The Ocean Policy Research Foundation (OPRF) has since been dedicated to doing research on maritime security including the piracy problem. Among others, since the number of reported incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia grew last year, OPRF reinforced its policy proposal to the government and dissemination of information to the public at large.

Please refer to this page for the "Policy Proposal Regarding Japan's Response to Emerging Piracy off the Coast of Somalia," drawn up by The Nippon Foundation and OPRF, that was presented to Prime Minister, concurrently Director-General of the Headquarters for Ocean Policy, Taro Aso. (Nov.18, 2008)

Amid a gathering momentum toward anti-piracy measures, this March the Japanese government proposed a bill on the Law on Punishment of and Measures against Acts of Piracy to the Diet. This law became effective in June and came into effect in July.

This law, which is based on the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a comprehensive domestic law dictating at the punishment of and measures against acts of piracy in international waters and adopts innovative measures. It is expected to provide a good precedent for anti-piracy measures of other countries in particular, for domestic law. For this reason, OPRF, from a perspective of supporting the dissemination of the content of this law to the international society, drafted "a provisional English translation of the Law on Punishment of and Measures against Acts of Piracy" and made it available to the general public.(95KB)

Please refer to https://www8.cao.go.jp/ocean/policies/kaizoku/kaizoku.html
for the original in Japanese.

The aforementioned English translation is provisional and only the law in Japanese is legally-binding. For that reason, on no event will OPRF be liable for any damages arising out of the use of this information

October 2009