, as shown in the middle left part, there are cases where entering so-called IDs and passwords is entrusted to the internal operations of administrative agencies. The use of gBizID as a substitute for signatures has already been interpreted in these provisions.

As shown in the red box in the middle, the revision this time is to revise the Ordinance on Uniform Regional Management and the Ordinance on Uniform Regional Management, which are under the jurisdiction of Digital Agency, and list examples of the use of gBizID as an alternative measure for signing.

As shown on the right-hand side of the middle paragraph, I would like to ask that the ministries and agencies with jurisdiction make their own decisions regarding the ministerial ordinances that fall under the jurisdiction of ministries and agencies other than Digital Agency, based on the current interpretation under laws and ordinances.

Next, please look at Material 5. I would like to introduce the main points of the expansion of jGrants's functions planned for this fiscal year.

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for using jGrants on a daily basis and for your cooperation in filling out a questionnaire to improve your convenience.

Based on the requests we received, we are developing functional improvements, and as you can see on the right, we made two improvement releases in June and July this fiscal year. The details of each release will be announced separately by the help desk in jGrants, so please check it.

Next, I would like to introduce the main functions we are planning to release this fiscal year. As you can see in the lower part, we are planning to add a function to confirm the existence of an applicant's account, simplify the procedure for sharing forms between office administrators, and add an authentication method for login.

For the addition and improvement of functions related to the operation of the Subsidy Office, an online briefing will be held about one month before the release. We would appreciate it if you could inform the PMO and the Hara Division in charge of subsidies.

From here, I would like to introduce some of the contents of the release. First of all, it is about the account existence confirmation function.

In the past, the office had to visually check the attached copy of the bankbook or cash card to confirm the existence of the account information entered by the applicant, but in the future, the existence will be confirmed on the system. The release of this function is scheduled for around the end of September.

Next, I would like to introduce the release regarding the examination function. First of all, when you log in to the examiner site, you will be able to select e-mail authentication in addition to your current SMS authentication. This is a function that we have received many requests from people in local governments in particular. In addition, we plan to improve the screen design so that it will be easier to share the application form within the organization, or so that you can see at a glance what needs to be revised when the examination is returned. These functions are scheduled to be released at the end of December.

For the following pages, due to time constraints, I will skip the explanation, but on page 6, there is a plan to hold a briefing session in the future, and on page 7, gBizID can use My Number Card to obtain it in the shortest possible time, so I will introduce those points. I would be grateful if you could share it with the PMO in the agency and everyone in the Hara Division in charge of subsidies.

That's all from me.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.

Next, the person in charge will explain agenda items (6) - (8).

Nice to meet you, Director Ohtsuka.

Director Ohtsuka: My name is Ohtsuka, and I am in charge of the electronic procurement system (GEPS for short) in Digital Agency, . My name is Director.

I would like to introduce the status of the use of the Small Amount Procurement Service, which was newly released as a sub-function of GEPS in March this year, in the government and make a request to promote its use.

First of all, if I were to give you an overview of the information systems that support the government's procurement work, it can be divided into two broad categories: systems for procuring goods and services, and systems for procuring public works. What I am going to explain today is the Small Amount Goods Procurement Operation, which is a sub-function of GEPS for procuring goods and services surrounded by a red dotted line.

Next, I would like to give you an overview of our procurement operations for low-value items. In the past, we handled approximately 450,000 cases of low-value items of 3 million yen or less per year. These cases were procured by matching estimates and were not subject to bidding. As a result, we were unable to use GEPS, which created a problem with the digitization of procedures.

Therefore, from March this year, we have introduced a system that allows you to search and order products listed by private sector in a marketplace format. In the past, when procuring low-cost items of 3 million yen or less, for example, stationery, desks, chairs, etc., you would have procured equivalent items by comparing their prices in catalogs, etc. However, in this small-cost item procurement business, as shown in the lower left of the figure, we have made it possible for five major companies with nationwide delivery capabilities, Amazon, Askul, Alpha Purchase, Lion Office Equipment, and Monotaro, to be external catalog operators, and for other local retailers, etc., to be registered as internal catalog operators. We have made it possible for these companies to compare prices, delivery dates, etc., and procure more than 72 million products handled by them on their terminals.

