. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/JPN/132 
22 December 2004 
 (04-5615) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English 
 
  
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circulat ed in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   JAPAN
 
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 
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 applic able, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   Polymer Electrolyte Fuel 
Cell Power Systems 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Revision of 
Ordinance Concerning the Electricity Utilities In dustry Law (Ministerial Ordinance No.77, 
1995), Ordinance Concerning Technical Re quirements for Thermal Power Facilities 
(Ministerial Ordinance No.51, 1997) and Ord inance Concerning Technical Requirements 
for Electrical Facilities (Ministerial Ordinance No.52, 1997). 
6. Description of content:    
(1) Ordinance Concerning the El ectricity Utilities Industry Law 
 Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Power Systems whose output is less than 10kW will 
be classified under electrical facilities for general use, by which notification of the 
safety rules and selection of the ch ief engineer will be unnecessary. 
 
(2) Technological Standards (Ministerial Ord er Establishing Technical Standards for 
Thermal Power Facilities and Ministerial Or der Establishing Technical Standards 
for Electrical Facilities) 
With the above deregulation, technical standa rds for small-scale Polymer Electrolyte Fuel 
Cell Power Systems, for example, installati on of automatic-stay equipment, will be 
established from the viewpoint of strengthe ning technical requirements. The technical 
requirements will be based on draft internat ional standards on Fuel Cell Power Systems 
(IEC/TC105) as much as possible except when there are some unavoidable reasons such as 
climatic or other fundamental geographical fact ors, differences in usage, or basic technical 
problems. G/TBT/N/JPN/132 
Page 2  
 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Small-scale Fuel Cell Power Systems are expected to become widely used for the purpose of global warming prevention etc.. In Japan, all Fuel Cell Power Systems are now classified 
as electrical facilities for business use, which involves major burdens for those who install 
the systems, such as selection of a chief engineer. Therefore, with the aim of reducing such burdens, small-scale Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Power Systems will be reclassified under electrical facilities for general use, an d the technical requirements for them will be 
established. 
8. Relevant documents:   The basic law is the Electricity Utilities Industry Law (1964 Law 
No.170). The amendment will appear in "K AMPO" (Official Govern ment Gazette) when 
adopted. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:  February 2005  
Proposed date of entry into force:  March  2005 
10. Final date for comments:   20 February 2005 
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:        
 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 
 Electric Power Safety Division  Address: 1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku,  
 Tokyo 100-8986  
 JAPAN 
   Telephone: +81-3-3501-1742 
 Facsimile: +81-3-3580-8486   
 E-mail address: qqnbbj@meti.go.jp