Second Liaison Conference of Related Ministries and Agencies Related to the digitalization of Business

Overview

Date and Time: Monday, December 18, 2023 from 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
Location: Online
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Proceedings
  1. Status of responses to digitalization, such as public procedures
  2. Tools, etc. that can be used for digitalization of business processes of business operators
    - Peppol e-invoice, ZEDI, jGrants
  3. Efforts to promote digitalization, etc. by business operators in area
    - Examples of Initiatives by Local Branch Offices, Local local government, etc.
  4. Other
3. Adjournment

Materials

Minutes, etc.

Members present

Chairman

Tomoya Hasui (Deputy Director General of Strategy & Organization Group, Digital Agency)

Members

Royo NAKAJIMA (Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (Assistant to the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary))
Hiroki Nakamura (Deputy Director-General of the Conference on the Realization of the Digital Garden City Nation Vision Secretariat)
Hiroshi Yoshida Hei (Deputy Director General of the Secretariat of the Cabinet Secretariat Digital Administration and Finance Reform Council)
Seiichi Ito (Deputy Director-General for cybersecurity and Information Technology)
Shigeyuki Tani (Director General of the National Police Agency)
*Representative: Ayumi Shiono (Deputy Director of the Planning Division, Director-General's Secretariat, National Police Agency)
Yu Ozaki (Deputy Director General, Supervisory Bureau, Financial Services Agency
Reiko Kondo (Director of the Planning Division, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)
Koichi Nakamura (Deputy Director General for cybersecurity and Computerization of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Justice
Takao Imabuku (Counsellor for cybersecurity and Information Technology, MOFA)
*Representative: Mitsue Morita (Director of the Information and Communications Division, Minister's Secretariat
Toshio Uematsu (Ministry of Finance, Deputy Director General of the National Tax Agency)
Hironori Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (Director-General for Policy Coordination of Minister's Secretariat Toyooka)
*Attendance by proxy: Satoshi Kokubo (Director of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office, General Affairs Division, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT))
Kazuhiro Mita (cybersecurity Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Deputy Director-General for Information)
Hideto Sugaya (Deputy Director-General for cybersecurity and Information Technology, Ministry of
Tomohiro Ushiyama, Deputy Director-General of the Information and Communications Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (in charge of IT strategies)
Tetsuya Matsuura (Executive Director of the Management Support Department of the Small and
Hirohide Okamoto (Deputy Director General for cybersecurity and Information, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and
Yoichi KAMIYA (Deputy Director-General for cybersecurity and Information Technology, Secretariat of the Ministry of
Motoyuki NAKANISHI (Deputy Minister for cybersecurity and Information Technology, Ministry of Defense)
UEGUCHI Hiroshi (Director of the Bank of Japan Business Bureau)

Minutes

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, Now that it is time, we will hold the second "Liaison Conference of Relevant Ministries and Agencies on digitalization, etc. of Business Operators."

I am Hasui from Digital Agency, and I will be in charge of the conference. Nice to meet you.

As for today's meeting, all the members are participating online. Thank you for taking the time to attend.

Please look at Handout 1 first.

From this time, it has been newly decided that Mr. Hiroshi Conference on the Realization of the Digital Garden City Nation Vision, Deputy Director-General of the Cabinet Secretariat, will participate in this Liaison and Consultation Meeting as a member. Therefore, the Agreement among Relevant Ministries and Agencies has been partially revised. We would appreciate your understanding, but do you have any particular opinions?

Thank you very much for your continued support.

We will enter into proceedings.

Today's agenda consists of the first item, "Response status regarding digitalization, such as public procedures," the second item, "Tools that can be used for digitalization of business processes of business operators," the third item, "Efforts to promote digitalization of business operators in area," and the fourth item, "Others."

First of all, regarding the first item on the agenda, "Status of Responses to digitalization, Including Public Procedures," first of all, I would like to ask Mr. Yoshida, Planning Officer of Digital Agency, and Mr. Toki, Product Manager, for explanations.

Mr. Yoshida, Planning Officer: This is Mr. Yoshida .

As I explained a little last time, I would like to talk about how we will proceed with the survey on the development of administrative procedure systems for business operators today.

Digital Agency is currently working on organizing common functions, procedure processing systems, and usage experiences in order to develop a system for administrative procedures for business operators. To understand the current situation, I would like to understand the status of administrative procedures of each ministry and agency. I believe that we can organize how to use the common functions developed in Digital Agency so that each ministry and agency can promote digitalization of the administrative procedure system.

