. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/JPN/259 
23 June 2008 
 (08-2980) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   JAPAN
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of  Agriculture, Fo restry and Fisheries of Japan 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:         
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Vinegar 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Overview of 
Revisions to the Quality Labelling Standa rd for Vinegar (1 page, in English). 
6. Description of content:         
1) The definition of “brewed vinegar” is changed: 
- to accommodate vegetables, honey and other agricultural products such as 
sugar canes to the list of permitted ingredients; and 
- to define the conversion condition of fi xed acid, total sugar and total nitrogen 
contained in products as “content percen tage as converted with four percent 
acid degree”.   
2) Those made from a single ingredient among vegetables, other agricultural products 
or honey above a certain amount, may be labelled as ‘brewed vinegar (XX 
vinegar)’. (XX is the name of ingredient.)  
 Those made from no less than two kinds of vegetables or vegetable vinegar, may be 
 labelled as ‘brewed vinegar’ or ‘vegetable vinegar’ if one of the vegetables is used 
 above a certain amount. 
3) Labelling of ingredients should follow the Quality Labelling Standard for Processed 
Foods (Notification No.513 of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of 31 March 2000) other than labelling of glacial acetic acid and acetic acid used in synthesized vinegar.  
4) Those labelled as “brewed vinegar” ( XX vinegar) may carry the names of 
ingredients XX in their product names. 
 G/TBT/N/JPN/259 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
To accommodate the diversified vinegar products  and kinds of ingredients and to provide 
consumers with more appropriate inform ation of the products for their choices. 
8. Relevant documents:    
(a) Comparative sheet of the proposed text with  the existing one (4 pages, in Japanese 
only); 
(b) The Quality Labelling Standard for Vinegar (N otification No. 1668 of the Ministry of 
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of 19 December 2000); 
(c) The Quality Labelling Standard for Processed  Foods (Notification No.513 of Ministry 
of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of 31 March 2000); 
(d) The Law Concerning Standardization and Prope r Labelling of Agricultural and Forestry 
Products (Law No. 175 of 1950). 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
 
Proposed date of entry into force:    Winter 2008 (To be announced in “KAMPO” 
(Official Government Gazette)) 
To be announced in the Official Government 
Gazette 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from date of circulation 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body: