News
The government of Japan’s Council for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform will review, among others, antitrust immunity granted for ocean shipping lines and the general rule that requires delivery of export goods into a bonded area for export declaration.
The council ? a unit under the Government Revitalization Unit, which is chaired by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ? hopes to compile a draft for regulatory reforms by June.
In 2006, a committee for discussing governmental regulations and competition policies, which was a consultative body to the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), exchanged views on the exemption from the application of the Anti-Monopoly Act granted to the oceangoing shipping, environmental, medical, agricultural and other industries.
As the committee concluded then that it was no longer justifiable for the shipping industry to be protected under the immunity system, it suggested that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) discuss whether it was really necessary or not.
Meanwhile, in Japan, declarations for Customs clearance for export cargoes cannot be made until they are delivered to bonded areas.
Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs) are exceptionally authorized to make declarations while shipments are still outside bonded zones.
If Customs inspections could be made before shipments are delivered to bonded areas, lead times and logistics costs would both be reduced.
