ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGMENT BETWEENTHE CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION OF JAPAN AND
THE GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF CUSTOMS AND EXCISEOF THE FRENCH REPUBLICON CO-OPERATION AND MUTUAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCEIN CUSTOMS MATTERS

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The Customs Administration of Japan and the Customs Administration of French Republic,(hereinafter referred to as "the Customs administrations"),
Considering that infringements of customs laws harm their economic, fiscal, social, culturaland commercial interests;
Considering that it is essential to ensure the proper enforcement of measures to control,
restrict or prohibit certain goods and the strict collection of customs duties and import andexport taxes;
Convinced that close cooperation between their Customs administrations will make action tocounter infringements of customs laws more effective;
Having regard to the international conventions containing prohibitions, restrictions andspecial measures of control in respect of specific goods;
Having regard to the Recommendation of the Customs Cooperation Council on Mutual
Administrative Assistance of December 5, 1953;
Having regard to the Agreement between the Government of Japan and the European
Community on co-operation and mutual administrative assistance in customs matters of30 January, 2008;
Have decided as follows:

Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Arrangement:(a) "customs laws" means the laws and regulations of Japan or the French Republic,
governing the import, export and transit of goods and placing of goods under any
other customs procedures, including measures of prohibitions, restrictions andcontrols falling under the competence of the Customs administrations;(b) "Customs administration" means, in Japan, the Ministry of Finance; in the FrenchRepublic, the Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects (General
Directorate of Customs and Excise);(c) “applicant administration” means a Customs administration which makes a request
for assistance, on the basis of this Arrangement;(d) “requested administration” means a Customs administration which receives arequest for assistance, on the basis of this Arrangement;(e) “personal data” means all information relating to an identified or identifiableindividual;(f) “customs offence” means any violation or attempted violation of the customs law;2

(g) “person” means any natural or legal person;(h) “information” means data, documents, reports, and other communications in any
format, including electronic copies thereof;(i) “customs territory” means for Japan, the territory and territorial waters of Japan,
and for the French Republic, the territory and territorial waters of continental
France, Corsica and the coastal neighboring islands, and overseas departments,
Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion in which the customs law is in force;

Scope of the Arrangement
2. The Customs administrations will assist each other to ensure proper application ofcustoms law, and to prevent, investigate and combat any customs offence, in accordancewith the provisions of this Arrangement. Assistance to recover duties, taxes or fines is notcovered by this Arrangement.
3. The Customs administrations will make cooperative efforts for simplification andharmonization of their customs procedures.
4. This Arrangement will be implemented in accordance with the laws and regulations inforce in each of their countries, and within the available resources of their respective
Customs administrations.
5. This Arrangement is without prejudice to the obligations of the French Republic under thelegislation of the European Union concerning its present and future obligations as a
Member State of the European Union and any legislation enacted to implement thoseobligations resulting from international agreements between the Member States of theEuropean Union.

Communication of Information
6. The Customs administrations will provide each other, either on request or on their own
initiative, with information necessary to ensure proper application of customs laws and toprevent, investigate and combat any customs offence.
7. Either Customs administration will, on its own initiative or upon request, provide theother Customs administration with information regarding the activities that may result incustoms offences within the customs territory of the country of the latter Customs
administration.
8. When either Customs administration considers that information is relevant to serious
customs offences that could involve substantial damage to the economy, public health,public security or any other vital interest of the country of the other Customs
administration, the former Customs administration will, if deemed necessary, provide thelatter Customs administration with such information without delay.

