Policy Actions on Market Access Issues as concerns Standards, Certifications and Others

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Policy Actions on Market Access Issues as Concerns Standards, Certifications and Others (March 20, 2002)

Respecting the "Recommendations on Market Access Issues as Concerns Standards, Certifications and Others" (The 7th Report of the Market Access Ombudsman Council, March 18, 2002) to the greatest extent possible, the following measures will be taken to further promote improved market access.

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1. Animals and Plants, Foods

1-(1) Transparency and rationalization of plant quarantine

The following measures will be taken regarding transparency and rationalization of plant quarantine.

A. In order to specify the reason for disinfection order, etc., the ministry concerned will specify the reason for disinfection order, etc. by 1] establishing a system to issue documents specifying the names, etc. of quarantine pests by promoting computerization and 2] creating a column to specify specific reasons for disinfection order, etc., such as names of quarantine pests, in the "Disinfection (Disposal) Order" form.

B. For the benefit of those who need to have a "Disinfection (Disposal) Order" issued, the ministry concerned will introduce a system to register importers who want to have a "Disinfection (Disposal) Order" issued each time and to automatically issue a "Disinfection (Disposal) Order" to such importers even without a separate request for its issuance.

C. With regard to the disinfection method, the ministry concerned will strive to develop new technology and establish a disinfection method that is less harmful to plants, etc. or that does not use or uses only a small amount of methyl bromide.

D. In order to lessen the burden on importers and for their benefits, the ministry concerned will study ways to notify the rough time to start inspection for each importer upon request from importers.

E. The ministry concerned will strive to fully inform those concerned that it is not necessary to involve the Japan Plant Quarantine Association in fumigation, so that importers wishing to have their imports fumigated without the involvement of the association can do so without any restrictions.

F. The ministry concerned will strive to make operations of plant quarantine inspectors more efficient and study ways to implement all-case, same-day inspection in response to a seasonal fluctuation of import volume by, for example, utilizing private engineers or part-time workers.

1-(2) Allowing food testing to be conducted by private sector organizations

The following measures will be taken regarding the designated inspection organization under the Food Sanitation Law.

A. The ministry will clarify the specific contents of necessary measures, including the amendment of laws, to designate private sector testing facilities as designated facilities under the Food Sanitation Law. The ministry will submit a bill to amend laws to the current session of the Diet as much as possible and to the next session of the Diet at the latest.

This will be dealt with appropriately based on the program for implementation of reform of administration entrusted-type public corporations, etc. to be adopted by the Cabinet in late March.

1-(3) Utilization of the newly introduced Registered Foreign Certification Organization system (Organic JAS)

The following measures will be taken regarding the utilization of the Registered Foreign Certification Organization system for organic agriculture products under the Law Concerning Standardization And Proper Labeling Of Agricultural And Forestry Products (JAS Law).

A. The ministry concerned, prompted by the complaint in question, has set the standard disposal period concerning registration of new Registered Foreign Certification Organizations as within three months. In actually implementing the decision, the ministry concerned will strive to make its paperwork efficient and to handle applications promptly.

B. The ministry concerned will study specific measures to make registration as Registered Foreign Certification Organization easy, such as allowing the use of English in the part of the documents necessary for registration application, from the standpoint of increasing the number of Registered Foreign Certification Organizations to facilitate the use of Registered Foreign Certification Organizations by importers.

C. The ministry concerned will study revising the JAS Law and take necessary measures to make it possible for importers to utilize as Registered Foreign Certification Organization an organization belonging to a country not designated as a country having a similar system as the JAS System. The ministry will also abolish the requirement of "countries having a similar system as the JAS System," a requirement that the ministry has adopted to ensure proper control and supervision of Registered Foreign Certification Organizations, and in doing so, encourage the use of an organization registered with organizations (such as the IOAS) whose reliability has been internationally established.

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2. Manufacturing

2-(1) Setting recycling fees based on the home appliance recycling law

The following measures will be taken regarding setting recycling fees based on the home appliance recycling law.

A. The ministry concerned will ensure the transparency of recycling costs by publicizing information on reasonable costs and see to it that recycling fees reflect the changes of recycling costs caused by the diversification of products and corporate efforts in the future.

B. The Fair Trade Commission will monitor closely so that competition in the final market and the recycling market will not be restricted by the home appliance makers' practice of jointly determine the specific amounts of recycling fees or by unreasonable restrictions imposed by the establishment of a new recycling system.

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3. Transportation and Traffic

3-(1) Review of the standard concerning domestic transport volume of poisonous and deleterious substance by tank container

The following measures will be taken regarding the standard concerning domestic transport volume of poisonous and deleterious substance by tank container.

A The ministry will promptly complete investigations with regard to standards for transportation of poisonous or deleterious substances by tank container, review the standards in order to conform them to international standards, and revise the Cabinet ordinance early in FY2002.

B In revising the Cabinet ordinance, the ministry will study making regulations that will maintain the conformity of domestic standards with international standards in accordance with changes in international standards.

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4. Import Procedures

4-(1) Review of the rate structure of Air-NACCS

The following measures will be taken regarding the rate structure of Air-NACCS.

With regard to thorough implementation of competitive bidding for system development and the outsourcing of some operations, the measures that should be promptly implemented starting in FY2002 will be made specific in order to make business operations more efficient and reasonable and further slash user fees.

B With regard to NACCS user fees, steps will be taken to establish a new way of revising the fee structure, including the prompt establishment of a neutral study group composed of well-informed persons that will review the fee structure from various aspects, including how to slash total costs and how to ask the users to pay costs. With regard to the Air-NACCS, the user fee structure will be revised by September 2004 at the latest, when the violent change-relaxation measures expire. In doing so, reasonable fee-setting methods will be studied by taking economies of scale into consideration.