| TOP |
| 6th Report of Market Access Ombudsman Council (March 16, 2000) |
1. Complainant: Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry
2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of Health and Welfare
3. Complaint:
Each time chinaware and other tableware is imported, all new products must undergo testing in Japan each time, and this is expensive.
Measures should be taken to make it possible to use foreign test results.
4. Corresponding Policy of the Ministries concerned:
Regarding the use of foreign test data, the foreign official laboratories system was introduced from March 1982. Under this system, products are tested before export, at public testing facilities registered with the Ministry of Health and Welfare by the exporting country; the test results are shown when the products are imported, and if the results conform with the Food Sanitation Law, no testing of the products is required at the time of import. As of September 14, 1999, 2,513 facilities in 52 countries had been registered. Beginning from December 1994, apparatus, packaging wrapping and toys made from materials using the same coloring agents and manufactured by the same method are exempted from testing at the time of import for an unlimited period, by attaching a copy of the initial test results.
5. Remarks
The complainant accepted this policy.