Article 1 (Purpose)

The purpose of these regulations is to stipulate the necessary matters concerning the handling of public research funds at the Environment and Energy Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the "Corporation"), to prevent improper use, ensure proper management, and contribute to the proper and smooth operation of the Corporation.

Article 2 (Definition)

In these regulations, the meanings of the terms set out in the following items shall be as set out in the respective items.

1. Public research funds refer to all expenses handled by corporations funded by open research funds, primarily competitive funds allocated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, national research and development agencies under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, independent administrative agencies, or other administrative agencies, research funds funded by operating grants from local governments, and donations, subsidies, and commissioned fees from external organizations.
2. This refers to all those involved in the management and administration of public research funds, such as researchers, researchers and other personnel at corporations, administrative staff, etc.

Article 3 (Responsibilities of researchers, etc.)

1. Researchers must bear in mind that academic research is a public and public-interest intellectual production activity entrusted to them by society, and they must be accountable for the management and administration of public research funds.
2. Researchers, etc., shall abide by these regulations when managing and administering public research funds, and shall strive to administer them fairly and efficiently in accordance with the provisions of each public research fund and the accounting regulations established by the corporation.

Article 4 (Chief Administrative Officer)

1. The corporation shall appoint a Chief Administrator as the person ultimately responsible for the management and operation of public research funds. The Chief Administrator shall be the representative director.
2. The Chief Management Officer shall formulate a basic policy for preventing improper use (hereinafter referred to as the "Basic Policy") and disseminate it to everyone, and shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the General Management Officer stipulated in the following article and the Compliance Promotion Officer stipulated in Article 6 can properly manage and operate public research funds.

Article 5 (General Manager)

1. The project manager will serve as the general manager.
2. The Chief Management Officer will assist the Chief Management Officer and oversee the cross-organizational system for preventing misuse of public research funds. Based on the basic policy, the Chief Management Officer will formulate and implement specific measures and report the status to the Chief Management Officer.

Article 6 (Compliance Promotion Officer)

1. The General Affairs Department Manager will serve as the Compliance Promotion Officer.
2. The Compliance Promotion Officer shall, under the instructions of the General Manager, perform the following duties:

1. (1)Implement measures in the departments, etc. that you manage, supervise or guide, check the status of implementation, and report this to the general manager.
2. (2)In order to prevent misconduct, compliance education must be provided to all researchers involved in the management and administration of public research funds within the department, and attendance must be managed and supervised.
3. (3)To monitor whether researchers in the departments and divisions that they manage, supervise, or guide are using public research funds appropriately and to provide guidance for improvement as necessary.

Article 7 (Disclosure of job title)

The titles of the positions in Articles 4 to 6 shall be made public.

Article 8 (Clarification of authority and rules)

1. The Chief Administrator must clarify the authority and responsibilities of researchers and others regarding the administrative processing of public research funds, and reach a consensus and ensure a shared understanding within the corporation.
2. The management and administration of public research funds must be carried out in accordance with the corporation's accounting rules, related regulations, and the separately established regulations for preventing misconduct in research activities.
3. Regarding administrative procedures, responsibility will be clearly defined and approval procedures will be carried out in accordance with each employee's authority.

Article 9 (Improving awareness of related parties)

1. The Chief Administrator must provide compliance training to all researchers and others involved in the management and administration of public research funds.
2. When implementing the education described in the preceding paragraph, the trainees' status and level of understanding must be monitored.
3. Researchers and other individuals involved in the management and administration of public research funds (including those applying for public research funds) must comply with the contents of the various regulations set out in the previous article, and shall endeavor to deepen their understanding of compliance by taking proactive compliance training courses, etc.
4. Researchers must submit a written pledge to the Chief Administrator, which must include the following items:

1. (1)Comply with regulations regarding the prevention of misuse of public research funds.
2. (2)Not to commit misconduct in research activities.
3. (3)If any misconduct is committed in violation of regulations, etc., the corporation or the public research funding agency will be required to take disciplinary action and bear legal responsibility.

Article 10 (Proper management and operation of public research funds)

1. All researchers involved in the management and administration of public research funds must endeavor to use research funds appropriately.
2. In the case of public research funds for which a research activity implementation plan has been formulated, the Compliance Promotion Officer must verify the progress of the research. If the execution of the research funds is significantly behind schedule compared to the implementation plan, the Compliance Promotion Officer must check the situation with the researchers in question and, if deemed necessary, must take measures to advance the research.

