A bill designed to deal with direct military attacks on Japan will make it clear that local governments must obey a governmental task force on war contingencies headed by the prime minister, according to a copy of the bill's outline.

The outline for Japan's first legislation aimed at providing a more sophisticated legal framework for governing the Self-Defense Forces in defending against foreign attacks says the task force to be set up in emergencies "can issue necessary orders to local governments."

The government plans to finalize the bill by mid-March and submit it to the Diet with another bill to amend the SDF Law by the end of next month.