Home > Services > Asia Approvals > Japan

PRODUCT SAFETY

As of April 1, 2001, most electrical appliances for home and business in Japan are subject to the “Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law” (DENAN Law), which was formerly called the “Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law” ( DENTORI Law ).

The DENAN Law is the relevant product safety law for electrical appliances in Japan. Electrical appliances in Japan are divided into two categories:

• Non-Specified Electrical Appliances and Materials (340 items listed), where the manufacturer is solely responsible for safe manufacture in accordance with Japanese DENAN safety requirements, and therefore can affix the PSE-mark (circle shape).
• Specified Electrical Appliances and Materials (112 items listed), which are subject to mandatory third-party testing by an Authorized/Approved Conformity Assessment Body “ACAB”. After the issuance of a certificate of compliance (CoC), the PSE-mark can be affixed to the product.

The required testing must cover safety tests in accordance with J-(IEC) standards or the traditional Japanese safety requirements of Appendix 6 to 8 of the METI Ordinance. The rated input shall cover AC 100V, 50Hz & 60Hz.

For approval, the following documents must be provided:

1. Safety testing:

• CB certificate + CB report (with Japanese deviations)
• Circuit diagram, lay-out diagrams for safety critical PCBs
• Specifications for separate (mains) transformer and winding components
• BOM/Components list
• Japanese user’s manual or installation manual
• Rating label with PSE-mark and Reporting Supplier
• Constructional Data Form
• Photo documentation showing interior and exterior of the product

2. EMI testing:

EMI test report (at 100V) shall be provided together with the accreditation of the EMC site.

3. Factory Inspection Documentation :

The required documentation for factory inspection is as listed below:

For MITI/METI-registered factories

• Factory registration certificate
• Factory testing facilities list (inventory number, manufacturer’s name, type, performance, latest calibration date)
• Calibration procedure

For Non-Registered factories

• Calibration procedure
• Responsible person of facilities calibration (ISO 17025 qualification)
• Current equipment list (inventory number, manufacturer’s name, type, performance)
• Copy of calibration master file
• Calibration record of all testing facilities
• Certificates/reports of calibration traceable to national standards

A Certificate of Conformity (CoC) allowing the affixing of the PSE mark for Specified Electrical Appliances and Materials can be obtained by:

• Japanese manufacturers
• Japanese importers
• foreign manufacturers with an appointed Japanese importer

The VCCI has established the "Regulations for Voluntary Control Measures", applying to information technology equipment shipped to Japan. It should be noted that, as the name implies, these requirements are not mandatory regulations. However, consumers in Japan would like to see products with VCCI Mark.

Products must comply with CISPR 22. Equipment intended for the domestic environment must comply with the Class B requirements, while other equipment should satisfy the Class A requirements.

A test report must be obtained from a test facility which is registered with the VCCI. Manufacturers must become members of VCCI . As a member, a manufacturer must then submit a 'Conformance Report' to the VCCI before they ship ITE products to Japan.

Class A ITE products should be labeled with the following statement:




Class B ITE products should bear the following VCCI logo:

RADIO AND TELECOM APPROVALS

Wired terminals such as telephone, modem, facsimile, ISDN terminals and wireless terminals such as mobile telephone, radio-paging terminals are defined as telecommunication terminal equipment. If such a terminal is connected to a Type 1 telecommunications carrier's network like NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), the terminal must comply with technical conditions. The conditions are based on the Telecommunications Business Law and established to eliminate the disturbance of other users and interference with the public network, and to facilitate telecommunication utilization in the market. No terminals are allowed to be put on the market unless these requirements are fulfilled.

Manufacturers/sellers may undergo Type 1 telecommunication carrier's inspection to confirm a terminals conformance. However, a somewhat complicated procedure may be required. Then MPHPT (Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications) implemented the Technical Conditions Certification System in April 1985 to enable convenient access and application to various terminals. Only certification bodies accredited by MPHPT can conduct certification and conformity testing for Type 1 telecommunication carriers. JATE (Japan Approvals Institute for Telecommunications Equipment) was the sole certification body until mid - 2002.

Allowing competition and faster access to the market and to provide the appropriate business environment; and Horizontal and minimalist regulatory arrangements which would better deal with emerging and converging technologies; Japan has been working on the implementation of SDoC system.

On November 2002, it was decided that the system will see the light and cover much of the TE and part of specified radio equipment. The SDoC system, while protecting the user as much as facilitating a faster access to the market, will reduce the time and cost to put a product on the market.

If implemented, Japan will be following the EU, the US and other countries that have already applied the SDoC system. There are still, however, pending questions regarding the usability of third party testing and/certification, market surveillance and how the government can control the efficient use of radio spectrum. The actual flow of approval in Japan is as

Authorities in Japan are still studying the most convenient way to allow the SDoC system to take effect beginning as early as year 2004.

For Radio equipment, however, authorities are concerned about the efficient use of the spectrum and are considering the mandatory use of an accredited testing house even after the introduction of SDoC system. Once the SDoC system is implemented, it will be a big step towards a fast and easy access to the Japanese market. Manufacturers, however, need to deepen their knowledge of Japanese Radio and Telecommunication Law, as they will be solely responsible for any deviation from the Law.

SIEMIC provides the most cost-effective and efficient certification services to assist our customers accessing Japanese Market.

Our support service in Japan is a turnkey solution that includes:

• advice on compliance requirements and approval strategy
• preparing complete application packages in Japanese to the regulatory agencies' extremely detailed and specific formats
• required face-to-face meetings with agency officials
• engineering test support where required
• payment of application fees in local currency on behalf of our clients
• follow-up with the agencies to avoid any unnecessary delays in issuance of approval certificates