– Effort for improving product safety in both Japan and Thailand –
June 27, 2023
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) hereby announces that on June 27 (Tue.), 2023, the Industrial and Product Safety Policy Group, METI, Japan, and the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (hereinafter referred to as “OCPB”), Thailand, concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on Product Safety.
This conclusion of the MOC is expected to contribute to improving the safety of products distributed in markets in Japan and Thailand.
Background to the conclusion
Recently, consumers in Japan have been facing a variety of fatal, fire and other accidents caused by consumer products against the background of expanding global supply chains and the cross-border trading that has been popularized through online commerce. In this trend, aiming to disseminate Japan’s product safety systems in Thailand, METI, in cooperation with the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (hereinafter referred to as “NITE”), has been providing training courses and other educational opportunities since FY2017 related to Japan’s policies for product safety and NITE’s methods for analyzing product accidents to the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (hereinafter referred to as “TISI”), OCPB, the Royal Thai Police and other authorities responsible for product safety in Thailand, which is one of the major countries from which Japan imports products.
Taking into consideration the past efforts, OCPB, which is one of the authorities responsible for product safety in Thailand, and the METI Industrial and Product Safety Policy Group decided to conclude the MOC on Product Safety, aiming to further improve the safety of products distributed on markets in both Japan and Thailand.
This is the second case in which the METI Industrial and Product Safety Policy Group concluded the MOC with a Thai authority responsible for product safety, following the MOC with TISI. METI will continue to further advance the cooperation with both of the organizations to secure consumer product safety.
Overview of the MOC
(1) Title of the MOC
MEMORANDUM OF COOPERATION (MOC) BETWEEN OFFICE OF THE CONSUMER PROTECTION BOARD, OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, KINGDOM OF THAILAND AND THE INDUSTRIAL AND PRODUCT SAFETY POLICY GROUP OF THE MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, TRADE AND INDUSTRY OF JAPAN
(2) Signees
Japanese side: Mr. Tsujimoto Keisuke, Director-General for Technology Policy Coordination and Industrial and Product Safety, Minister’s Secretariat, METI
Thai side: Mr. Thasornatt Thanitthipun, Secretary General , OCPB
(3) Details of cooperation
- Exchange of information and opinions on the following matters.
- Information on serious accidents associated with consumer products that occurred in Japan and Thailand;
- Information on consumer product recall operations in Japan and Thailand;
- Information on identified risks and improvement measures taken with respect to consumer products distributed in Japan and Thailand; etc.
- Exchange of opinions by convening regular meetings, including collaborative efforts with domestic related organizations, e.g., NITE, in Japan and Thailand
