Report of the OTO Advisory Council (April 12, 1993)

1-(1) Introduction of date marking system conforming to international standards and changing commercial practices relating to the date marking

1. Complainants: the U.S. Embassy, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ)

2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

3. Complaint:

In Japan, under the provisions of the Food Sanitation Law and the JAS Law, foods must bear basically the date of manufacture. The Food Sanitation Law also requires that some foods carry the date of minimum durability, the JAS Law requires that some indicate period of minimum durability. There are also cases where food processing industry associations voluntarily indicate date of minimum durability.

The EC follows a dating labelling system concordant with Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme (Codex). In the United States, there are no federal regulations concerning date marking, but some states require indication of date for some limitation.

The complainants complain that Japanese retailers and wholesalers institute unduly short sales and stocking periods on the basis of date of manufacture, because of Japanese consumers' preference for freshness, and that this places foreign foods at a disadvantage, compared to domestically-produced foods, because of the time for shipping and customs clearance. They believe that following are expected,

1) Introduction of a date marking system following international standards
2) Change of customs of date of minimum durability is the most available setting unduly short sales and delivery deadline.

The complainants further state that information on the optimum consumption period is what consumers really need, and that adopting a date marking system in accordance with international standards will help conserve resources by reducing returns and discards.

4. Results of deliberation:

(1) Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme (Codex), which is the international food standard already states that date marking on foods should be based on a "date of minimum durability," and the EC nations have introduced a system in accordance with this. From the viewpoint of Japan's position in the international community and current international trade in foods, our date marking system for foods should be harmonized with international standards.

The current system of indication of date of manufacture has been used for many years. It is useful for administrative measures i.e. tracing the cause of defective products and recalling such products, and has also been familiar with consumers as an important food selection criterion.

Nevertheless, the progress of food manufacturing and distribution, together with the diversification of foods, make it difficult for consumers to judge preservation on the basis of foods' appearance, and it is therefore more practical to label foods with date of minimum durability rather than date of manufacture.

It has also been pointed out that the unduly short sales deadline based on date of manufacture can contribute to waste, with more foods in good condition being returned, and to higher costs as a results of lowered efficiency in production and distribution. This situation would be improved if introduction of date of minimum durability would be introduced.

Accordingly, regarding date marking system, in principle, date of minimum durability should be basically indicated instead of date of manufacture.

Taking into consideration the characteristics (durability) of various foods, and the fact that indication of date of manufacture is thoroughly entrenched, after hearing from consumers and industry officials concerned thorough study is needed to reach a decision on what measures should be taken.

(2) Regarding retailers and wholesalers' commercial practices relating to stocking and sales periods, introducing labelling to show date of minimum durability is likely to encourage consumers to select products appropriately. This will alleviate the need for setting delivery and sales deadline shorter than necessary and make it easier for foreign foods to compete with domestically produced foods.

The merchants concerned will be required to take steps to change their commercial practices, in accordance with the Guidelines for Improving Trade Practices (June 1990).

Cases where setting of sales deadline leads to unjustified returns contrary to the Anti-Monopoly Law must be dealt with rigorously by the Fair Trade Commission.

Government decision (May 27, 1993)

Regarding the date-marking system, we will facilitate studies and get an early conclusion so that foodstuffs indicate the best before date instead of the manufacturing date.