IFCS Indicators of Progress
Priorities for Action beyond 2000
and
Forum Recommendations
QUESTIONNAIRE
Please provide the information described on the following pages concerning your country,
giving the current status, and, to the extent possible, that foreseen in the near future.
Important Note:
At its 63rd meeting, the IFCS Forum Standing Committee (FSC) recommended that the
IFCS Secretariat post completed questionnaires on the IFCS website, to increase
transparency and for ease of reference.
Please check the following box if your country does NOT wish to have its completed
questionnaire posted for public viewing on the IFCS website: □
If you do not check this box, your completed country questionnaire will be posted at
www.ifcs.ch following its submission.
Please complete:
COUNTRY:Japan
Reporting year:
2006
(circle appropriate year)
2007
2008
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1.
NATIONAL CAPABILITIES AND CAPACITIES FOR CHEMICALS MANAGEMENT
Priorities for Action E1 and E21
1a)
Has a comprehensive National Chemicals Management Profile, or other
equivalent strategic national plan, been developed
through a multi-stakeholder process2?
National Profile
Yes 
Other equivalent strategic national plan
No
□
Yes
□
No
□
If "Yes" to either of the above, please indicate the original publication date and
the date(s) of any revisions.
_October 2003_____________________________________________________
If "Yes" to either of the above, please list all ministries, agencies and
organizations that participated:
_Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
(MHLW), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of the Environment (MOE)
If "No", is your country in the process of developing or planning on developing a
Comprehensive National Chemicals Management Profile?
Yes
□ Expected completion date ___________ No □
If "No", have equivalent measures such as a government investigation on
chemical safety followed by legislative measures been undertaken?
Yes
□
No
□
If "Yes", please describe:
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
1
The Priorities for Action Beyond 2000 may be viewed on the IFCS website at www.ifcs.ch.
A multi-stakeholder process is a process involving all concerned national ministries and other government
institutions, as well as other interested national parties.
2
2
1b)
Has your country developed any of the following on the sound management of
chemicals?
If yes, please
provide year
completed.
If development is in progress,
please provide the expected
completion year?
No
National Policies
National Priorities
2001
National Strategies
National Action Plans
* Comment: Although there are no specific strategies or action plans on the sound
management of chemicals, these are included in generic policy plans such as the
Basic Environment Plan. The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals
Management (SAICM) implementation plan is being prepared by the InterMinisterial Meeting on SAICM.
1c)
Has your country established an inter-ministerial/intersectoral coordinating
mechanism (e.g. committee or body) to facilitate the comprehensive treatment of
chemical safety issues?
Yes
□
If "Yes":
No 
* Comment: We have some informal inter-ministerial
consultations regarding: IFCS, OECD Chemical programme,
POPs, Dioxins, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, GHS,
SAICM, etc.
What is the name of the "mechanism"?
When was it established?
2.
CLASSIFICATION AND LABELLING OF CHEMICALS
Priority for Action B1
2a)
Has your country initiated work to adopt and implement the Globally Harmonized
System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)?
Yes 
No
□
If "Yes", what is the expected date (year) GHS will be fully operational?
_________________________________________________________
3
2b)
Has your country ratified and implemented ILO Convention 170 on Safety in the
Use of Chemicals at Work3, or instituted comparable measures?
Yes
3.
□
No 
NATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ON HAZARDOUS
CHEMICALS
Priority for Action C1
3a)
What arrangements are operational in your country for the exchange of
information on hazardous chemicals? Please describe.
Global Information Network on Chemicals (GINC) including The Databases of
Chemicals.
Please indicate if the established infrastructure includes:
1) website where national partners can gain access to chemical information
sources,
Yes 
No
□
2) institutional directory listing sources of information
Yes
4.
□
No 
NATIONAL PROCEDURES ON SAFETY INFORMATION FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIALS IN
CIRCULATION
Priority for Action C3
4a)
Does your country have procedures in place to ensure that any hazardous material
put into circulation is accompanied, at a minimum, by appropriate and reliable
safety information that is easy to access, read and understand?
Yes 
No
□
If "Yes":
Are the procedures consistent with the safety data sheets of the 1990 International
Labour Organization Chemicals Convention (No.170)?
Yes
□
No 
* Comment: Regulations regarding MSDS (Material Safety Data
Sheet) for a certain number of hazardous materials in the
3
ILO Convention 170 may be viewed on the ILO website at:
http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm
4
Industrial Safety and Health Law have not ensured the Article
10.2, etc. of the Convention No.170.
Do they conform to the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and
Labelling Of Chemicals?
Yes
5.
