【Article】Amendment of Port and Harbor Act – Focusing on Trends in Offshore Wind-power Generation Business

ナレッジパートナー：越元 瑞樹

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TMI Associates
Mizuki Koshimoto (Partner)
Yu Tomii (Associate)

1. Amendment of Port and Harbor Act

A law amending part of the Port and Harbor Act (the “Amendment” and such Port and Harbor Act as amended by the Amendment, the “Amended Port and Harbor Act” [*1] ) was passed by the 200th Diet on November 29, 2019. The Amendment mainly changes the following points:

(1) Introduction of a system for designation of base ports and harbors for offshore renewable energy power generation facilities (the “Base Ports and Harbors”) (Article 2-4 of the Amended Port and Harbor Act);
(2) Introduction of a system for leasing public property constituting a wharf which handles an offshore renewable energy power generation facility (an “Offshore Energy Handling Wharf”) (Article 55-2 of the Amended Port and Harbor Act);
(3) Extension of the validity of the certified period for the occupation plan proposed through the public bidding process in the port and harbor area (Article 37-3, Paragraph 4 of the Amended Port and Harbor Act); and
(4) Amendment of international strategic ports (Chapter 7, Section 3 of the Amended Port and Harbor Act).

In this article, we will discuss points (1) to (3) in relation to current trends in offshore wind-power generation projects.

[*1] 
English translation of Port and Harbor Act (Act No. 218 of May 31, 1950) is available to see at http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail/?vm=04&re=01&id=1976. Please note that the Amendment is not reflected to the English translation therein as of January 20, 2020.

Next page Background to amendment of the Port and Harbor Act