WORLD TRADE

ORGANIZATION

G/SPS/N/JPN/255

1 July 2010

(10-3601)

Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

Original:  English

1.

Notifying Member: JAPAN

If applicable, name of local government involved:

2.

Agency responsible: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

3.

Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable): Food additives

4.

Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:

[X]  All trading partners

[ ]  Specific regions or countries:

5.

Title of the notified document: Withdrawal of food additives no longer distributed in Japan from the List of Existing Food Additives Language: English Number of pages: 12

http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2010/sps/JPN/10_2581_00_e.pdf

6.

Description of content: 80 food additives, which have been identified to be no longer distributed in the Market in Japan, are supposed to be prohibited for their use in coming one year.

The food additives concerned are currently listed in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's Notification (No. 215, issued on 18 May 2010), for seeking public comments, prior to their complete withdrawals, as of 18 May 2011 at the latest, from the Official List of the Existing Food Additives in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Announcement No.120.

7.

Objective and rationale: [X] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ ] plant protection, [ ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [ ] protect territory from other damage from pests.

8.

Is there a relevant international standard? If so, identify the standard:

[ ]  Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial number of Codex standard or related text)

[ ]  World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic Animal Health Code, chapter number)

[ ]  International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number)

[X]  None

Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?

 [ ] Yes [ ] No

 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the international standard:

9.

Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available: Food Sanitation Law (available in English) . When adopted, these MRLs are to be published in "KAMPO" (Official Government Gazette) (available in Japanese) .

10.

Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy): No later than 18 May 2011

Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy): No later than 18 May 2011

11.

Proposed date of entry into force: [ ] Six months from date of publication, and/or (dd/mm/yy): As soon as possible after publication

[X]  Trade facilitating measure

12.

Final date for comments: [X] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the notification and/or (dd/mm/yy): 30 August 2010

Agency or authority designated to handle comments: [ ] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:

13.

Texts available from: [ ] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:

Standards Information Service

International Trade Division

Economic Affairs Bureau

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2-2-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku

Tokyo 100-8919, Japan

Tel.: +(81) 3 5501 8344

Fax: +(81) 3 5501 8343

E-mail: [email protected]