
Background
In recent years, with the progress of regulatory reform, an increasing number of voluntary Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) are being adopted as technical standards in regulations, as more and more regulations incorporate performance-based requirements.
Industrial Standardization Law stipulates that JIS standards should be followed when national governments and local governments set technical standards related to mining and manufacturing, or when they create specifications for their procurement. At the same time, the WTO/TBT Agreement specifies that both regulations and technical standards should be harmonized with international standards with a view toward not creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade. The WTO/TBT Agreement reads: “Where technical regulations are required and relevant international standards exist or their completion is imminent, members shall use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for their technical regulations.” As a member of the WTO, the Japanese government is working to harmonize JIS standards with corresponding international standards to the greatest degree possible. At the same time, it is encouraging the use of JIS standards as references when technical standards are required in regulations. Of the over 109 000700 JIS standards currently existing, 54 7800 have corresponding international standards, and 54 6500 of these are harmonized with their corresponding international standards.
ISO Member Body
The Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC) is the ISO Member body in Japan.
Referencing of JIS standards to regulations and public policy
Ensuring the safety of industrial products is the most important consideration in the context of protection of consumers and labour. JIS standards are referenced as technical standards for self- declaration and third-party conformity assessment in regulations governing safety. 195 laws apply JIS to technical regulations, 1 300 JIS are cited in laws and regulations and the frequency of citation in the laws and regulations is 6 500. There are about 2 000 JIS standards that are referenced in regulations. The Building Law, Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, and Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law are examples of regulations referencing JIS standards.
Building Law
The Building Law and its related laws stipulate standards for sites, structures, equipment, and the usage of buildings. According to these laws, the quality of building foundations, principal building parts and materials used for building parts that are important in terms of safety, fire prevention, and sanitation must be approved by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. JIS standards are used in this approval testing. Building materials conforming to the JIS standards referenced in these laws, however, are not required to obtain such ministerial approval. Nearly 23040 JIS standards are referenced in these laws, and, of these, about 100 are harmonized with their corresponding international standards.
Pharmaceutical Affairs Law
The Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and its related laws provide regulations required to ensure the quality, efficacy and safety of drugs, quasi-drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. For in vitro diagnostic medical devices designated in these laws, manufacturing distributors are required to obtain certification by a third-party certification organization designated by the government. About 1540 JIS standards are referenced in these laws as performance standards for medical devices. Of this number, about 40 are harmonized with their corresponding international standards.
Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law
The Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law and its related rules laws establish restrictions on the manufacturing, import and sale of designated electrical products in order to prevent accidents caused by electrical products. Manufacturers or importers of electrical products are obligated to:
- produce or import electrical products that conform to the technical standards stipulated in the laws;
- ship those products with a mark (“PSE” mark) that shows that the electrical products conform to technical standards; and
- only sell electrical products with the PSE mark. About 29 060 JIS standards are referenced in these rules laws, and almost all of them are harmonized with their corresponding international standards.
Basic Policy for the Promotion of Procurement of Eco-Friendly Goods and Services
Basic Policy for the Promotion of Procurement of Eco-Friendly Goods and Services was established in order to promote comprehensive and planned procurement of materials, components, products and services with low environmental impact. It is considered that local governments, enterprises, and citizens will also make a commitment to the procurement of eco-friendly goods by taking this basic policy into account. According to this policy, 267 items are defined as eco-friendly goods. As of 2014FY, Total 72 JIS standards are referred to this policy as test and product standard.
Japanese Policy / Regulation | Reference to standard/s |
---|---|
Building Law Quality of Building Materials |
Article 37: Such building materials as wood, steel, concrete and other materials specified by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport used for the foundations, principal building parts, and other parts of building specified by Cabinet Order which are important from the viewpoint of safety, fire prevention and sanitation (hereafter in this Article referred to as “designated building materials” shall come under either one of the following items: Those qualities conform to the Japanese Industrial Standards or Japanese Agricultural Standards designated for each designated building materials by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. |
Enforcement Regulation of Pharmaceutical Affairs Law Designated medical equipment that the Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare specifies standards pursuant to the provisions of Item 1 of Article 23-2 of the Pharmaceutical Law. |
Medical equipment
JIS
Standards Purpose of use, effect or impact
Designated Medical Equipment that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare specifies standards pursuant to the provisions of Item 1 of Article 23-2 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law shall conform to the standards given in the table above. |
Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law Technical requirements pursuant to the provisions of the Ministerial Ordinance Specifying Technical Requirements for Electrical Appliances and Materials. |
Technical requirements for electrical applicances and materials:
The harmonized standards are stipulated in Appendix Table 12 of the Interpretation of the Ministerial Ordinance Specifying Technical Standards for Electrical Appliances and Materials, and the Technical Requirements pertinent to each of the relevant products shall be applied.. |
Basic Policy for the Promotion of Procurement of Eco-Friendly Goods and Services |
Item:
Evaluation Criteria:
|
National Examples Overview

Canada

China

Europe

Japan

South Africa
