Contents
1. Objective of Establishing the Council
2. Purpose
3. Scope
4. How to enroll VCCI Council
5. How to Practice Voluntary Control
6. Registration of Measurement Facilities
7. Market Sampling Test
8. Technical Requirements
9. Description

Organization

Steering Committee

CouncilTechnical Subcommittee

AuditorInternational Relations Subcommittee

Board

Market Sampling Test Subcommittee

Oﬃce of Secretariat

Public Relations Subcommittee
Education Subcommittee

Audit Corporation
Registration Committee for Measurement Facilities

1 Objective of Establishing the Council
With advances in electronic technologies and increasing informatization in the home, IT
equipment, including electronic office equipment, such as PCs and facsimiles, have become
increasingly popular. This kind of equipment often emits electronic interference over a wide
range of frequencies resulting from the digital technology utilized in them. Depending on its level,interference with radio and television can occur, and this problem of radio interference has gained
attention.
The International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) of the International
Electrotechnical Commission (lEC) has been discussing radio interference since 1979. In
September 1985, recommendations regarding "Limits and Methods of Measurement of RadioInterference Characteristics of Information Technology Equipment" were made in Publication
22. In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been instituting regulatory
measures since 1981.
I n J a p a n , t h e Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Te c h n o l o g y C o u n c i l o f M i n i s t r y o f Po s t s a n d
Telecommunications (now Information and Communications Council under Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Communications) drafted Japanese technical standards on limits and methods ofmeasurement of electromagnetic interference caused by information technology equipment basedon the CISPR recommendations. A set of these standards was submitted for official recognition
to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications on December 2, 1985. In response, the Ministry
issued to related industries a request for cooperation in controlling radio disturbance based on
those standards.
On December 19, 1985 the four industry associations - the Japan Electronic Industry Development
Association (JElDA)*, the Japan Business Machine Makers Association (JBMA)**, the Electronic
Industries Association of Japan (EIAJ)*, and the Communications Industry Association of Japan(CIAJ) *** jointly established without delay the Voluntary Control Council for Interference byInformation Technology Equipment (VCCI) to cope with radio disturbance problems caused bypersonal computers, facsimile equipment ant the like. The establishment of VCCI was a result ofacute discussions that concluded that the Ministry's request be best met with industry's voluntarymeasure.
Since then VCCI has continued its activities as a voluntary organization (a constructive corporation)
up to now. Meanwhile new Japanese laws prescribing matters concerning corporate bodies were
promulgated in June 2006 ("No. 48-1Act on General Incorporated Associations and General
Incorporated Foundations" and other associated laws). VCCI decided to become a corporate bodyfrom April 2009 taking advantage of the promulgation of these laws.
The new law system allows the choice of either incorporated association or incorporated
foundation in establishing a corporate body. Our choice was the foundation (not-for-profit type)because it will allow us to continue our current activities with little or no change. We are sure that
we will be able to better serve general consumers and our members because of enhanced social
credibility the incorporation will bring about on us.
We have renewed our determination to broaden the membership base by obtaining enrollment ofgreater number of companies and organizations from within Japan and overseas in the voluntary
control scheme of VCCI Council so the interest of Japanese consumers will better be protected interms of anxiety-free use of equipment.
Note:* JEIDA and EIAJ were merged into JEITA (Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association)** JBMA was renamed JBMIA (Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Associations)*** CIAJ remains the same12 Purpose
The purpose of this corporate body is to promote, in cooperation with related industries, thevoluntary control of radio disturbances emitted from multimedia equipment (MME) on the one
hand, and improvement of robustness of MME against radio disturbances on the other hand, sothat the interests of Japanese consumers are protected with respect to anxiety-free use of MME.

3 Scope
Scope of Voluntary Control
The Voluntary Control measures of the VCCI Council apply to multimedia equipment (MME), whichis placed on the Japanese market. “MME” has the following definition.
MME definition
MME is information technology equipment, audio equipment, video equipment, broadcast receiver
equipment, entertainment lighting control equipment or combinations of these. Functions are
related to basic technologies incorporated in the MME, such as displaying, recording, processing,
controlling, reproducing, transmitting, or receiving single medium or multimedia content. The
content may be data, audio or video, either individually or in combination. MME may have morethan one primary function. For example, the primary functions of a basic television set include
broadcast reception, audio reproduction and display.
However, the following equipment may be exempted from these Rules:
(1)
(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

MME for which the function of information technology equipment is not deemed its primaryfunction or is not included.
MME subject to other standards or laws equivalent in objective to this document in Japan,
even if the definition of MME applies. Such MME includes all radio-only equipment whose
primary function is radio transmission and reception as stipulated in the Radio Law as wellas electrical appliances stipulated in the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law.
Equipment for which the emission requirements in the frequency range subject to thisdocument are explicitly defined in other CISPR standards (except CISPR 13 and CISPR
22). Such equipment includes MME dedicated to industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM)
purposes or dedicated to in-vehicle purposes.
Equipment for use in telecommunications facilities to be installed only inside buildings
controlled by telecommunications common carriers who provide such facilities andservices.
Equipment for use in broadband power line communication facilities (in the frequency
range 2 MHz to 30 MHz prescribed in Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Law,
Article 44-2-2).
MME whose power consumption is 6 nW or less.

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4 How to enroll VCCI Council
Companies and organizations that support the objectives of the Council and wish to participate
and cooperate in voluntary controls are required to first become a member of the Council. Suchcompanies and organizations should first submit a "Membership Application" form to the Council
Secretariat.
After the Council receives the "Membership Application" form and approves it, the applicant must
remit payment of the membership admission fee and annual membership fee for each fiscal year
(April through March). Moreover, for members who participate from or after October (second halfof the fiscal year), the first year annual membership fee shall be half the following amount.

VCCI fee table
Transactions

Annualmembership
fees

Fees
Membershipwithout withcategories
tax
10%

Applicable to -Regularmember - A

Companies whose executives are appointed
chairman, vice-chairmen, or similar ranking
800,000 880,000
officers at the three industry organizations (JEITA,JPY
JPY
JBMIA, CIAJ) as well as companies submitting
70 or more conformity verification reports a year.

Regularmember - B

400,000 440,000 Companies submitting 10 or more conformity
JPY
JPY
verification reports a year.

Regularmember - C

200,000 220,000 Companies submitting fewer than 10 conformity
JPY
JPY
verification reports a year.

Supporting
member - D

Companies with no submission of conformity
100,000 110,000
verification reports but supporting VCCI
JPY
JPY
operations

Admission fees

50,000 55,000
All membership categories
JPY
JPY

Others*Handling fees

2,500
JPY

2,750
JPY

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Note:• Consumption tax (now 10%) is imposed for domestic members and overseas members who havebranch or agent in Japan.
• The admission procedure takes about one week from receipt of membership application form toissuance of an invoice of necessary fees.
• Bank Handling Fee of 2,500JPY(with 10% tax 2,750 JPY) will be charged.
• After a new member company remits above fees, it is registered as VCCI official member andsubmission of the Application for registration of measurement facilities and applies for the report ofcompliance will be available.
• Examination fee will be charged for the registration of measurement facilities besides above fees.

Members can access to Members only page. Members can access to following materials.
• Rules of VCCI• VCCI label/mark• Technical Materials

5 How to Practice Voluntary Control
Under the voluntary control measures by the VCCI Council, the member is obliged to conduct
MME (multimedia equipment) testing to verify compliance with emission (interference) standards
prior to shipment of a product on the Japan market. This conformance test must use
measurement facilities registered to the VCCI Council. After designating the MME class andsubmitting the conformity confirmation report, the member must ship the product with theprescribed indication on both the equipment and instruction manual.
The VCCI Council will conduct market sampling tests on reported equipment to confirm theircompliance with VCCI regulations.
The flow of the voluntary control described above is shown in the figure below.

