General partners1(“GPs”) of partnership-type funds availing themselves of the exemption from registration under Article 63 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (the “FIEL”) will need to take action — a recent amendment to the FIEL requires a new form of notification for filings made on or after April 1, 2012 and existing filings must be re-filed in the new format by June 30, 2012.

By Mitsutoshi Uchida and Robyn Nadler

In February 2012, the Financial Services Agency of Japan (the “FSA”) published final rules and guidelines (the “New Rules”) implementing certain scheduled amendments to the FIEL. The amendments are to become effective on April 1, 2012.

The amendments are a response to recent incidents in which the FSA became aware that certain funds did not satisfy the requirements for eligibility for exemption from the registration under the FIEL available for “special business activities for qualified institutional investors (tekikaku-kikan-toshikato tokurei-gyomu)” (the “QII Special Business Activities”) under Article 63 of the FIEL.