MORITA, Akira

Les procédés formels et informels de l'action administrative - Paris : IIAP, janv./mars 1995

Administrative action is nowadays submitted to the rule of law. Therefore all its processes have to lay on a legal foundation. Indeed there are legally defined processes in Japan which are largely regulated. However, the specificity of japanese admistration lies in the fact that, parallel to these legally defined processes, other less informal ones have been developped in order to ensure controlling and regulatory functions. These informal processes (mainly administrative directives) undermine the principle of the rule of law and form a problem from a point of view of citizens' right' protection. Nevertheless, these negative aspects should not hide the positive side of informal procedures: a better optimisation of control, which results from their fine tuning and their ability to be adapted to circumstances