The 208th ordinary session of the Japanese Diet passed the Act on Partial Amendment to the Act on Export of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Products and Food, which was promulgated on May 25, 2022, and came into effect on October 1, 2022.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
The amendment to the JAS Act aims to promote the export of Japanese agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food by: (1) adding organic alcoholic beverages to the scope of JAS certification categories, (2) establishing a framework for affixing foreign grading labels, (3) establishing rules for information sharing among registered certifying bodies, and (4) establishing provisions obligating the state to endeavor to conduct equivalence negotiations for JAS standards and international standardization.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
A summary of the amendment is as follows:文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
(1) Adding organic alcoholic beverages to the scope of establishing JAS standards文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
Until now, if an equivalence agreement for organic certification of agricultural products and processed agricultural products had been concluded with the United States, Canada, the European Union and other countries, it was possible to export products bearing organic labels by obtaining organic JAS certification in Japan (even without separately obtaining organic certification in the destination country).文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
However, alcoholic beverages were not within the scope of the JAS Act and were therefore excluded from equivalence with other countries. In light of the growing organic food markets in the United States, the European Union and other countries, organic alcoholic beverages have been added to the scope of JAS standards. In the future, equivalence agreements concerning organic alcoholic beverage certification will be concluded with the governments of other countries in order to expand exports of organic alcoholic beverages. With the addition of alcoholic beverages to the scope of the JAS Act, the ministers having jurisdiction over matters relating to alcoholic beverages under the JAS Act will be the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
(2) Establishing rules for affixing foreign grading labels文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
Until now, it was possible to label agricultural and forestry products graded in accordance with JAS standards to indicate that the grading was based on a national grading system for which equivalence with the relevant agricultural and forestry products has been recognized (foreign grading indication). Rules for affixing foreign grading labels have now been established.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
(3) Rules for information sharing among registered certifying bodies文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
When exporting by utilizing equivalence with a foreign government, certification must be obtained from a registered certifying body pre-approved by the foreign government. In order to reduce the burden of certification audits and other matters, the recent amendment allows registered certifying bodies to request records of previous certification audits and other information from other registered certifying bodies and to share information with them. This is expected to reduce the burden and time required for audits and to enable operators planning to export to promptly obtain certification from certifying bodies already approved by foreign governments, thereby increasing exports using JAS certification.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
(4) Provisions concerning the obligation of the state to endeavor to take measures for obtaining equivalence certification, etc.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/
In order to further encourage the flexible use of equivalence certification for exports, the state and other parties are obligated to endeavor to take measures such as conducting equivalence recognition negotiations with foreign governments and taking necessary measures to internationalize JAS standards.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/19517/