. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/JPN/125 
12 August 2004 
 (04-3404) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   JAPAN
 
If applicable, name of local government involved: 
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Dogs, cats, racoons, foxes and skunks (her einafter referred to as "dogs, etc.") 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  All 
countries.  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   Amendments to the 
regulation of export and import quarantine of dogs, etc. and related notification under the 
Rabies Prevention Law (available in English, 18 pages). 
6. Description of content:   
a. While there have been many outbreaks of rabies around the world especially in Asia, 
the import of puppies which cannot be considered immunized by rabies vaccinations is on the rise.  Therefore, we decided to review the current import system of dogs, etc. in 
order to prevent invasion of rabies into Japan through importation of these animals. 
b. The outline of the revision is: 
(1) Prior notification system
 
Persons who intend to import dogs, etc. must  notify the specified information by 40 
days before the imports. 
(2) Vaccination and detention period  
- If dogs, etc. are imported from the designated rabies-free areas, the detention period 
will be less than 12 hours. 
- If dogs or cats which are imported from the countries other than the designated rabies-
free areas comply with all of the following requi rements, the detention period will be less 
than 12 hours. 
- They shall be vaccinated against rabies at the age of 3 months or older. 
- The booster vaccination shall be conducted not less than 4 weeks and within its 
effective period of the primary vaccination. 
- They have to stay in the exporting countri es at least 6 months after their blood has 
been collected following booster vaccination.  
- The blood shall be subject to antibody titra tion test for rabies and the titre shall be 
more than 0.5 IU/ml. G/SPS/N/JPN/125 
Page 2  
 
 - Other dogs, etc. shall be detained in an imal quarantine facilities up to 180 days. 
(3)Permanent Identification
 
It is recommended that dogs, etc. be identified by permanent marks (including microchips) 
before the primary vaccination.  When dogs, et c. do not have permanent marks, they are 
regarded as having no veterinary certificates issu ed by animal health authorities of the 
exporting countries, because they cannot be identified only by the certificates. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [   ] food safety, [ X ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from anima l/plant pest or disease,  [   ]  protect territory from 
other damage from pests 
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [ X ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [   ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   Terrestrial Animal Health Code, 11th edition, 
2003 
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  The regulation of 
export and import quarantine of dogs, etc. (Available in English) 
10. Proposed date of adoption:   As soon as possible after the final date for comments. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   7 days after the date of promulgation (to be announced 
in the official government gazette).  The tr ansitional period of about 8 months will be 
applied to the dogs, etc. which are 10 months old or over. 
12. Final date for comments:  30 September 2004 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or addr ess, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:    
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notification authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: