[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 15th meeting of the Council on National Strategic Special Zones at the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting, debate took place on matters that included certifying the special zone plan and the guidelines for the utilization of foreign domestic workers.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Today we swiftly certified a large number of projects that involve new kinds of regulatory reform, following the enactment of the revised Act on National Strategic Special Zones on September 1.

For example, within special zones, notaries will now be able to provide services at one-stop centers where people wishing to establish companies can carry out all the procedures at a single location. The qualification for regional children’s nurses will be established and the number of times testing is offered will be increased by reducing the burden for test administration, which will help to alleviate the shortage of children’s nurses. Healthy seniors registered at Silver Human Resource Centers were previously only able to work 20 hours per week, but now they will be able to work 40 hours per week. These are examples of regulatory reform that have been realized.

We will maintain this swift pace and expand the types of regulatory reform in special zones. Conventionally, pharmacists have been required to instruct patients on medication use face to face. However, in the case of remote medical exams we will permit pharmacists to give instructions via video calls and make it possible to prescribe medication quickly even in sparsely-populated areas without pharmacies. We will greatly shorten the clinical trial periods for ‘revolutionary medical devices’ created in Japan that have yet to be approved overseas. We will also work to realize the items incorporated into the Growth Strategy in June and aim to submit the necessary bills to the next Diet session.

Regulatory reform contributes to regional vitalization. I hope to complete the third round of designations of National Strategic Special Zones within this year.

I sincerely look forward to the emergence of local governments filled with passion for reform that are similar to Yabu City and Semboku City, which achieved designation after proposing inimitable, truly unique reforms.”