On page 3, I would like to explain what we are planning to do in the survey I explained last time. In year R3, when the former IT Office was in office, there was a survey on how much procedures were online for inventory of administrative procedures. Based on the results of this, we would like to confirm how much progress has been made in the digitalization of administrative procedures and subsidy applications.

It is on page 4. To be specific, I would like to confirm the "main questions", but I would like to sequentially confirm the types of administrative procedures, identity verification, for example, whether you can use gBizID, and whether there are procedures to handle money such as fees for settlement. Similarly, with regard to subsidies, subsidies are provided every year as a budget project, and I would like to ask how the existing system is being developed.

As I explained last time, we would like to make it as easy as possible to conduct the survey using online survey tools.

Please see page 5. Regarding the specific timing of the survey, we would like to explain the detailed flow of the survey at the PMO working-level meeting, which will be held mainly in Digital Agency in the third week of January. After that, we will start the survey as I mentioned around the third week. If possible, I would like to summarize the survey at the end of March, which is a busy period at the end of the fiscal year.

So, what kind of survey tool it will be, I showed you a little last time, but I would like to show you how it is being updated from Toki. Thank you.

Toki Product Manager: This is Toki from PdM.

We are still sorting it out, but we have made some modifications to the one I showed you last time. On the top screen, we would like to connect directly with PMOs and users, so we have set up a support contact point. Regarding administrative procedures, we have heard that it is difficult to input information on the web. For example, we are considering a mechanism in which records can be easily duplicated in Excel, or "implemented" can be easily copied and updated by copy / paste.

In addition, we are making it possible to input subsidies with the same UI, and we are organizing the detailed contents so that they are easy to understand.

In addition, we are making improvements so that at least the PMOs of each ministries and agencies can see the dashboards of the implementing ministries and agencies. In fact, we will provide guidance to the PMOs in January, and we would like to revise and proceed with this while collecting opinions.

That's all.

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, .

Next, Mr. Uematsu, Deputy Director-General of the National Tax Agency, please explain.

National Tax Agency (Deputy Director General Uematsu): I'm Uematsu National Tax Agency. Thank you very much.

There were four cases related to the digitalization of public procedures that the National Tax Administration Agency explained last time, and I would like to explain the status of responses to them.

On page 2 of the slide, first of all, regarding the "Promotion of Mynaportal Cooperation on Employment Income Information" and the call for the computerization of year-end adjustment procedures among the second "Expansion of Business Operators Supporting Mynaportal Cooperation," as written in red, we issued a request for cooperation to each ministries and agencies on December 7. Thank you very much to all the ministries and agencies that have already responded. In addition, we would like to ask for your continued cooperation. In particular, in relation to Mynaportal Cooperation on Employment Income Information, the deadline for submission of tax withholding slips is the end of January next year, so we would be very grateful if you could respond in a timely manner.

In relation to the third matter, "Promotion of Automated Attachment of Tax Payment Information in Applications," on December 14, we issued a request to each ministries and agencies and the like to consider the advisability and timing of the modification of the application system that requires tax payment information by the relevant ministries and agencies listed on the first arrow feather. We would appreciate it if you could consider and respond.

The remaining part is mainly related to local local government and financial institutions and organizations, but we are currently considering responses with related ministries and agencies. We may consult with some of them again, but we would like to ask for your continued cooperation.

That's all from me.

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, .

We would appreciate any comments or questions you may have about the above explanation. What do you think?

By the way, you are very much interested in Mynaportal's cooperation on employment income information, which Deputy Minister Uematsu explained, and we are disseminating it, so we would like to ask for your continued cooperation.

Now, let's move on to the next agenda, "Tools, etc. that can be used for digitalization of business processes of business operators."

First of all, Mr. Katoh, Planning Officer of Digital Agency, please explain.

Mr. Katoh, Planning Officer: My name is Katoh. I am in charge of Peppol e-invoice in Digital Agency, . Nice to meet you.

Page 1. First of all, I would like to tell you what Peppol and Peppol e-invoice are. Then, in that context, I would like to briefly summarize what it means to spread and establish them.

It is a common misunderstanding. Some people, including the media, say that Peppol "has not been recognized at all," "has not been understood," and "Peppol e-invoice is not recognized." In the first place, Peppol itself is not a service or a product. It is only the "materials" of the service or product that the user uses in front of him / her. Therefore, the user does not need to know the "materials" in the first place. It is only Peppol that is the "materials" for the service in front of him / her as long as it is easy for him / her to use. I would like all the related ministries and agencies who are attending today to understand this.