Next, I would like to introduce the work flow and benefits of using this function. As I mentioned earlier, currently, we have requested estimates from multiple companies by e-mail, etc., and the results have been compiled by government officials, compared, ordered, and accounting procedures have also been entered manually.

By introducing this function, you can compare prices among multiple companies on the screen, so you can reduce the time and effort required to obtain quotations from multiple companies. Of course, since EASY, ADAMS, etc. are also linked, you can make decisions and payments online. In addition, you can use the form format of each government agency, so you can use only the convenient part of the small-amount goods procurement operation in accordance with the rules of each government agency.

In terms of procurement costs, I have heard that external catalog operators set prices lower than general prices, which are about 7-25% of corporate prices. As for delivery time, the actual average is about 2 days from ordering to delivery and inspection, and there are cases where the shortest time is the same day of ordering and inspection.

Here, for your reference, I would like to show you a product comparison screen. Actually, you can compare and procure products on this screen.

I will go to the next page. Regarding the status of use at each ministry and agency since March this year, 10 ministries and agencies and 15 government offices have already used it. As shown in the table on the upper right, some ministries and agencies have been actively engaged in activities such as issuing notifications to promote the start of use at headquarters and local branch offices, and encouraging the entry of internal catalog operators to increase the number of products available for purchase.

In addition, as you can see in the table on the bottom right, I have heard from people who have used it that it has actually reduced the time and effort of competitive quotes and lead time, and has made office work more efficient, such as checking price comparisons and price discrepancies.

Finally, it is expected that business efficiency will be improved, procurement costs will be reduced, and the e-contract rate introduced on the next page will increase. Therefore, each Cabinet Office and Ministry are requested to take measures to promote the use of e-contracts by referring to the efforts of other Cabinet Offices and Ministries.

Please note that the figures for the electronic subscription rate do not include the use of this function at this time.

In addition, in Digital Agency, individual briefing sessions are held to receive questions about the system overview and introduction for each ministry and agency. Please contact the person in charge of the Digital Agency e-procurement system if you wish to request a ministry or agency.

That's all for the explanation of this matter.

Next, as Director, who is in charge of the unified website for ministries and agencies, I would like to explain the background of Digital Agency's efforts to strengthen the information dissemination capacity of government websites and the content of support for each ministry and agency in the future.

First, let me explain the background. Government websites are built separately by each ministry and agency, and improving convenience from the user perspective and reducing the burden on system staff have been issues. Since the launch of Digital Agency, the project has been started to create a unified website like GOV. UK in the UK. Later, it became the subject of policy evaluation and administrative project review, and based on the opinions of the committee members, Digital Agency has shifted its policies to support the improvement of information dissemination capabilities by sharing references such as systems, parts, and know-how to each ministry and agency utilizing communities, etc.

Specifically, there are two major points and policies that are important in promoting efforts to strengthen the information dissemination capacity of government websites. The first is to improve convenience from the user's perspective, such as making it easy for users to get to the desired information and making information equally accessible and available to everyone. The second is that the people in charge of website systems at each government agency are by no means website specialists. We will provide an environment that makes it easy to acquire know-how and reduce the workload, thereby reducing costs and burdens.

Under these policies, those involved with government websites are working together to improve user convenience and reduce the burden on those in charge, centered around three pillars: a liaison committee at the division and director level to share overall policies, a community to share information between ministries and agencies centered on Digital Agency, and a reference for guidelines, services, tools, etc. provided by Digital Agency.

In June of this year, we conducted a survey of those in charge of the websites of all government ministries and agencies to sort out the latest operation status and confirm the five issues shown on the left side of this document: planning and preparation of procurement specifications, improvement using user feedback and access analysis, accessibility response, operation system, budget, and support system for the introduction of a common CMS.

