Japan METI amends Control List for dual-use items

On July 31, 2013, the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (“METI”) announced the public comment draft that Japan will update control list of dual-use items to reflect the latest changes of international regimes, such as the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.  The draft of control list is for public comment and its comment due date is August 30, 2013.  The implementation of the final updated list is expected within a few months after the due date of public comment according to the past practice.

http://search.e-gov.go.jp/servlet/Public?CLASSNAME=PCMMSTDETAIL&id=595113039&Mode=0

Japan’s current and last control list was implemented in August 1^st, 2012 and covers the revisions adopted by the international regimes in their respective control lists. 

The changes made this time in 2013 reflect the ongoing relaxation of control on dual-use items which are mainly used for industrial purposes and applied to military uses at the same time, covering commonly traded dual-use items, such as electronics, computers, telecommunications and information security products etc.  On the other hand, there is a strengthening of control on more sensitive items, such as certain scroll-type compressors (Japanese category 2), or spray-drying equipment (Japanese category 3-2), etc. for which they may be used for development, manufacturing and use of nuclear supply item or chemical weapon.

METI will conduct public seminar end September through early October in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya to explain the details of the list update to traders. 

* Date & place of the seminars here: http://www.cistec.or.jp/service/seminar/index.html#kaiseisetumeikai