Provisional Translation
| OTO No. | 661 | Classification | METI-(3) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of Acceptance | May 21, 2003 | Ministry/Agency Receiving Complaint | Cabinet Office | ||||||||||||
| Responsible Ministries | Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry | Related Laws | Industrial Standards Law | ||||||||||||
| Complainant | United States Embassy in Japan | Exporting Countries | USA | ||||||||||||
| Subject | Review of the "qualitative standards and testing methods for wood preservatives" (JIS K 1571) | ||||||||||||||
| Description of Complaint | 1. On OTO No. 640, the complainant received a reply from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: "The Ministry plans to make considerations for reviewing Japanese Industrial Standards related to wood preservatives including the standard in question in the next fiscal year, because the ISO has reached an agreement on environmental classifications (hazard classes) and a deadline for a review of the JIS K1571 will come in 2003. During the process, the Ministry plans to look into the handling of the K1571 annex, which states: 'an operation for weatherproofness for wood preservatives that have a small possibility of handling water but have the possibility of being put into an environment that has abruptly become highly humid.'" Based on the reply indicating that the review in 2003 would lead to a major change in the concept of the operation for weatherproofness for wood preservatives, the complainant closed the OTO No. 640 case. 2. In the process toward the JIS revision (scheduled for October 2003), the Japan Wood Preserving Association has submitted a draft of the "JIS K1571 testing methods and qualitative standards for wood preservatives" to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The JIS K1571 draft for the JIS revision in its annex (for reference) on another weatherproof operation still says, "Injection preservatives for wood must have strong durability because they are used to maintain their performance even in an environment in which wood is constantly exposed to water." This indicates no shift from "the past view that water-soluble preservatives are not suitable for Japan." 3. As argued repeatedly in the OTO No. 640 complaint and in a reply from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the ISO TC165/SC1 (Technical Committee 165/Subcomittee 1) panel on wood preservation and durability met in Nara in May 2001 to deal with the direction of hazard classes and approved the international hazard class draft with positive support from Japan and other countries. The approval means that Japan has agreed to a basic concept of hazard classes that "wood preservatives are used to sufficiently preserve treated wood in certain environments." According to the concept, borate and other non-adhesive injection preservatives for wood can be effectively used for repelling insects, corrosion and ants only in environments where wood is not exposed to ground or water (wood is protected by the roof or waterproof paints). Surface treatment preservatives that have already been certified for repelling insects, corrosion and ants infiltrate into only the surface part and are highly toxic. Their residues can cause environmental problems. Therefore, they are usually designed to decompose easily. This means that their effects are sustained only for several years. Furthermore, there are no specific quality and performance provisions for wood treated with these surface treatment preservatives. However, injection preservatives are injected under positive pressure into wood or plants, allowing wood to be preserved for decades depending on the right usage. Furthermore, JAS (Japanese Agriculture Standards) and other relevant standards provide for absorption, infiltration and other key quality features of these preservatives. In industrialized countries including European nations, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, borate has been used for more than 50 years for repelling insects, corrosion and ants in environments where wood is not exposed to ground or water, obtaining a high reputation. A large number of studies have been published to demonstrate borate's excellent performance in safety and effectiveness in environments where wood is not exposed to ground or water. 4. The recently published draft is only one proposal by the Japan Wood Preserving Association. When the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee examines and deliberates on the JIS revision from a comprehensive perspective, and when the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry adopts the JIS revision recommendation as given by the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee, they will apparently reflect requests from all effective stakeholders appropriately. It may be needless to say that the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry should not stick to the draft of the Japan Wood Preserving Association but base deliberations or decisions on various aspects and a comprehensive perspective. Specifically, the complainant wants the following changes to be made in the coming JIS revision to accurately reflect the TC165/SC1 agreement: (1) 4.2.1 "laboratory tests of injection preservatives" and 4.3.1 "laboratory tests of injection anti-ant preservatives" should include the following sentence on operation for weatherproofness performance of wood preservatives used in environments where wood is not exposed to ground or water: "Each sample is left at rest at a temperature of 60±2degrees Celsius in a circulating drier for seven days to emit the volatile matter content." (2) 4.2.2 "fungus cellar tests," 4.2.3 open-air tests of preservative performance," and 4.3.2 "open-air tests of anti-ant performance" should include the following sentence: "The tests allow samples to be exposed to the ground and shall not be conducted for wood preservatives that are used in environments where wood is not exposed to ground or water." If the JIS revision fails to meet the requests of the complainant, scientific reasons (in the form of a report, etc.) should be published for viewing borate as insufficient in preserving wood even in environments where wood is not exposed to ground or water. 5. The process of the JIS revision including deliberations at the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee should be made transparent. Especially on "the comment reception public announcement on draft industrial standards" on the homepage of the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee to allow foreign stakeholders and the like to submit comments within 60 days after the committee start deliberations on drafts, the Ministry should specify how such comments are reflected in the deliberations or why such comments fail to be reflected in the deliberations. In order to allow all effective stakeholders' views to be reflected in the deliberations at the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee, opportunities should be given for stakeholders to present opinions. According to the homepage of the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee, "Japan has made efforts to ensure transparency in the developing process. These efforts include: (1) enabling foreigners and foreign affiliated firms to participate in JIS drafting committees, (2) providing them an opportunity to propose JIS drafts and attend the competent JISC committees, (3) and welcoming them as registered members in technical committees." The complainant asks the Ministry to specify whether any measures have been taken to allow the rules to effectively work in developing drafts for the coming JIS revision. |
||||||||||||||
| Details of Measures | [Present Situation] JIS K1571 revision drafts are being developed at the Japan Wood Preserving Association, etc. and will reportedly be submitted to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in or after October 2003. [Ensuring Transparency of JIS Draft Development Process] Based on Annex 3 (Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards) to the WTO/TBT Agreement (World Trade Organization/Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade) that took effect in January 1997, Japan has disclosed information on the adoption and revision of JIS standards and given opportunities for stakeholders to submit comments during the adoption/revision process, as follows, in order to ensure the transparency of the JIS adoption/revision process: 1. Provision of Information on JIS Draft Preparation and Participation in JIS Draft Preparation As draft-developing organizations launch the preparation of new or revised JIS drafts, the names of JIS standards and draft-preparing organizations are made available on the homepage of the Japanese Industrial Standards Committee. Information on the preparation of JIS K1571 revision drafts has been available in Japanese and English at the following URLs of the homepage since June 14, 2002.:
Any party that is willing to make comments on the JIS standard drafts being prepared by the Japan Wood Preserving Association may submit 1) the name of the JIS draft subject to comments, 2) a document that describes the comment presenter's effective stakes in the JIS draft and 3) a written summary of comments to the office in charge of the matter at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The comments as submitted in this way may be sent by the METI office to the secretariat of the draft-preparing committee in charge of the JIS draft and subjected to deliberations at the committee.
(Actions taken by the ministry after the reply) An opportunity for the complainant (United States Embassy in Japan) to state its opinion was arranged at the draft-preparing committee on August 21, 2003. Consequently, the committee decided to accept the complainant's request, and revised "Alternate methods for anti-septic performance tests (laboratory tests) and anti-ant performance tests (laboratory tests)," which had conventionally been an annex (for reference) (which does not form part of provisions), as an annex (provisions)(which forms part of provisions), and made it public through the Official Gazette on May 20, 2004. |
||||||||||||||
| Classification of Processing | Processed (June 8, 2004) | Directions | I-a | ||||||||||||
| Remarks | A written reply was made on June 18, 2003. | ||||||||||||||