Provisional Translation
| OTO No. | 576 | Classification | MITI-134 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Acceptance | July 28, 1998 | Ministry/Agency Receiving Complaint | Economic Planning Agency |
| Responsible Ministries | Ministry of International Trade and Industry | Related Laws | High Presure Gas Safety Law |
| Complainant | Foreign firm | Exporting Countries | USA |
| Subject | Simplification of inspection of foreign-made gas containers | ||
| Description of Complaint | (1) Since foreign-made gas containers (referred to hereafter as "containers") must undergo physical inspection under the High-pressure Gas Safety Law before they can be re-used for domestic transport. Some items of the inspection make it practically impossible to re-use containers. In other industrial countries, however, containers, even those which have passed inspection by third-country public inspection bodies, may be re-used domestically without being re-inspected by the relevant inspection body. Therefore, inspection results by foreign inspection bodies should be accepted for container inspections in Japan, in order to promote more efficient distribution by container. (2) The United States and the principal EU countries have standards for containers and certify the containers as meeting standards at the time of manufacture; this also applies to containers manufactured in other countries. Since each government gives classification society and other bodies the authority to carry out inspection on their behalf at the time of manufacture and regular inspections, Japan should also adopt a system for certifying that foreign-made containers and related equipment meet standards at the time of manufacture and change its system to give classification society and other bodies the authority to carry out various types of inspections. |
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| Details of Measures | The ministry replied as follows: (1) At present, in order to use the gas containers owned by the complainant filled with domestic high-pressure gas, the container inspection specified by Article 44 of the High-pressure Gas Safety Law or the permit for special refilling as called for under Article 48 of the same law, is necessary. This is because standards for high-pressure gas containers in Europe, the United States and Japan differ in standard temperature for pressure test and methods of calculating container strength. There are no uniform standards. In order to facilitate the use of imported containers, Japan does not conduct destructive testing and accepts test data based on American, German, British, French and Australian standards. The ministry believes that acceptance of foreign certification should be reciprocal and are taking part in meetings to create an international framework. (2) The High-pressure Gas Safety Law incorporates a system under which Japanese or foreign container manufacturers can conduct their own inspections of tanks and accessories. Third parties are also allowed to inspect tanks, and Japanese-made and imported tanks are inspected in Japan. This is because it is impossible to impose full legal authority to ensure that inspections are carried out appropriately unless domestic inspection bodies are used. For this reason, it is not possible to immediately recognize foreign classification societies as third-party inspection bodies and delegate authority to them for carrying out inspections. |
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| Classification of Processing | Cc | Directions | II-b |
| Remarks | |||