□
No 
ECOLOGICALLY SOUND AND INTEGRATED STRATEGIES FOR PEST MANAGEMENT
Priority for Action D1
5a)
Has your country prepared integrated pest management strategies?
Yes 
No
□
If "Yes", were national studies done to develop the strategies?
Yes 
6.
No
□
OBSOLETE STOCKS OF PESTICIDES AND OTHER CHEMICALS
Priority for Action D2
6a)
Are there any obsolete stocks of pesticides and/or other chemicals in your country?
Yes 
6b)
No
□
Has your country prepared an action plan for disposal of obsolete stocks of
pesticides and other chemicals?
With regard to obsolete pesticide
With regard to other chemicals (PCB)
With regard to other chemicals
Yes 
Yes 
Yes □
No □
No □
No 
Yes 
Yes 
No □
No □
□
□
No 
If "Yes", has the action plan been implemented?
With regard to obsolete pesticide
With regard to other chemicals (PCB)
If "Yes", has the action plan been completed?
With regard to obsolete pesticide
Yes
With regard to other chemicals (PCB)
Yes
If "No", is work in progress to prepare an action plan?
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No 
Yes  If yes, what is the expected completion date (year)?
2010(pesticide),_2016(PCB)
No
7.
□
If no, why not? _________________________________________
NATIONAL SYSTEMS FOR PREVENTION OF MAJOR INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS AND
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & RESPONSE
Priority for Action D4
7a)
Has your country implemented a national system for emergency preparedness and
response, in accordance with international principles4?
Yes 
No
□
If "No", is work in progress to implement the system?
Yes
7b)
□ expected completion date (year)? _______________
□
Is there a national law requiring the system?
Yes 
7c)
No
No
□
Has your country ratified and implemented ILO Convention 174 5 on Prevention
of Major Industrial Accidents?
Yes
□
No 
If "No", are efforts under way to do so?
Yes 
8.
No
□
INTERNATIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF PESTICIDES
8a)
Has your government implement the revised International Code of Conduct on
the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (November 2002) 6 as the basis for a
comprehensive life cycle approach to pesticide management ?
Yes 
No
□
4
Ref. OECD Second Edition 2003 Guiding Principles for Chemical Accident Prevention, Preparedness and
Response, undertaken in cooperation with other international organizations, including ILO, IMO, UNECE,
UNEP, UNOCHA (UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit) and WHO.
5
ILO Convention 170 may be viewed on the ILO website at:
http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm
6
The International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides may be viewed at:
http://www.fao.org/AG/AGP/AGPP/Pesticid/
6
If "No", are efforts under way to do so?
Yes
8b)
□
No
□
Have the provisions of the Code of Conduct been implemented through other
pieces of legislation or by other means?
Yes 
No
□
If "Yes", please briefly describe.
・Unregistered Pesticides for agricultural use are prohibited to manufacture,
process or import under Agricultural Chemicals Regulation Law in Japan.
The uses of registered pesticides are also regulated to prevent
environmental pollutions etc.
・Pesticide regulation measures in Japan have been developed considering
international agreements (e.g. Stockholm Convention.).
9.
POISON CENTRES
Priority for Action D7
9a)
Have poison centre(s) been established in your country?
Yes
□
No 
* Comment: Japan Poison Information Center (JPIC) was
established as a juridical foundation on July 1986.
The offices of JPIC are at Tsukuba and Osaka.
If "Yes", please indicate classification level for each poison centre:
WHO Status of Development Classification
well-established centres, the full range of clinical analytical and other relevant facilities
A
and cover the whole country.
well-established centres, but lack some of the related facilities or do not provide full
B
coverage to the country. These centres require further development in order to meet
the ideal criteria for centres given in the IPCS Guidelines
certain facilities for poison control, but require major support to develop further areas
C
of activities, according to the criteria in the IPCS Guidelines, and should expand
coverage through the country.
Centre (Name &
location)
Date
Established
Classification initial
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Classification 2000
Classification current
9b)
Is strengthening of poison centers planned?
If "Yes", for what time period?
___________________________
9c)
If there are no established poison centres in your country, is work under way in
your country to establish a poison control centre with related chemical and
analytical facilities for the first time?
Yes
□
No 
If "Yes" when do you expect the poison control centre to be operational? Please
provide location and date (year).
________________________________________________________
10.
POLLUTANT RELEASE AND TRANSFER REGISTERS/EMISSION INVENTORIES
Priority for Action D8
10a)
Has your country established:
An air emission inventory?
Yes 
□
No
A land emission inventory?
Yes 
No
□
A water emission inventory?
Yes 
No
□
A waste inventory?
