OTO No.617

OTO No.	617	Classification	MOF-111
Date of Acceptance	October 31, 2000	Respective Office Receiving Complaint	Cabinet Office (Economic Planning Agency)
Responsible Ministries	Ministry of Finance	Related Laws	Customs Law
Complainant	Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Proxy complaint)	Exporting Countries	China
Subject	Introduction of X-ray machines for container inspection
Description of Complaint	Under Article 67 of the Customs Law, those who are to import cargoes must notify customshouse chiefs of names, quantities and prices of cargoes (quantities and prices as standards for taxation on imported cargoes) and other matters as needed, have the cargoes undergo due inspection and obtain import permits. As for container cargoes subject to inspection, customs clearance service providers transport containers to inspection sites as designated by customehouses. If the entire container is subject to inspection, cargoes must be taken out from containers for inspection. If customs clearance service providers are not licensed to transport cargoes within ports or harbors, they must commission licensed stevedores to transport the containers, take out cargoes, and open and repack them. Importers must shoulder costs for such services. Inspection including takeout of cargoes from containers can take much time, forcing importers to receive cargoes behind schedule. Containers of imported cargoes from China have been subjected to such complete inspection. Cargo consignees incur business losses because they must shoulder massive costs for transporting containers to inspection sites, take out cargoes from containers and bring them back into containers. Furthermore, inspection usually takes several days, affecting delivery to cargo consignees. Large X-ray inspection machines will reportedly be introduced at Yokohama Port in FY 2000. Such machines should be promptly introduced at other ports as well.
Details of Measures	The ministry replied as follows: (1) Importers of cargoes are required under Article 67 (export or import permit) of the Customs Law to have cargoes undergo inspection before receiving import permits. Inspection under the article is designed for trade order-maintaining purposes including the prevention of illegal imports of socially-detrimental goods like narcotic drugs and handguns. Such treatment is done in foreign countries (including the EU, the United States and South Korea) as well. In such cases, importers are required to bring their imported cargoes to inspection sites at their own cost. (2) The problems of illegal drugs like stimulants and narcotics, and guns have become very serious. Especially, "the third stimulant drug abuse age" has reportedly arrived, with container cargoes used for smuggling massive quantities of stimulant drugs. In order to stop smuggling of socially-detrimental goods at the water' s edge, customshouses have expanded and improved control machines to enhance the water's edge controls. (3) In inspection, customshouses, while trying to expose socially-detrimental goods, have continued to give considerations to requests for prompt customs clearance and to avoidance of obstacles to distribution. In such efforts, they are introducing large X-ray inspection machines for inspecting containers on trailers to shorten inspection time to improve overall inspection efficiency. The large X-ray inspection machines will be introduced at Yokohama Port within FY 2000. In addition, a supplementary budget for FY 2000 has funded buildings for similar X-ray inspection machines for the Kobe and Osaka customshouses.
Status of Processing	Processed (December 13, 2000)	Classification of Action	Ca
Remarks	A written reply was made on December 5, 2000.