Japan METI updated Foreign User List

On August 30, 2013, Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ("METI") announced its update of Foreign User List, which is WMD proliferation concerned entities list as restricted users.
The list update is just slight modification, adding another possible names of existing restricted entities of North Korea, and add one new entity in China.

http://www.cistec.or.jp/export/express/130830/userlistpress.pdf

One additional entity is supposed to be in China, its name is DCB Finance Limited.  The quick google search shows this entity is front company of Daedong Credit Bank in North Korea.  They are also sanctioned by US Department of Treasury.

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

FTA utilization ratio of JP companies 36%

According to the JETRO 2013 World Trade & Investment Report, the FTA utilization ratio of Japanese companies in 2012 was 36.9%, which is 3% increase last year.  The difference is shown depending on scale of companies.  Large companies ratio is 49.6%, while ratio of SME is 31.5%.

The definition of 'utilization' means among the companies who conduct trade with countries Japan implemented FTA, the ratio shows at least using one FTA either in exporting or in importing.

The interesting point is significant increase of Asean-China FTA utilization ratio increased 4.5% to last year and reached 29.6%.  This shows Japanese companies move to utilize the FTA between third countries.

Second Round of Negotiations on a FTA among Japan, China and the ROK

The second round of negotiations for a FTA among Japan, China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) was held in Shanghai, China from July 30 to August 2.
In this round of negotiations, areas such as Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Customs Procedures, Competition Policies, amongst others, were discussed.

The next round of negotiations will be held in Japan, and the date is TBD.