Under the Ritsuryo system, in principal, the drafts of government official documents were approved by the emperor or Daijokan Conference (also referred as Giseikan [top bureaucrats] or Kugyo [court nobles] Conference), then the document was produced by Benkankyoku (the agency that directly belonged to Daijokan) and were delivered to central agencies and local government offices.
太政官符は、天皇の裁可もしくは国政の枢要を担う太政官会議（議政官会議、公卿会議とも）での決定を受けて、弁官局で文書が作成され諸司諸国へ発給されるのが律令上の原則だった。