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Assistance on request
9. At the request of the applicant administration, the requested administration will provide itwith all relevant information which may enable it to ensure that customs law of theapplicant administration is correctly applied, including information regarding activities
detected or planned which are or could be customs offences.
In particular, upon request, the requested administration will furnish the applicantadministration with information regarding activities that may result in customs offence of
the applicant administration, for example, incorrect customs declarations and certificatesof origin, invoices, or other documents known to be, or suspected of being, incorrect orfalsified.
10. At the request of the applicant administration, the requested administration will inform it:(a) whether goods exported from the territory of the country of the applicant
administration have been properly imported into the other, specifying whereappropriate, the customs procedure applied to the goods; and(b) whether goods imported into the territory of the country of the applicant
administration have been properly exported from the other, specifying whereappropriate, the customs procedure applied to the goods.
11. At the request of the applicant administration, the requested administration will, within theframework of the laws and regulations of the requested administration, provide
information on and exercise special surveillance of:(a) persons in respect of whom there are reasonable grounds for believing that they
are or have been involved in customs offence in the customs territory of theapplicant administration;(b) places where stocks of goods have been or may be stored or assembled in such a
way that there are reasonable grounds for believing that these goods are intended
to be used in customs offence in the customs territory of the applicant
administration;(c) goods that are or may be transported in such a way that there are reasonablegrounds for believing that they are intended to be used in customs offence in thecustoms territory of the applicant administration; and(d) means of transport that are or may be used in such a way that there are reasonablegrounds for believing that they are intended to be used in customs offence in thecustoms territory of the applicant administration.

Spontaneous assistance
12. The Customs administrations will assist each other, at their own initiative and inaccordance with the laws and regulations of their respective countries, if they consider
that to be necessary for the correct application of customs law, in particular, in situations

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that could involve substantial damage to the economy, public health, public security, orsimilar vital interest of the country of the other Customs administration, particularly byproviding information obtained pertaining to:(a) activities which are or appear to be customs offence and which may be of interest
to the other Customs administration;(b) new means or methods employed in carrying out customs offence;(c) goods known to be subject to customs offence;(d) persons in respect of whom there are reasonable grounds for believing they are or
have been involved in customs offence; and(e) means of transport in respect of which there are reasonable grounds for believingthat they have been, are, or may be used in customs offence.

Form and substance of requests for assistance
13. Requests for assistance will be made in writing in English. They will be accompanied by
the documents necessary to enable compliance with the request. When required becauseof the urgency of the situation, an oral request may be accepted, but will be confirmed
immediately in writing.
14. Requests made in line with paragraph 13 will include the following information:(a) the applicant administration;(b) the action requested;(c) the object of and the reason for the request;(d) indications as exact and comprehensive as possible on the persons who are thetarget of the investigations;(e) a summary of the relevant facts and of the enquiries already carried out; and(f) legal elements involved.
15. Unless otherwise laid down in this Arrangement, the information provided in line withthis Arrangement will be directly communicated between officials designated by therespective Customs administrations.

16. If a request does not meet the formal requirement described above, its correction orcompletion may be requested; precautionary measures may be taken by the requested
administration in the meantime.

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Execution of requests
17. In order to comply with a request for assistance, the requested administration will, within
the limits of its competence and available resources, take all reasonable measures bysupplying information already possessed, by carrying out appropriate enquiries or byarranging for them to be carried out. The requested administration will communicate
results of enquiries to the applicant administration in writing together with relevant
documents or other items.
18. Duly authorised officials from the applicant administration may, with the consent of therequested administration and subject to the conditions laid down by the latter, be present
at enquiries carried out in the latter’s jurisdiction into specific cases.
19. In the event that the request cannot be complied with, the applicant administration will be
notified promptly of that fact with a statement of the reasons. The statement may beaccompanied by the relevant information that the requested administration considers may
be of assistance to the applicant administration.

Exceptions
20. Assistance may be refused or withheld, or may be made subject to the satisfaction ofcertain conditions or requirements, in cases where the requested administration is of theopinion that assistance under this Arrangement would infringe upon the sovereignty ofJapan or the French Republic, or upon its security, public policy, or other essential interest.
In particular, each Customs administration may limit the information it communicates tothe other Customs administration when the latter Customs administration is unable to givethe assurance requested by the Customs administration with respect to confidentiality orwith respect to the limitations of purposes for which the information will be used.
21. Assistance may be withheld by the requested administration on the ground that it willinterfere with an ongoing investigation, including investigation by the relevant law
enforcement agencies, prosecution or judicial and administrative proceedings. In such acase, the requested administration will consult with the applicant administration todetermine if assistance can be given subject to such terms or conditions as the requested
administration may require.
22. Where the applicant administration seeks assistance which it would itself be unable toprovide if so requested, it will draw attention to that fact in its request. It will then be forthe requested administration to decide how to respond to such a request.
23. For the cases referred to in paragraphs 20 and 21, the decision of the requested
administration and the reasons thereof will be communicated to the applicant
administration without undue delay.