What is meant by the spread and establishment of Peppol? I believe that the spread of Peppol means that the number of business operators and service providers who can exchange data on the Peppol network will increase. In addition, I believe that the establishment of Peppole-invoice means that users will actually use systems and software that can handle Peppole-invoice and will enjoy the benefits of it.

It is often misunderstood when I talk about this, but it is written in the picture on the right. About three years ago, there was a story that even in Europe, users had to understand the difficult thing called Peppol, but recently, SME is clearly like this.
"Wedon' tneedatechnology. Weneedaservice." In the end, we have changed our stance to just give us service without understanding technology or difficult things. In that sense, I think we have created a foundation for it to take root.

Another thing is "itdoes' thavetobecheap. itmustbeFAIR!" in this picture. It is a European way of thinking. In Japan, the price of such a service is always low, but it has various functions. In the first place, it does not mean that you pay only for exchanging e-invoices. For example, if you consider the automatic processing of the data exchanged and the utilization of the results of the automatic processing, it does not necessarily have to be cheap. This is the current movement in the world. However, listening to the stories of Japanese vendors, it seems that there is still a way of thinking that it should be cheap.

Not only on the vendor side, but various efforts are underway in various parts of Japan to spread and establish it. The first is the Gifu Model, which has already been reported in the media. It is an initiative led by Gifu Prefecture. It is made up of 100 small and medium-sized companies in the prefecture, and is led by Peppol Certified Service Providers. I have heard that it will start full-scale operation around the summer of 2024, and they are preparing for it.

Another is B2G transactions in a local local government, in other words, Peppole-invoice support for public procurement claims in a local local government. One of the service providers and business operators is aiming to support Peppole-invoice in B2G in government-ordinance-designated cities, and there is actually a project that will kick off next month and start in earnest. By the way, the government has already completed GEPS and other responses in October 2023, so it is now possible to receive Peppole-invoices. From now on, it will be necessary to take initiatives on how to proceed with B2G in a local local government.

In the end, as I mentioned earlier, it will be important for users themselves to feel the benefits and use Peppole-invoice in their own communities, rather than being led by the government, such as service providers and local governments. In that sense, we need to create more and more initiatives centered on users. In such initiatives, I believe that regional banks and others will play an important role, and I would like to support them well. In fact, next month, local business operators in Y City, a fairly large ordinance-designated city, will start an initiative together with local financial institutions and regional banks, and I believe that such a movement will take place across Japan in the first half of next year, and in this flow, Peppole-invoice will spread and take root. I would like to support them well. local government

That's all for my explanation.

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, , Planning Officer.

I would like to ask if you have any questions or opinions about the explanation so far. What do you think?

Next, Mr. Ozaki, Deputy Director-General of the Financial Services Agency, please explain.

FSA (Deputy Director General Ozaki): I am Ozaki of the Financial Services Agency.

I would like to briefly explain about the Zengin EDI System (ZEDI).

On page 1, as you can see at the top of the materials, in December 2018, the banking community built the Zengin EDI System (ZEDI), which serves as a data connections platform between companies, in order to realize XML conversion of inter-company remittance messages. By realizing XML conversion, the length of remittance messages and the relationship and meaning of the data on the messages can be freely design and changed. The current ordinary Zengin system has only a fixed length of messages, but XML conversion is advantageous in that they can be freely design. The advantages of the introduction of ZEDI are as follows. When transferring money (efficiency) from a paying company to a receiving company, by attaching and cooperating with billing information such as invoice number and invoice issue date, the correspondence between payment and billing becomes clear, and it contributes to the improvements in productivity and settlement of payment and accounting services such as the automation of deposit application services.

To explain in more detail, there is a description of "Issue in account receivable application work" at the lower left of the document. At present, companies require a lot of time, effort and cost for account receivable application work. The company receiving the order is the company receiving the money, and if the amount of money received is the sum of multiple transactions, if the details of the accounts receivable do not match, it is necessary to find the cause of the difference by checking the copy of each bill in detail. Therefore, as shown in the chart below, more than half of SMEs spend more than five hours a month on account receivable application work.

On the other hand, as you can see in the figure on the right, if you use this ZEDI, you can attach information to the transfer. In other words, you can attach the number of the previous bill, the issue date of the bill, and so on, so you can see which bill the payment corresponds to, which greatly increases the efficiency of the deposit application work. For example, even if one month's sales are transferred in bulk, the details can be seen at a glance.

