In response to the Draft Outline of the Information Disclosure Law, released by the government's Administrative Reform Committee on December 16, 1996, the JCLU submitted an opinion letter to the Prime Minister, Director General of the Management and Cooperation Agency, and major political parties. The letter, while acknowledging positive aspects of the government's Draft Outline, made amendments and proposed to expedite the enactment of the Information Disclosure Law.

The opinion letter gave a positive evaluation on the following points: 1) every person is entitled to file a claim for disclosure, 2) all national administrative organs are included as enforcement organizations, 3) applicable documents are not limited to those authorized or prepared for display, but include those "held by the administrative organ concerned for systematic use by its employees," and documents whose implementation has not started. Some of these stipulations exceed the standard practices implemented by the municipal governments.

The features, therefore, most sought after by the JCLU in its proposed amendments are: 1) an explicit statement on the people's right to know government information, 2) inclusion of special public corporations as organs involved in enforcement, 3) absolute disclosure of information regarding the title and full names of public officials in public posts, 4) disclosure of individual information granted with personal agreement to disclosure, 5) no non-disclosure of information concerning a corporation merely because the information is requested to an administrative organ that promises not to make it public, or usually engages in the practice of not making such information public, 6) more specific grounds for non-disclosure when national security, diplomacy, and crime are concerned, and 7) more specific grounds for the refusal to reveal the existence or non-existence of the information requested.

The opinion letter, in Japanese, is available from the JCLU office for the cost of printing and postage.