Japan

Since April 2, 2001, under the Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS), organic-designated agricultural products and processed foods made from agricultural products must be approved by a certification body. This new legislation is based on the CODEX Alimentarius for organically produced food.

Foreign exporters of organic products have three ways of selling their products on the Japanese market:

1. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) may approve other countries’ certification systems. The MAFF reviews the certification systems and standards of each applicant country to see if it meets JAS requirements before giving it approved-country status. Certification bodies in these countries must be registered with the MAFF to be able to certify products under JAS standards. Certified foreign organic producers are allowed to put the JAS logo on packaging before organic products are exported to Japan.
   The following countries have been approved: Ireland, United States, Argentina, Italy, United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Netherlands, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Finland, France, Belgium, Portugal and Luxembourg.
   
   
2. Products certified by certification organizations accredited for an approved country but not registered with the MAFF may be imported into Japan with the country of origin’s organic designation but not the JAS logo. The latter will be added by a duly licensed importer before the product goes on the market.
   
   
3. When a country’s certification system has not been approved by the MAFF as being equivalent to JAS standards, product certification can still be obtained, either through an organic certification agency based in Japan and authorized to carry out production and operation audits in the country of origin, or through a certifying body operating in the product’s country of origin that has a reciprocity agreement with a MAFF-registered certifying body.

For additional information, see the MAFF website:

http://www.maff.go.jp/eindex.html