VCCI Member
Measurement Facity
Product

Certificate

Applicationforregistration

Conformity
Confirmation test

Shipment

Notification of
acceptance

Conformity
confirmation

Japan Market

Product sampling
Judgement

Selection of MME
Examination

Measurement
Facility Filing

Conformity
confirmation Filing

VCCI Council

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Market samplingtest5.1 Categorization of Equipment
MMEs is classified as either of the two classes, "Class A multimedia equipment (hereinafter,
Class A equipment)" and "Class B multimedia equipment (hereinafter, Class B equipment)"
depending on the environment in which they are used.
"Class B equipment"
Class B equipment is equipment that satisfies the Class B limits. Class B equipment isprimarily intended for use in residential environments and is intended to provide adequate
protection for broadcast services. The broadcast receiver equipment is a Class B equipment.
"Class A equipment"
Class A equipment is any equipment (other than Class B) that meets the Class A limits.
5.2 Confirmation of Compliance
Members must follow VCCI-CISPR 32 “Technical Requirements” established by the VCCI Council
for the requirements including limits of disturbance generated by MME, measurement methods, andmeasurement facilities. Therefore, members are required to verify technical requirement conformity
and submit a report as indicated below.
(1) Confirmation of Compliance with Technical Requirements
Members must follow VCCI-CISPR 32 “Technical Requirements” established by the VCCI
Council for the requirements including limits of disturbance generated by MME, measurement
methods, and measurement facilities. A member shipping MME shall in advance measureemissions from the subject equipment in accordance with VCCI-CISPR 32 using themeasurement facilities registered to the VCCI Council and, upon confirming the compliancewith the disturbance limits, shall compile a test report prior to shipment.
(2) Registration of Compliance
A member placing MME on the market must in advance confirm the product conformity of thesubject MME and report the confirmation results to the VCCI Council. by using the VCCI
Council’s report of compliance system, and receive a notification of acceptance from the VCCI
Council.
Note: It takes approximately one week to issue the “Acceptance of Conformity Report.”

55.3 Marking on Equipment
Members must put the statement and/or the mark shown below on equipment that they haveregistered., Class A equipment shall bear the wording and/or mark, and Class B equipment shallbear the mark. The wording of the statement may be regarded as an example but shall include theJapanese text either exactly the same as the example or substantially similar to the example. For
products with display means, “electronic display” may be implemented instead of the statement
and/or the mark.

1. Class A equipment
For each shipment of Class A equipment that has been registered, Members shall put thestatement and/or the mark shown below at a readily visible position on each equipment.
この装置は、クラスＡ機器です。この装置を住宅環境で使用すると電波妨害を引き起こすことがあります。この場合には使用者が適切な対策を講ずるよう要求されることがあります。

VCCI －Ａ

Translation:
This is a Class A equipment. Operation of this equipment in a residential environment could
cause radio interference. In such a case, the user may be required to take corrective actions.
VCCI-A(The color of the mark is unrestricted.)

2. Class B equipment
For each shipment of Class B equipment that has been registered, Members shall put themark shown below at a readily visible position on each equipment..

(The color of the mark is unrestricted.)66 Registration of Measurement Facilities
The Measurement Facilities for Product Conformance Verification Test are needed to register VCCI,
depend on "Rules for Registration of Measurement Facilities" by receive examination.
It requires about three months.
But the registration of measuring facilities which are accredited by Laboratory Accreditation
Bodies are required less than one month, because of no examination.

7 Market Sampling Test
The Council conducts market sampling tests for the purpose of checking conformity of MME
distributed in the Japanese market with the technical requirements. The objective of the test
conducted based on "The Rules for Market Sampling Test" is to provide members with level playing
field for their voluntary efforts in maintaining product conformity. Members have an obligation tocooperate with the Council in the test on their products, if selected.

8 Technical Requirements
Members are obliged to follow limits on and methods of measurement of electromagnetic
interference caused by MME prescribed in the technical requirements which were establishedby the Council in such a way to reflect the Japanese standards issued by the Information andCommunication Council under Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Details will be found on "Rules of VCCI" which placed on members only page. User ID&PW will
be provided after become VCCI member.

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9 Activities(1)

Formulate basic policies on voluntary control of electromagnetic disturbances emitted bymultimedia equipment(2)

Coordinate the interest of member organizations and liaise with the government and related
agencies(3)

Receive and file conformity verification report with the voluntary control standards and issue
reception acknowledgement in return(4)

Carry out market surveillance (with sampling test commissioned to third party testinglaboratories)(5)

Regularly review the suitability of the Technical Requirements for necessary revisions byresearch and experiments and share the results with members(6)

Hold measurement skills courses to prepare members’ engineers for adequate conformity
assessment(7)

Study trends in overseas EMC regulations and seek opportunities for mutual recognition
agreement(8)

Examine credentials of measurement laboratories and facilities based on the measurement
facilities registration system(9)

Conduct PR activities for general consumers and reach out to potential companies andassociations for encouraging them to join VCCI(10) Administer other programs for effective operations of voluntary control

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