Going to page 2, ZEDI was introduced for that purpose, but unfortunately it has not been widely used until now. One of the reasons for this is that the specifications for using ZEDI have not been standardized. As you have heard from Digital Agency, the standard specifications of Peppol e-invoice have been disclosed. In response to this, Zengin-Net has formulated DI-ZEDI, a standard for financial EDI information dedicated to Peppol e-invoice.

As a result, it will be possible to use financial EDI in a standardized format that corresponds to Peppol e-invoice. As shown in the figure on page 2, XML messages will be automatically generated using Peppol e-invoice as input data as shown in red on the left. As shown on the right, it will be possible to automate the application of deposits and withdrawals by linking invoice data and deposit and withdrawal details. Through the disclosure of standard specifications for Peppol e-invoice and the formulation of DI-ZEDI specialized for Peppol e-invoice, we expect that the use of the Zengin EDI System (ZEDI) will expand in the future, and the FSA will provide support for that purpose.

That's all from me.

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, .

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions about the current explanation.

According to the explanation by Mr. Katoh, Director of Planning of Digital Agency, and Mr. Ozaki, Deputy Director-General of the Financial Services Agency, substantial digitalization and efficiency will be achieved through a series of improvements in productivity from transactions to final payment and application in a coordinated manner. I would like to publicize and expand these matters, so I would like to ask for your continued support.

Next, Mr. Yoichi Yoshida, Planning Officer of Digital Agency, please explain.

Mr. Yoshida, Planning Officer: This is Mr. Yoshida .

I will explain about jGrants.

It is page 2. jGrants is a general-purpose subsidy application system, and I believe that in many cases, subsidy projects are outsourced to business operators to perform system development and other operations at the same time as the budget is approved. We are working to make it easy for users to use the system by making it simple to digitize subsidy applications by using the jGrants subsidy application system. Based on the procedures specified by the Subsidy Optimization Act, all processes, including subsidy performance reports and payments, are digitized. For business operators, we have a system in which they log in using gBizID, and the national and local subsidy offices here create forms and other forms to actually apply for subsidies, and they apply through them, and then proceed with the subsequent processes.

Currently, we only have the capacity to process about 600,000 applications per year, but we are planning a major renovation from next fiscal year onwards, and when this is completed, we will be able to process nearly 10 million subsidy applications per year. In the Administrative Project Review, the Minister Kono said that it is necessary to digitize subsidy applications for business operators based on the reflection of sustainable benefit, and that it is necessary to collect data obtained from subsidy applications so that they can be used with proper effect and validation. Therefore, we, Digital Agency, would like to promote the digitization of subsidy applications using jGrants as much as possible.

Page 3. When business operators log in to jGrants, we use this authentication service called gBizID. It is a system in which corporations and sole proprietorships can log in to various administrative procedures with one account. It is also used not only for jGrants but for various procedures, and more than one million people have already taken this account. As a system for such procedures, we are already cooperating with the 172 system.

It is on page 4. In terms of what can actually be done in jGrants, first of all, the Subsidy Bureau, if each ministry and agency has a subsidy, it will be in the form of setting up the subsidy, for example, creating a subsidy application form here. On the far right, if such a subsidy form can be properly made online, applications will be received from business operators through the form. The function of the Bureau is to accept and examine the applications. For example, when an external auditor examines, it is also possible to log in to the same system and conduct the examination.

Page 5 is a more specific image, but from the perspective of business operators, it is possible to log in with the business operator's own account, check the status of your subsidy application, and search for the subsidy you want to apply for from the list of subsidies. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, it is possible to fill out the subsidy application form created by each subsidy office and apply for it at both the public offering and Issue stages. In addition, it is possible to check the status of the examination at each subsidy office on My Page, which is the function of jGrants from the perspective of business operators.

It is page 6. On the other hand, from the perspective of the Subsidy Office, first of all, the office related to the subsidy, the account will be issued to the external auditor, the subsidy application form will be issued, and the workflow for the subsidy application will be done. There are various procedures for the subsidy, such as the subsidy that combines the public offering and the Issue, so we can respond to them. In addition, once the office is opened, subsidy applications will come from each person, and the contents of the subsidy applications can be managed in a list. If it is managed on paper, I think it will be manual management of how far the examination has been made, but it will be possible to manage the system in a list, including the status, and the examination can be conducted after that.

