WISSENSCHAFTSZENTRUM BERLIN FUR SOZIALFORSCHUNG FS II 89-302 THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMPENSATION SYSTEM FOR POLLUTION-RELATED HEALTH DAMAGES Il\h JAPAN: OVERVIEW AND PRELIMINARY EVALUATION

Japan is the only country in the world that has an extensive, specially regulated compensation system for diseases considered to have resulted from environmental pollution. For certain types of diseases, the system provides for financial compensation and other benefits prorated according to the severity of the case. Much of this compensation is paid by the firms responsible for pollution in the first place, while an automobile tax is collected to cover some of the costs in cases involving air pollution. Certain costs (for administration and rehabilitation progams, for example) are assumed in whole or in part by public funds. The compensation in its present form was created by the Pollution-Related Health Damage Compensation Law of 1973, which took effect in 1974. In March 1988, through an amendment of the law, the compensation system was fundamentally revised. The paper describes in detail the organisation and functioning of the system as well as its shortcomings as perceived by Japanese experts. Japan is the only country in the world that has an extensive, specially regulated compensation system for diseases considered to have resulted from environmental pollution. (1) For certain types of diseases, the system provides for financial compensation and other benefits prorated according to the severity of the case. Much of this compensation is paid by the firms responsible for pollution in the first place, while an automobile weight tax is collected to cover some of the costs in cases involving air pollution. Certain costs (for administration and rehabilitation programs, for example) are assumed in whole or in part by public funds. The compensation system in its present form was created by the Pollution-Related Health Damage Compensation Law of 1973, which took effect in 1974. Details are. regulated by an enforcement order of 1974, which was subsequently amended several times by cabinet order, for example, in November 1987 by the Cabinet Order for Partial Amendment of the Enforcement Order of the Pollution-Related Health Damage Compensation Law. In March 1988, an amendment to the law (Law No. 97) led to fundamental revision of the compensation system. Historic Development Even before enactment of the Pollution-Related Health Damage Compensation Law, there had been similar, though far less extensive, regulations for the support of pollution victims at the national and local levels. The beginning came in 1958, when the government of the prefecture of Kuma-moto established a relief system for the victims of Minamata disease. In 1965 …