In order to resolve these issues, Digital Agency is developing five measures described on the right: "Development of Common Functions," "Development of Common Infrastructure," "Development of Practical Methods," "Development of Standard Guidelines," and "Support for Each Ministry and Agency." Digital Agency is working on information support and technical assistance through community activities, etc. and information exchange between ministries and agencies.

I would like to briefly introduce measures 1 to 5 that I have just introduced. As for the "development of common infrastructure," we have been developing functions such as site statistics, broken link checks, and user reviews as common functions that do not depend on the system that manages website content, called CMS, which has been adopted by each government agency since last fiscal year, and we will start providing information to each government agency from this fiscal year.

In the area of "development of common infrastructure," we have developed a common CMS that is assumed to be deployed and reusable in each ministry and agency in Digital Agency. Based on the open source Drupal, it is equipped with functions that can be required of government websites, such as the application of a design system that is easy to use for users and supports the latest international standards for accessibility. Although there will be costs associated with data migration, we believe that it will lead to reductions in expenses related to system development and operation, as well as the burden on those who are in charge of operation.

On the next page, we organized the characteristics of the common CMS, so please refer to it.

As for Measure 3, "Develop practical methods," in order for each ministry and agency to operate and improve their websites smoothly and effectively, we are developing and sharing practical methods and knowledge, such as providing templates for procurement specifications, supporting migration to the Government Cloud, giving lectures on methods for improving websites, and methods for accessibility.

In Measure 4, "Development of Standard Guidelines," three types of standard guidelines, including website guidelines, are currently being discussed with the ministries and agencies so that they can serve as a basis for the construction and improvement of the websites of the ministries and agencies. As soon as the discussions are settled, we would like to deploy them to the ministries and agencies. In line with the development of the standard guidelines, we will gradually develop practical guidebooks and reference materials that specifically support their use in the field.

Finally, the fifth point is that while we are providing support to the extent possible under the current system of "support for each ministry and agency by web experts," we are currently considering strengthening the support system in Digital Agency. Once the system is in place, we would like to promote support, support the resolution of structural issues and the establishment of improvements, and aim to realize a highly reproducible and easy-to-use website.

The other day, on July 29, we held a liaison meeting, and officials from 26 ministries and agencies gathered. Participants have high expectations for common functions, etc., and we have heard that some of them want to use them. In the future, we plan to announce specific usage methods, etc., and we ask for your understanding of the overall policy and the status of efforts, including this issue, as well as your guidance and support to the section in charge of the website.

Next, as Director in charge of Mynaportal, I will explain the contents of the title.

Regarding this matter, we have already contacted the persons in charge of the relevant sections of each system who are working with Mynaportal and asked them to take measures, but since it is a very important matter, we will also report it here.

First, I would like to talk about the current situation in Mynaportal. Based on the "Mynaportal Towards the Realization of a Digital Society," Priority Plan has been adding various measures and administrative procedures for individuals and businesses. Last fiscal year, opportunities for citizens to use Mynaportal have been further increasing, including the integration of health insurance cards and driver's licenses, and new passport application procedures being made available in Mynaportal.

In addition, as the functions of some administrative procedures for offices are continuously expanded, the number of accesses is increasing year by year, and it is becoming increasingly important. The number of monthly accesses, which was less than 200,000 around fiscal 2020 when the current system was released, has exceeded 30 million as of March this year. In this way, it is expected that the number of people using Mynaportal will continue to increase in the future, and it is necessary to create a service that can be used stably at all times as an important infrastructure of society.

In light of this increase in the number of users, the Company has implemented several enhancements to the system, but the system's capacity is approaching its limit, and there are also issues such as an increase in operation and maintenance costs. In light of this situation, the Company has decided to renovate the back-end system in order to build a system with high scalability and flexibility in the future, optimize operating costs, and build a system that can be quickly restored even in the event of a disaster.