It is page 7. As for the usage record, currently, the total amount of subsidies is 786. In the country, it is 537, and in local government, it is 249, and the total amount of applications is 430,000, but in terms of the number of applicants, it has been 160,000. The number of ministries and agencies actually used is 14 ministries and agencies, and in local government, it is at the prefectural level, and there are many ordinance-designated cities, but in 40 local government, it has been used.

It is page 8. I have just mentioned that we will proceed with the renovation next fiscal year, but some people say that the current jGrants user interface is a little difficult to use. Based on this, for the renovation next fiscal year, the application interface and search interface for business operators will be arranged as shown on the right in an easy-to-understand manner.

Page 9. In addition, the Secretariat is also considering improving the user interface while making use of design system in Digital Agency.

As I mentioned earlier, jGrants is also conducting a survey on the digitization of subsidy applications in the future, but if there are subsidies from ministries and agencies that have not yet made progress in the digitization of subsidy applications, we would like you to consider using these subsidies in Digital Agency.

That's all.

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, .

If you have any questions or comments about the current explanation, please let me know.

In addition to the investigation of administrative procedures described in the first explanation, I believe that we will conduct an investigation into the procedures for this subsidy. We would like to ask for your cooperation in this regard. I believe that the investigation will be conducted no earlier than January, but I would like to ask for your cooperation.

Moving on to the third item on the agenda, I would like to ask Mr. Uematsu, Deputy Director-General of the National Tax Agency, for an explanation of the "Efforts to Promote digitalization, etc. by Businesses in area."

National Tax Agency (Deputy Director General Uematsu): I'm Uematsu . Please continue.

I would like to report on the cooperation and collaboration between the Regional Taxation Bureau and the Tax Office and various organizations.

I would like to start from page 2 of Handout 7. On the right side, I have listed seven examples of our efforts. Although they are just examples, I would like to briefly introduce each of them.

As you can see on page 3, the first is the promotion of digitalization and cashless payment for economic transactions and tax procedures in digitalization, which is being worked on by the Okinawa Regional Taxation Office. The constituent organizations are the Conference of Economic Organizations of Okinawa Prefecture, which includes chambers of commerce and industry, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, chambers of commerce and industry, organizations of small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural cooperatives, fisheries cooperatives, etc., and the Regional Taxation Office, which are planning to cooperate in disseminating information on Okinawa and jointly holding training sessions.

On page 4, we are promoting the use of e-Tax, which is operated by the Fukuoka Regional Taxation Bureau and the Sasebo Tax Office, expanding the use of cashless payment, and early registration of invoice system by online application. In this regard, related private sector organizations such as tax accountants, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Sasebo Tax Office are posting banners in shopping districts and conducting street public relations activities related to invoice registration.

Next, I would like to ask about three matters related to cashless payment. On page 5, in order to promote cashless payment in Kumamoto Prefecture, the Kumamoto Regional Taxation Bureau holds a declaration ceremony. In addition to related local organizations such as the Certified Public Tax Accountants' Association, the private sector local government, the Kumamoto branch of the Bank of Japan, the Japanese Bankers Association, local financial institutions, the Regional Taxation Bureau, and the Tax Office in Kumamoto Prefecture. This declaration ceremony was covered by a total of 11 companies, four television stations and five newspapers, and was publicized in various ways, which contributes to creating awareness in that sense.

Next, on page 6, with regard to the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau's Declaration on the Promotion of Cashless Tax Payment, in addition to related private sector organizations such as Certified Public Tax Accountants' Associations and Tax Payment Savings Associations, local branches of the Bank of Japan, city banks, Japan Post Banks, local financial institutions, and the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau are holding experience sessions on direct tax payment in cooperation with financial institutions, and group discussions are also being held at the proposal of the Osaka local government of the Bank of Japan.

Next, on page 7, the Fukuoka Regional Taxation Bureau and five tax offices in Saga Prefecture are promoting cashless payment. In addition to related private sector organizations such as tax accountant associations, chambers of commerce and industry, societies of commerce and industry, and small and medium-sized enterprise organizations, local local government, local financial institutions, and the tax office in Saga Prefecture have explained the procedures for cashless payment to the employees of related private sector organizations and financial institutions.

Finally, on page 8, in cooperation with the Sapporo Regional Taxation Bureau, the digitalization Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, we have held three joint seminars in an online format. In total, 421 individuals and corporate businesses participated in the three seminars. The Regional Taxation Bureau explained the systems and accounting of Hokkaido, the Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry explained IT introduction subsidies, and the Hokkaido Prefectural Government explained Hokkaido's own support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises.

