| TOP |
| 5th Report of Market Access Ombudsman Council (March 17, 1998) |
1. Complainant: U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Japan
2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of International Trade and Industry
3. Complaint:
Under the regulations of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the electricity-generating equipment used in reserve electricity-generating facilities for emergency use, certification of the engine model and class, electric generator model, control panel model and the like is required. Combinations of these individual components must be authorized as sets. For obtaining certification, a large volume of detailed documents, including design plans, performance, sales history, manufacturer's quality control and organization, etc., is required. Individual components and sets must be subjected to the inspection of Nippon Engine Generator Association, at considerable expense. Thus, internationally recognized standards should be accepted.
4. Corresponding Policy of the Ministries concerned:
(1) The technical standards for ensuring electricity-related safety based on the Electricity Enterprises Act were revised on March 27, 1997 to solely express the functions that must be satisfied to ensure safety; concrete stipulations on materials, structure and other items were avoided as much as possible. As far as maintaining safety levels goes, the utilization of fair, private standards from overseas, like those of ASME, has been recognized domestically from the outset.
It is thus in error to state that overseas standards are not recognized.
(2) In the Electricity Enterprises Act, technical standards have been established for ensuring safety, but no system has been adopted for authorizing the standards for electricity-generating facilities, etc.
It is thus not accurate to say that the regulations of this ministry necessitate the certification of engine models and classes, electric generator models and sizes, and control panel models.
(3) The certification system related to electricity-generating facilities that is implemented by the corporate Nippon Engine Generator Association is a private, autonomous authorization system and has no relation to the procedures based on the Electricity Enterprises Act, which is a public regulation pertaining to electricity-related safety in Japan.
We are attempting to eradicate these kinds of misunderstandings, and Nippon Engine Generator Association is creating pamphlets (completion of Japanese version: May 1997; completion of English version: June 1997) and is clarifying that this certification system is a private, autonomous one.