PM Amends National Protection Guidelines and Designates Disaster Management Agency

The Prime Minister has partially amended the Basic Guidelines for the Protection of Citizens. This was done via a public notice based on the provisions of Article 32, Paragraph 4, as applied mutatis mutandis under Article 32, Paragraph 6 of the Act on Measures for the Protection of Citizens in Armed Attack Emergencies, etc. (Act No. 112 of 2004), and was published in the Official Gazette (Extra Edition, Government Reports/Government Matters) dated November 13, 2026. The amendment replaces the Cabinet Office, which had previously been listed in the guidelines as the entity responsible for responding to armed attack emergencies, etc., with the newly established Disaster Management Agency.

The Basic Guidelines are a document based on a Cabinet decision dated March 25, 2005, and are positioned as the framework through which the state presents the overall picture of citizen protection measures. This amendment constitutes a reorganization of the crisis management system, predicated on the launch of the Disaster Management Agency on November 2, 2026, based on the Disaster Management Agency Establishment Act (Act No. 61 of 2026). The public notice explicitly states, “These measures shall be implemented from November 2, 2026,” meaning they are applied retroactively to the date of enforcement.

Batch rewriting of relevant clauses from Chapter 1 to Chapter 4 of the Guidelines

The changes span multiple chapters of the guidelines. In Chapter 1, Section 4, “National Police Agency, Cabinet Office” was changed to “Disaster Management Agency, National Police Agency,” with the order of enumeration adjusted to place the Disaster Management Agency first. In Chapter 4, “Cabinet Office” was changed to “Disaster Management Agency” in Section 1, Paragraph 2 and Paragraph 5, as well as in Section 7, Paragraph 1.

In Chapter 4, Section 2, Paragraphs 2 and 3, the Disaster Management Agency was added to the relevant entities by inserting “Disaster Management Agency,” immediately following the starting point of the list, “State [”. In Section 7, Paragraph 2, “Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries” was changed to “Disaster Management Agency, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries,” and “Cabinet Office” within the same section was changed to “Disaster Management Agency.” A key feature is not only the replacement of agency names but also the integration of the Disaster Management Agency into the sequence of the state and relevant ministries.

Retroactive application to the launch date and practical points of contention

The effectiveness of the public notice was set not on the date of promulgation, but on November 2, 2026, the date of establishment and enforcement of the Disaster Management Agency. As it was published shortly after the launch, the practical aspects of plan formulation and training based on the guidelines are to be interpreted as being under a system predicated on the Disaster Management Agency as of the launch date.

• Amending Authority: Prime Minister (Public notice based on Article 32, Paragraph 4, as applied mutatis mutandis under Article 32, Paragraph 6 of the Act)
• Subject of Amendment: Basic Guidelines for the Protection of Citizens (Cabinet decision dated March 25, 2005)
• Direction of Replacement: From Cabinet Office to Disaster Management Agency; adjustment of sequence with the National Police Agency, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
• Effective Date: November 2, 2026
• Publication: Official Gazette dated November 13, 2026 (Extra Edition, Government Matters)

During the same period, a series of notifications were issued, including one revising the jurisdictional notation of the Basic Guidelines for the Comprehensive Promotion of Measures Against Active Volcanoes (Cabinet Office Notification No. 13 of 2016) to the Disaster Management Agency, and another replacing the Cabinet Office with the Disaster Management Agency in the classification of flood control organizations; thus, the transfer of jurisdiction is proceeding across individual sectors. The location of the Disaster Management Agency has been notified as 1-6-1 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, and the establishment of the Disaster Management Agency Order and the Disaster Management Agency Organizational Regulations was carried out in parallel.

Practical Impact Extending to Local Government Civil Protection Plans

The Basic Guidelines serve as the national framework upon which prefectures and municipalities base their civil protection plans; therefore, the change in the name of the responding entity will ripple through the descriptions of plans, guidelines, and communication systems on the local government side. The fact that the Disaster Management Agency is listed before the National Police Agency in the enumeration of entities in Chapter 1 will serve as a basis for reviewing the order of communication and the setting of coordination windows during the initial response stage.

The sections in Chapter 4 where the Disaster Management Agency was added as an entity following the “State” are parts that list the division of roles between the state, local governments, and relevant ministries, affecting the descriptions of coordination procedures for resident evacuation and rescue. Local governments will be forced to update their descriptions based on the premise of the Disaster Management Agency’s inauguration and to verify contact information with relevant organizations.

In practical terms, because the application is retroactive to the inauguration date of November 2, 2026, documents and training plans created or published on or after that date must also be read with the Disaster Management Agency as the primary entity. It is anticipated that the process of aligning the wording of the guidelines with field operations will continue for some time for both the state and local governments.

Source: Official Gazette, November 13, 2026 (Friday) Extra Edition, Government Reports/Government Matters “Partial Amendment to the Basic Guidelines for the Protection of Citizens” (Public Notice by the Prime Minister, based on Paragraph 4 of the same Article as applied mutatis mutandis under Article 32, Paragraph 6 of the Act on Measures for the Protection of Citizens in Armed Attack Situations, etc. (Act No. 112 of 2004)). https://www.kanpo.go.jp/20261113/20261113g00248/pdf/20261113g002480021.pdf