II. Procedure for Obtaining Permission to Install Cable TV Facilities

Permission from the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications is required for the installation of cable TV facilities. Such permission is not necessary, however, for the installation of facilities having 500 or less drop terminals. (For facilities with 500 or less drop terminals, a notification of installation of wire telecommunications facilities shall be submitted in accordance with Article 3 of the WT Law.)
The following documents must be submitted when applying for permission to install facilities:

(1) Application form

1. Items concerning the applicant
   Name (in the case of a juridical person or an association, the name thereof and the name of the representative), address, nationality, officers, investors who do not have Japanese nationality, etc.
2. Reason for the necessity of installing facilities
3. Installation plan
   Installation objective, installation areas, etc., locations of major facility installations.
4. Frequency to be used
   The frequency to be used, purpose of use, number of frequencies that can be used simultaneously, and a frequency allocation diagram.
5. Outline of facilities
   Scale of facilities, receiving antenna system, head-ends, self-originated broadcasting equipment, relay amplifiers, directional couplers, distribution amplifiers, tap-offs, branching filters, power supply equipment, protective devices, other equipment, lines, poles, system diagram, line voltage and power of communication lines.
6. Construction cost and installation cost
7. An estimate of business revenues and expenditures
8. Financial plan
9. Matters concerning the installation and maintenance of the facilities
10. Outline of the wire telecommunications equipment to be connected to the facilities
11. Relation of the facilities to structures or roads, etc.
    Distance from electric wires, relation to roads, exclusive use of roads, joint use of utility poles, etc.

(2) Attached documents

Maps, diagrams and reference materials related to the items described in the application form shall be attached to the application form as constituent parts.

[ Permission Standards ]

1. The plan for installing the cable television broadcasting facilities shall be reasonable, and also its implementation shall be feasible.
2. The cable television broadcasting facilities shall conform to the technical conditions stipulated in the applicable ordinance of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
3. The applicant shall possess the financial basis and technical capabilities sufficient for reliable installation and operation of the cable television broadcasting facilities.
4. In addition, installation of the cable television broadcasting facilities shall be necessary and suitable in the light of the natural, social and cultural circumstances of the area in question.

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, in accordance with Article 4 paragraph (2) of the CTB Law, shall ask the opinion of the prefectures concerned when he intends to make an administrative disposition on whether or not to grant permission.
With regard to the examination conditions concerning permission for cable TV facilities, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications established and publicly announced "Examination Standards Regarding the Cable Television Broadcast Law" in September 1994, based on the provisions of Article 5 of the Administrative Procedures Law (See page ??).

[ Standard Processing Period ]

The standard processing period refers to the standard length of time ordinarily required to process an application from its arrival at a government office until the administrative disposition of the application is determined (Article 6 of the Administrative Procedures Law). The standard processing period of applications for permission to install cable TV facilities is two months.

[ Disqualification for Permission ]

As mentioned in part 4 of section I (See page 9.), permission may not be granted to persons who fall under any of the following items (Article 5 of the CTB Law):

1. Any person who does not have Japanese nationality.
2. Any foreign government or its representative.
3. Any foreign juridical person or association.
4. Any juridical person or association having a person mentioned in the three preceding items as an officer who executes the business, or one-fifth or more of whose voting rights is controlled by such persons.

Since December 1993, the examination standards have become less restrictive. Permission may be granted to those applicants having less than one-third of their voting rights controlled by such persons.
Moreover, with regard to cases where non-Japanese nationals are officers who execute the business, such persons may assume their posts if they do not have the right of representation and if their total number is less than one-third of all officers (including auditors).
It is scheduled that the persons engaged in Type I telecommunications business shall be given a permission without application of the examination standards described above.
(Implementation will be from the day when the Fourth Protocol to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is effective in Japan.)
The related provisions regarding these points are stipulated in the "Examination Standards Regarding the Cable Television Broadcast Law" (See page 30).

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