Effort for improving product safety in both Thailand and Japan.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) hereby announces that on February 11 (Tue.), 2020, the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI), Ministry of Industry, Kingdom of Thailand, and the Industrial and Product Safety Policy Group, METI, Japan, concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on Product Safety in Bangkok, Thailand.
This conclusion of the MOC is expected to contribute to improving the safety of products distributed in markets in both Thailand and Japan.
Background to the MOC
Recently, consumers in Japan have suffered a variety of fatal and injurious consumer product accidents and fires, in part due to the different regulatory frameworks that are involved in the expanding global supply chains, cross-border trading backed by popularization of online trading, and other changes. To address this issue, since FY2017, METI has been providing training courses and other learning opportunities in cooperation with NITE on Japan’s policies for product safety and the methods by NITE for analyzing product accident, to TISI, the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB), the Central Police of Thailand and other organizations related to product safety in Thailand, which is one of the major countries of manufacture from which Japan imports products, aiming to disseminate Japan’s product safety systems to Thailand.
Taking into consideration past efforts, TISI, one of the authorities responsible for product safety in Thailand, and the Industrial and Product Safety Policy Group, METI, decided to conclude a MOC on Product Safety, aiming to further improve the safety of products distributed in markets in both Japan and Thailand.
Overview of the MOC
Title of the MOC: Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between the Industrial and Product Safety Policy Group of the Ministry of Economy, Trade And Industry of Japan and the Thai Industrial Standards Institute of the Ministry of Industry of the Kingdom of Thailand
Signatories: Japanese side: Mr. Ozawa Noriaki, Director-General for Technology Policy Coordination and Industrial and Product Safety, Minister’s Secretariat, METI
Thai side: Mr. Wanchai Phanomchai, Secretary-General, TISI, Ministry of Industry
Details of cooperation:
- METI and TISI will exchange information and opinions on the following matters.
- Information on serious incidents associated with consumer products that happened in Japan or Thailand;
- Information on consumer product recall operations within Japan or Thailand;
- Information on risks identified and measures taken with respect to consumer products distributed in markets in Japan and Thailand; etc.
- METI and TISI will engage in regular exchanges of views through face to face meetings between staff members of both sides, including collaborative efforts with domestic related organizations (e.g., NITE), in Japan and Thailand.