Article 11 (Ordering and acceptance inspection of goods, etc.)

1. The person with approval authority or a person designated by the person with approval authority will order and inspect any items necessary for research based on requests from researchers, and will hand over the items to the researchers. Approval regulations will be determined separately.
2. However, researchers will be permitted to place orders for the purchase and repair of goods with a total transaction value of less than 200,000 yen per transaction with one vendor.
3. Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, if a researcher himself/herself orders and receives items through advance payment within the scope of his/her authority, the Chief Administrator or General Administrator shall check and inspect the items.

Article 12 (Confirmation of business trip)

Any business trip using public research funds must obtain prior approval from the person issuing the business trip order, and after the trip, a report and documents certifying the fact of the trip must be submitted.

Article 13 (Response to business partners)

1. The Chief Management Officer will require traders who have conducted transactions three or more times in the previous fiscal year with a transaction amount of 1 million yen or more, and new traders with a transaction amount of 500,000 yen or more, to submit a pledge.
2. However, public institutions and foreign institutions are exempt from the requirement to submit a letter of commitment.
3. If the Chief Management Officer finds that a business operator has engaged in improper transactions regarding the execution of public research funds, he/she shall take measures such as suspending transactions with the business operator.
4. The Chief Management Officer shall ensure that the corporation's policies and rules regarding the handling of public research funds are widely known, as a measure to prevent collusion with its business partners regarding the execution of public research funds.

Article 14 (Reporting desk and investigation)

1. A hotline will be set up to respond to reports from both inside and outside the corporation regarding the misuse of public research funds.
2. The General Affairs Department shall be the point of contact for the matters referred to in the preceding paragraph.
3. When a report is received, the contact person must promptly report it to the Chief Administrator.
4. When the Chief Administrator receives a report as described in the preceding paragraph, he/she shall determine within 30 days of receipt of the report whether an investigation is necessary, and if so, shall set up an investigative committee including a third party not affiliated with the Institute to investigate and report the results to the public research funding agency. The third party investigative committee members shall have no direct vested interest in the Institute, the accuser, or the accused.
5. The Chief Management Officer may, when he/she deems it necessary, order the suspension of the use of public research funds by the Reported Person, etc.

Article 15 (Certification)

The investigation committee will determine whether or not there was any fraud, the details of the fraud, the persons involved and their level of involvement, the amount of the fraudulent use, etc.

Article 16 (Reporting to funding agencies and cooperation in investigations, etc.)

1. When conducting an investigation, the institution must report to and consult with the allocating institution regarding the investigation policy, subjects, and methods.
2. Within 210 days of receiving the allegation, etc., a final report will be submitted to the allocating organization, including the results of the investigation, the cause of the misconduct, the status of the management and audit systems for other competitive funds etc. in which the person involved in the misconduct is involved, and a plan to prevent recurrence. Even if the investigation is not completed by the deadline, an interim report on the investigation will be submitted to the allocating organization.
3. Even during the investigation process, if any facts of fraud are confirmed, even in part, we will promptly acknowledge them and report them to the allocating organization. Even during the investigation process, if any facts of fraud are confirmed, even in part, we will promptly acknowledge them and report them to the allocating organization.
4. At the request of the allocating organization, even before the completion of the investigation, a progress report and an interim report of the investigation will be submitted to the allocating organization.
5. Unless there is a valid reason, such as it would impede the investigation, we will comply with requests to submit or inspect materials related to the case and to conduct on-site investigations.

Article 17 (Publication of investigation results)

When the Chief Administrator discovers any misappropriation of public research funds, he/she shall promptly make public the results of his/her investigation regarding the names and affiliations of those involved in the misappropriation, the details of the misappropriation, and other details, and shall file charges if the misappropriation is deemed to be highly malicious.

Article 18 (Disposition)

1. Researchers who misuse public research funds will be punished in accordance with the work regulations applicable to them.
2. When taking the disciplinary action set forth in the preceding paragraph, disciplinary action shall also be taken against the person responsible for managing the person subject to said disciplinary action.

Supplementary Provisions

This regulation shall come into effect on April 1, 2016.