The Diet passed a revised bill March 19 that will give corporate status to volunteer and other citizens' groups for the first time by recognizing them as official nonprofit organizations.

The new legislation is expected to take effect within the next 13 months, according to government officials. During a Lower House plenary session March 19, lawmakers backed a unanimous decision March 17 by the chamber's Cabinet Committee to approve the bill.

Sponsored by a group of legislators rather than the government, the bill was conceived when volunteer groups emerged as key players in relief efforts in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in January 1995.