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1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1300  GMT) 18 FEBRUARY 2009  
 
PRESS/TPRB/311 
18 February 2009 
 
(09-0791) 
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW:  JAPAN 
Trade liberalization continues, notwithstanding the global 
financial crisis 
Since its previous Trade Policy Review, Japan has introduced measures aimed at further 
liberalizing its trade and investment regimes. Japan has not introduced new trade measures to 
protect its market since the onset of the global financial crisis in September 2008. Indeed, it has 
subscribed to commitments taken at the highest political level in the context of the G-20, APEC 
and the summit meeting between Japan, China and Korea to refrain over the next 12 months from raising new barriers to trade and investment, imposing new export restrictions, or implementing 
WTO inconsistent measures to stimulate exports, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the 
trade policies and practices of Japan.  
The authorities continue to promote structural reforms, including regulatory reforms and 
strengthening competition policy. Structural reforms could help reduce the cost of doing business and thereby increase Japan’s attractiveness to inward FDI. This should result in increased 
competition and productivity, the report notes. 
 The report also says that labour productivity lags behind that of other major industrialized 
countries and that Agriculture remains a sector relatively protected from foreign competition, and 
this acts as a drag on Japan’s growth. The report also states that Japan’s medium and long-term growth prospects will depend on its ability to strike a balance between monetary and fiscal policies 
in tandem with further structural reforms.   
 The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Japan, will be the basis for 
the ninth TPR of Japan by the Trade Policy Revi ew Body of the WTO on 18 and 20 February 2009. 
 The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp311_e.htm  
 
• Secretariat reports 
> Contents and summary observations  
> Economic environment  > Trade and investment regimes  
> Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  PRESS/TPRB/311 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
> Appendix tables  
• Report by the Government of Japan 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO Agreement, in which member 
countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each 
review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents 
are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 
Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William 
Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews  
 The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly 
Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States 
Next reviews: 
Brazil: 9 and 11 March2009 
Fiji: 25 and 27 March 2009 
European Communities: 6 and 8 April 2009 
 
For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews 
 
  
END