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

我们的研究旨在明确消费者调解的实际情况，制定还款计划。我们调查了东京和大阪简易法院的消费者调解程序文件。然而，这两个法院保存文件的方法非常不同，因此我们的分析主要集中在大阪的数据上，并补充使用了东京的数据。该程序的男性债务人年龄在30岁至50岁之间，而女性债务人的年龄集中在20岁或30岁之间。这一数据显示了已婚夫妇共同申请的必要性。调解成功后，在法庭审理一至两天；依民事调整法第17条规定，经法院判决调解结束时，需三日以上。但是，对于2001年4月以后难以协商的案件，预计债务人将倾向于民事恢复程序。”个体工商户从首次借款到申请调解的期限长于上班族；这种现象源于借贷的数量和商人不损害他们信任的必要性。我们必须考虑一些措施，使这些商人在更早的阶段申请民事康复。在程序的成立方式上，我们可以从债权人的角度认识到不同之处。银行和信用卡公司倾向于接受调解，但消费贷款公司不接受，因此要求法院根据第17条作出判决。最后，通过还款计划，每个债权人30万或40万日元每月支付近1万日元：调解计划的平均期限持续三到四年。

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.