Information exchange and confidentiality
24. Any information communicated in whatsoever form under this Arrangement will betreated as of a confidential nature, depending on the laws and regulations of their6

respective countries and will enjoy the protection extended to similar information under
the relevant laws and regulations of the country of the Customs administration thatreceived it, unless the Customs administration which provided the information gives aprior consent to the disclosure of such information.
25. Personal data may be exchanged only where the Customs administration which may
receive it undertakes to protect such data in at least an equivalent way to the one
applicable to that particular case in the Customs administration that may supply it. The
Customs administration that may supply the information will not stipulate any
requirements that are more onerous than those applicable to it in its own jurisdiction.
26. Information obtained will be used solely for the implementation of the objectives of thisArrangement, as defined in paragraph 2 thereof. Where one of the Customs
administrations wishes to use such information for other purposes, it will obtain the priorwritten consent of the Customs administration which provided the information. Such use
will then be subject to any restrictions laid down by that Customs administration.
27. Notwithstanding paragraph 26, unless otherwise notified by the Customs administration
providing the information, the Customs administration receiving the information may
provide the information received under this Arrangement to the relevant law enforcement
agencies of its country. These agencies may only use this information for the correct
application of customs law and will be subject to the conditions referred to in paragraph24, 25, 26, 29 and 30 of this Arrangement.
28. This Arrangement will not preclude the use or disclosure of information to the extent that
there is an obligation to do so under the laws and regulations of the Customs
administration that received it. Such Customs administration will, wherever possible, giveadvance notice of any such disclosure to the Customs administration which provided theinformation. The Customs administration which received the information will, unlessotherwise admitted by the Customs administration which provided the information,
wherever appropriate, use all available measures under the applicable laws and regulations
to maintain the confidentiality of information and to protect personal data as regards
applications by a third party or other authorities for disclosure of the information
concerned.

Criminal proceedings
29. Information provided by the Customs administration to the other Customs administration
will not be used by the other Customs administration in criminal proceedings carried out
by a court or a judge, unless otherwise referred to in paragraphs 30 and 31.
30. In the event that information provided by the Customs administration to the otherCustoms administration is needed for presentation to a court or a judge in criminal
proceedings, the other Customs administration will submit a request in writing for
approval for use of the information in criminal proceedings to the Customs administration
which provided the information. Such a request for approval will include:(a) the facts pertaining to the subject of, and the nature and the stage of, the criminal
proceedings;

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(b) the text or statement of the relevant laws, including applicable penalties, of thecountry of the other Customs administration; and(c) statement on whether the other Customs administration would be able to comply
with a similar request for approval in case such a request were made by theCustoms administration which provided the information.
31. The Customs administration that has submitted a request for approval in line withparagraph 30 may use the information in criminal proceedings carried out by a court or ajudge only where the Customs administration receiving such request has expressly
approved use of the information in criminal proceedings in writing.

Technical co-operation
32. The Customs administrations will cooperate, when necessary and appropriate, in the areasof research, development, and testing of new customs procedures, enforcement aids andtechniques, training activities of customs officers, and exchange of personnel between
them.

Assistance expenses
33. Expenses incurred in the implementation of this Arrangement will be borne by therespective Customs administrations.

Implementation of the Arrangement
34. All questions or disputes related to the interpretation or implementation of thisArrangement will be settled by mutual consultation between the Customs administrations.

Commencement and suspension
35. Assistance and cooperation under this Arrangement will commence on the date ofsignature.
36. This Arrangement may be modified by mutual consent of the Customs administrations.
37. Each Customs administration may suspend assistance and cooperation under thisArrangement by giving notice to the other Customs administration in writing. The
suspension will be initiated three months from the date of notification to the otherCustoms administration. Requests for assistance which have been received prior to thesuspension will be completed in line with the contents of this Arrangement.

8Signed in duplicate, on the 26th of June 2012, at Montreuil in the English and Frenchlanguages.

For the Customs Administration ofJapanFor the Customs Administration ofthe French Republic

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