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Yes
□
No 
A Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR)?
Yes 
No
□
If "No", is work being initiated to design a PRTR or emission inventory
system?
Yes
□
No
□
10 b) Has your country implemented a system comparable to the PRTR (e.g. the
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)?
Yes
11.
□
No 
PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL TRAFFIC IN TOXIC & DANGEROUS PRODUCTS
Priority for Action F
11a)
Has your country developed a national strategy, or other national measures (e.g.
legislation, action plans) for the prevention of illegal traffic in toxic and
dangerous products?
Yes 
No
□
If "Yes", when was it prepared? Please indicate date (year)
2004（Acceded to the Rotterdam convention）
12.
Children and Chemical Safety (Forum IV Recommendation)
12a)
Has your government prepared, through multi-stakeholder consultation,
initial national assessments of children’s environmental health and
chemical safety?
Yes 
No
□
If "No", are efforts under way to do so?
Yes
□
No
□
9
12b)
Has your government taken action to promote harmonized data collection,
research, legislation and regulations, and the use of indicators of children’s
environmental health?
Yes 
No
□
If "Yes", please briefly describe:
Exposure assessment has been carried out through questionnaire.
If "No", are efforts under way to do so?
Yes
□
No
□
13. HAZARD DATA GENERATION (Forum IV Recommendation)
13a)
Has your government established national priorities for information
generation for chemicals that are not produced in high volumes?
Yes
□
No 
If "No", are efforts under way to do so?
Yes 
No
□
Other Forum IV Recommendations address:
Please provide brief information on specific actions your government has taken to
respond to the recommendations of Forum IV in these areas:
Occupational Safety and Health;
Acutely Toxic Pesticides – risk management and reduction;
To ensure safe use of pesticide, the necessary of wearing protective clothing,
goggles, masks and glove is determined on the basis of the result of the
inspection under the Agricultural Chemicals Regulation Law, and the result and
the precaution are written on the label of end-use products.
Capacity building;
INFOCAP (Information Exchange Network on Capacity Building for the Sound
Management of Chemicals ) implementation.
Forum V Recommendations:
Please provide brief information on specific actions your government has taken to
respond to the recommendations of Forum V in these areas:
1. Applying Precaution in the Context of Chemical Safety

provision of information on tools and approaches
10

capacity building/skill sharing initiatives to support application of tools and
approaches
2. Heavy Metals (Mercury, Lead, Cadmium)




initiate actions that will address the health, including occupational health and
the environmental impact of mercury, lead and cadmium;
Japan has taken measures against the health and the environmental impact of
these metals under the Air Pollution Control Law, Water Pollution Control
Law, etc.
initiate, continue, and intensify actions, as appropriate, to address the excess
supply of mercury on a global scale through a variety of possible measures,
such as an export prohibition preventing excess mercury from re-entering the
global market and a global phase out of primary production of mercury;
activities, including environmentally sound use, storage, recycling and
disposal of mercury, lead and cadmium and partnerships programmes and
voluntary agreements to promote management of problems related to mercury,
lead and cadmium;
support and contribute to the Global Partnerships for Mercury Reductions;
The Ministry of the Environment has contributed to the Global Partnerships
in the areas of the Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research and Coal
Combustion.
3. Toys and Chemical Safety






identify chemicals of concern used in toys, and potential substitution options,
develop strategies for sharing information on chemicals commonly used in toys and
adverse effects from their use,
encourage countries and regions to develop and share the results of surveillance of
chemical content of toys with other countries and all stakeholders,
promote research on impacts of chemicals on product safety and children’s health in
the context of toy use, and
To promote researches of the environmental risk assessments about children’s
environmental health, the Ministry of the Environment is going to start a focal
research project about children’s environmental health, settle the basis on the
research and promote the corporation internationally.
support educational efforts to increase awareness of issues of chemical safety and toys
among critical groups such as parents and children, health care professionals, small
and medium scale manufacturers and the informal sector.
guidance for toy safety
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Details of person completing the questionnaire:
IFCS National Focal Point:
Yes
No
Name:
Ms Yayoi SASAKI
Title:
Director, Office of Chemical Safety
Ministry
Address
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
1-2-2, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo, 100-8916
Tel:
+81-3-3595-2298
Fax:
+81-3-3593-8913
Date:
Email:
sasaki-yayoi@mhlw.go.jp
Signature: Sasaki Yayoi
2007/03/12
Please provide the following additional information:
Does the IFCS National Focal Point have direct access to the Internet in his/her office?
Yes 
No
□
If "No", does he/she have access to the Internet in the building where he/she works?
Yes
□
No
□
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