In this system renewal, we will first decouple systems as a measure to increase maintainability and scalability by reducing dependencies between systems. Next, we will work to reduce operation and maintenance costs. Lastly, we will build a standby system infrastructure that can resume services immediately even in the event of a disaster. Through these efforts, we will create a foundation that can provide stable services in the future.

Next, I would like to ask you about the work schedule for this project and any requests related to it. When updating the Mynaportal system, we must ensure that the new system after the update is also sufficiently high-quality. To this end, we will ensure that all functions of the current system are installed in the updated system, and conduct tests from various perspectives to confirm that they function. Therefore, we will set a period to stop adding new functions to the current system, and sufficiently and carefully conduct linkage tests with other organizations' systems, etc. and migration rehearsals.

To be specific, as shown in the red band on the document, we will suspend the new function of the Mynaportal here. Also, we will rehearse the transition at the beginning of December, and actually transition at the beginning of January. During this time, the Mynaportal will be closed for about 26 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience during the transition period, but we appreciate your understanding.

On the next page, I said that the system will be blocked for about 26 hours, but the content of the work will be during that time. Regarding the content, it is necessary to block the system and carry out the work, so I would like to ask for your understanding and cooperation.

Finally, I will explain the main impact when the system is blocked and the prior notification by Mynaportal. Since the system migration work blocks Mynaportal, various services, including Mynaportal login, cannot be used. Specific examples include viewing your information on Mynaportal, health insurance card registration, passport application, and procedures to link Mynaportal and driver's license. Since these will cause inconvenience to citizens during the work period, Digital Agency will provide prior notification and make them known. I would like to ask for cooperation from the ministries and agencies responsible for each system that works with Mynaportal regarding the prior notification that the services provided through Mynaportal will not be available.

That's all from me.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.

Now, I would like to move on to the last item on the agenda. Under item (9) "Other," Mr. National Tax Agency will make a statement regarding the filing of a final return for income taxes for 2024 and a request for businesses to publicize the promotion of digitalisation.

Nice to meet you, Deputy Director-General Fujisaki from National Tax Agency.

Deputy Director-General Fujisaki: This is Fujisaki from Deputy Director-General, National Tax Agency, .

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak today.

National Tax Agency is proceeding with the digitalisation of tax procedures from the perspective of improving taxpayer convenience and promoting operational efficiency. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the ministries and agencies concerned for their understanding and cooperation in our efforts, and I would like to make one report.

From the perspective of further promoting tax returns utilizing regional collaboration, at the end of October last year, we asked the relevant ministries and agencies to make requests to local branch bureaus and departments, industry organizations under their jurisdiction, independent administrative agencies, and others. The contents are three. Mynaportal

The first point is about the online submission of employment income tax withholding certificates. The second point is that we would appreciate it if you could publicize the final tax return by e-Tax using the My Number Card from home. The third point is that we asked you to make use of our videos and other PR materials to publicize the promotion of digitalisation by business operators. As a result of our request, we were able to request 2,932 organizations to publicize it with your cooperation. I would like to thank you again.

The promotion of Mynaportal cooperation and the promotion of digitalisation by business operators are important items for accelerating digitalisation of tax procedures. We would like to make the same request this year, so we would like to ask all relevant ministries and agencies for their continued cooperation. For details, the person in charge will contact you around October, so please keep this in mind in advance.

That's all from me.

Deputy Director-General OKADA: Thank you very much.

Now, let's move on to the Q & A session. Regarding today's agenda, if you have any comments or questions, please press the button to raise your hand. I will be naming in order. Thank you.

Is there anything in particular? Is that all right?

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the secretariat by e-mail.

This concludes today's agenda. We hope that the Liaison Meeting will continue to share information that we would like to disseminate to local businesses and projects that we would like to work on, in cooperation with related ministries and agencies, as well as digital transformation initiatives in the fields under our jurisdiction. Digital Agency will also provide support as a companion and promote digital transformation of administrative procedures and businesses by further deepening cooperation and collaboration among related ministries and agencies.

The secretariat will contact you again at a later date regarding the next date.

Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us today.