As you can see, as an example, although various efforts are being made, such efforts are still limited, and Issue is concerned about how they will be developed nationwide. In addition, as I introduced, public relations and momentum building are the main focus at present, and what can be done more in-depth for business operators. To that end, we recognize that it is necessary to cooperate well with local branch offices of relevant ministries and agencies, local government, and relevant private sector organizations. I would appreciate if you could consider this within the framework of the Conference of Relevant Ministries and Agencies, and I believe that it would be good to introduce the efforts of other local branch offices, such as the Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry, and promote cooperation with them.

In addition, as an immediate response, the National Tax Administration Agency will share the efforts of the Conference of Relevant Ministries and Agencies at the National Commissioner's Meeting and other meetings. We hope to have horizontal cooperation in local areas, so I would like to ask the ministries and agencies you are attending to share the efforts with local branch offices at meetings and other meetings to ensure better cooperation.

Finally, on page 9. Although it is not directly related to the efforts of the local branch bureaus, I would like to introduce the Ruling Party's tax system Revision Outline for FY 2024 as a recent move. It was compiled on December 14. As "Improving convenience by digitalization and cashless tax procedures," as underlined, it states that based on the progress of digitalization by business operators due to the spread of cloud accounting software in recent years, we will consider digitalization from transaction to accounting and tax over the medium to long term from the perspective of reducing the administrative burden on taxpayers and realizing proper and fair taxation and collection by making the maximum use of digital technology. We will also continue to consider how tax system should be in response to digitalization and cashless payments and how to diversify payment methods. I believe it is necessary to advance efforts in conjunction with such institutional considerations, so we would like to ask for continued cooperation at the Conference of Relevant Ministries and Agencies.

That's all from me.

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, .

I would like to ask if you have any questions or opinions about the current explanation. What do you think?

As Mr. Uematsu mentioned, some ministries and agencies have local branch offices, so I would like to introduce that they are making such efforts, and if necessary, we would like to work hard. I would like to take some opportunities to do so, so I would like to ask for your cooperation.

Now, let's move on to the final agenda item, "Others."

I have received a request to speak from Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Thank you very much. Mr. Mita, Deputy Director General of Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, nice to meet you.

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (Deputy Director General Mita): Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will give an oral introduction on the consideration of DX for employment-related subsidies.

Currently, there are 14 types and 52 courses of subsidies for business operators that are funded by employment insurance premiums from business operators, even excluding the special provisions for the novel coronavirus, and about 400,000 payment decisions are made annually. Since April this year, we have sequentially started online application through a dedicated portal for employment insurance-related subsidies using gBizID. However, the attached documents required of business operators when applying, such as wage ledger and attendance books, are prepared and managed differently depending on the company. At present, most of these documents are attached in paper or PDF, and employees are checking them in visual inspection.

Therefore, from the perspective of improving the convenience of applicants, efficiency of administrative operation such as examination services, and realization of speedy benefits, we would like to proceed with consideration to break through this current situation. In addition, we believe that it is necessary to conduct inventory of existing services and advance digitalization in a form that includes business improvement.

In addition, it is expected that the convenience of the people will be further improved by promoting digitalization that pursues overall optimization rather than partial optimization. Therefore, we would like to promote cooperation and collaboration as appropriate while obtaining the knowledge of the relevant ministries and agencies.

In the future, we plan to establish a study team within the Ministry to discuss the simplification of application items and attached documents, as well as the digitalization of wage ledger and other documents. We would like to share the progress of the study at this Liaison Conference. Thank you.

Mr. Hasui: Thank you very much for your explanation, .
With regard to the matter you just explained, of course, we would like to cooperate where we can, such as sharing various knowledge, so we would like to ask for your cooperation.

That's all for today's agenda. Today, the National Tax Administration Agency introduced efforts to promote the digitalization of business operators by the Regional Taxation Bureau and the Tax Office in cooperation with economic organizations in area, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare introduced efforts to introduce DX for employment-related subsidies. If there are such efforts by local branch offices or DX efforts in the fields under their jurisdiction, we would like to have them introduced at the next meeting or later, and we would like to promote and deepen cooperation and collaboration among related ministries and agencies in various ways. Thank you very much.
That concludes the proceedings scheduled for today. At the end of the meeting, I would like to ask if you would like to make any comments. What do you think?

That's all for today's agenda.

Finally, regarding the schedule of the next meeting, the Secretariat will contact you later.

With that, I would like to conclude the Liaison Conference of Relevant Ministries and Agencies related to digitalization, etc. of business operators. Thank you very much for taking the time to attend today.