| TOP |
| 5th Report of Market Access Ombudsman Council (March 17, 1998) |
1. Complainant: Japan Foreign Trade Council and Tokyo Chamber of Commerce
2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of International Trade and Industry
3. Complaint:
(1) It should be possible to have the high-pressure gas import report accepted not only by the prefectural governor of the designated landing place but also by the prefectural governor of the place where the importer is located.
[Tokyo Chamber of Commerce]
(2) In the March 1997 review of the program to promote deregulation, the high-pressure gas import report was abolished, but the report is still required when making a request for inspection to the prefectural governor. Thus, the abolition of the import report should be made common knowledge to each prefecture.
[Japan Foreign Trade Council]
(3) The inspections that the prefectures are to conduct should be entrusted to private companies and the like and the work involved expedited.
[Japan Foreign Trade Council and Tokyo Chamber of Commerce]
4. Corresponding Policy of the Ministries concerned:
(1) High-pressure gas import procedures
Although the high-pressure gas import report was abolished in March of 1997 and no longer must be made, based on what Japan Foreign Trade Council has pointed out, we plan to again make this common knowledge to the relevant prefectural authorities and the like.
(2) Inspection at time high-pressure gas is imported
Because the procedure for importing high-pressure gas is generally conducted in bonded areas, in view of the examples of the import inspections of other ordinances and the severity of damage from accidents involving high-pressure gas, the inspecting body is limited to administrative offices under the High Pressure Gas Safety Law.
(3) In addition, to expedite the import procedure, since April of 1997, measures to improve operations have been considered, such as handling copies of the application for the inspection of imported high-pressure gas that have been stamped by the inspection personnel, etc., as certificates of having passed the inspection and making clearance possible on the day of inspection, rather than after the certain number of days that has been required. Moreover, categories (type of gas, etc.) to determine safety will be established and measures to drastically reduce the time and labour involved in import inspections by further simplifying the current inspection system considered so that related conclusions may be drawn within fiscal year 1998.
Additionally, we wish to direct the prefectural inspecting bodies to make sure that the delays in inspection referred to do not occur.
5. Remarks
The complainant's opinion follows.
"(3)I understand that this is the policy as it now stands."