A deregulation panel is considering measures to help producers of animated films raise funds and ways to ease crowding on rush-hour commuter trains.

The Council for Regulatory Reform, planning to submit a set of proposals to the government next month, wants to promote fundraising for small-scale animation producers to help the industry expand in the world market, panel officials said.

The industry got a lift when "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away"), directed by veteran filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, won top prize at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year.

The panel aims to revise the trust law to enable animation producers to procure more funds from banks by entrusting the lenders with the copyright to their works, the officials said.

Regarding the rush-hour crush, the panel is discussing steps with the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry to encourage railways to cut fares at peak hours.

This would be possible under current laws, but railways are reluctant because the process is complicated, the officials said.

The panel, chaired by Orix Corp. Chairman Yoshihiko Miyauchi, is also continuing talks with government agencies to pave the way for joint stock companies to run hospitals, schools and agricultural enterprises, as it proposed in an interim report in July.

Other proposals include deregulatory steps to allow convenience stores and other retailers to sell drugs and medicines.

The panel will finalize its report by including ministry-approved recommendations as well as proposals that have met with bureaucratic opposition, Miyauchi said.

Based on the panel's recommendations, the government will embark on an annual update of its three-year deregulatory program adopted in March 2001. Its next update will be completed by the end of next March.