Research of actual situation of consumer mediation and proposals for the reform of consumer bankruptcy legislation

我们的研究意在弄清消费者调解的实际情况，以制定还款方案。我们调查了东京和大阪简易法院消费者调解的程序性文件。但由于两地法院保存文件的方式差异较大，本文主要以大阪数据为分析对象，补充东京数据，男性债务人年龄在30岁至50岁之间，而女性债务人年龄集中在二三十岁。这一数据说明了已婚夫妇普遍适用的必要性。调解成功后，程序在法庭上结束一到两天；当调解根据《民事调解法》第17条经法院裁定结束时，需要三天或三天以上。然而，我们预计，对于2001年4月以后难以谈判的案件，债务人将倾向于民事恢复程序。独立商人从第一次借款到申请调解的时间比办公室工作人员长；这一现象是由于借款的数量和商人必须不损害他们的信任造成的。我们必须考虑一些措施，使这些商人能够更早地申请民事康复。关于程序的终结方式，我们可以认识到债权人的不同。银行或信用卡公司倾向于接受调解，但消费贷款公司不接受，因此请求法院做出第17条的裁决。最后，通过还款计划，每个债权人每月向三、四十万日元支付近一万日元：调解计划的平均期限为三、四年。

Our research intends to make clear the actual situation of consumer mediation to work out a plan of repayment. We investigated procedural documents of consumer mediations in Tokyo and Osaka Summary Courts. However, the methods of conserving the documents are so different in these two courts that our analysis focuses on the Osaka data and that Tokyo data are supplementarily used.Male debtors of this procedure are from thirty years old to fifty years, but the age of female debtors concentrates on twenty or thirty years. This data show the necessity of common application for married couples. When the mediation successes, the procedure ends by one or two days in court ; when the mediation ends by the decision of the court based on Art.17 of Civil Mediation Act, it needs three or more days. However, we expect that the debtor will prefer the civil rehabilitation procedure for the cases that are hard to negotiate after April 2001. The period from the first borrowing to the application for mediation is longer for independent tradesmen than for office workers ; this phenomenon results from the amount of borrowing and from the necessity for tradesmen not to damage their trust. We must consider some measures to make these tradesmen to apply civil rehabilitation at a more early stage. Concerning the ways of conclusion of procedure, we can recognize the difference by creditors. Banks or credit card corporations are inclined to accept the mediation, but consumer loan firms does not accept it, so the court is requested to make decisions of Art.17. Finally, by the plan of repayment, nearly 10,000 yen is paid a month for 300,000 or 400,000 yens of every creditor : the average period of mediation plan continues three or four years.