JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Shingo Yamada, Yugo Komori, Yasuhiro Akita and Takuma Inoue, Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners
Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners Kishimoto Building 2F 2-2-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-0005 Japan Tel: +81 3 5224 5566 Fax: +81 3 5224 5565 Email: yugo.komori@ohebashi.com Web: www.ohebashi.com/en/
1. Product Safety 1.1 Product Safety Legal Framework Consumer Products Consumer Product Safety Act
addressed further in 1.4 Obligations to Notify Regula- tory Authorities . Household Products Containing Harmful Substances Control Act The Household Products Containing Harmful Sub - stances Control Act (HPCA) is another law regulating Consumer Products from the perspective of chemical safety. The HPCA provides for the prevention of health haz - ards caused by chemical substances contained in products. At present, 21 substances that have been established to cause harm to health are subject to this regulation. Electrical Appliances and Materials Safety Act, Gas Business Act, and Act on the Securing of Safety and the Optimisation of Transaction of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Electrical appliances, gas appliances and liquefied petroleum gas appliances, which fall within the cat - egory of Consumer Products, are subject to specific special acts. The Electrical Appliances and Materials Safety Act, Gas Business Act, and Act on the Secur - ing of Safety and the Optimisation of Transaction of Liquefied Petroleum Gas are, together with the CPSA, collectively referred to as the “Four Product Safety Acts”. Non-Consumer Products In Japan, certain products are excluded from the scope of Consumer Products which are subject to the CPSA. Instead, such products are subject to reg -
The principal legislation governing product safety in Japan is the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), which regulates products intended primarily for ordi - nary use by general consumers (“Consumer Prod - ucts”) from the perspective of physical safety. The regulation under the CPSA primarily consists of two categories: ex ante (preventive) regulation aimed at preventing product incidents, and ex post regula - tion, addressing incidents once they have occurred. Ex ante regulation works as follows. Consumer products that carry a risk of harm (eg, lighters, laser pointers, and kerosene heaters) are designated as “Specified Products”. Manufacturers and importers of Specified Products are required to comply with technical standards prescribed by the government. Manufacturers or importers may affix a mark, or the Product Safety of Consumer Products mark (the “PSC mark”), to products that conform to those technical standards, whilst retailers are prohibited from selling Specified Products that do not bear the PSC mark. On the other hand, with respect to ex post regulation, manufacturers and importers are obliged to report serious product incidents, such as deaths and fires, to the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) within ten days of becoming aware of the incident. This obligation is
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