To this end, the Agency installed additional client computers and expanded access to the Internet in fiscal 1998 and established its own Web site in July 1999. The Agency will continue to upgrade the information available at its Web site, as well as reinforce its information infrastructure to improve its services to citizens and facilitate more efficient and rational administrative procedures.
With the passing in May 1999 of the Law Concerning to Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs Japan, requiring government agencies in Japan to improve disclosure and establishing various procedures for providing information on government activities to citizens. This law is slated to go into effect two years from the day it was passed. Accordingly, the Marine Accidents Inquiry Agency is taking prompt steps to respond effectively to the stipulations of this new law.
The enactment of the Basic Law on the Administrative Reform of the Central Government in June 1998 determined that the Marine Accidents Inquiry Agency would became an external agency of the Ministry of National Land Transportation, a new ministry combining the current Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Construction, National Land Agency and the Hokkaido Development Agency. This was followed in July 1998 by the Law Regarding the Creation of Laws on the Administrative Organization of National Government Aimed at Reforming Central Government Ministries and Agencies which, other things, delineates the purpose of the Marine Accidents Inquiry Law and related administrative and is expected to be passed into law in January 2001 under a new central government structure comprising one representative body and 12 ministries and agencies.
The Marine Accidents Inquiry Agency pledges to do its utmost to realize the fundamental objective of reform efforts, namely streamlined and more efficient operations, and will continue to implement measures aimed at facilitating a smooth transition to the new system.
As we head into a new century, the Marine Accidents Inquiry Agency remains committed to responding to changes in the international and domestic treatment of marine accidents, while at the same time enhancing and strengthening its investigative system, thereby enabling the swift identification of causes and helping to prevent similar accidents in the future.
