News Details
Japan solicits consultation to amend guidelines under CSCL
On 20 August 2025, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of the Environment (MoE) jointly released the draft amendments to guidelines under Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL). Ministry released the draft notification on the Japan’s e-GOV Public Comment Portal. The ministries plan to update these operational guidelines in light of the 2025 assessment of the 2017 CSCL amendment and plans for chemical substance management in the future. The March 29, 2019 notification on managing by-product Class I Specified Substances will also be revised.
Key
Amendments from draft
notification
Article 1 – Impurities containing Class I Specified
Substances:
- Previously,
rules only applied when Class I Specified Substances were present as by-products.
- Now,
rules will also apply when they are present as impurities (broader
definition, including by-products).
Article 2 – Structural Changes and Clarifications:
- Restructuring:
- Establish a new section "1. Common Provisions" to consolidate rules that apply across the entire guideline.
- Clarifications:
- Clarify treatment of anhydrous vs.
hydrated substances.
- Clarify definitions of terms for organic
polymers.
- Existing
vs. New Substances:
- Some substances previously excluded from
being treated as "new" will now be explicitly treated as existing
chemical substances, with reference to specific provisions in the law
(Article 2, paragraphs 4, 5, 7).
Article 3 – Existing Chemicals:
- Revision
of the definition of "existing chemical substances" with
necessary updates.
Comment Period and Enforcement Dates
|
Particulars |
Enforcement
Dates |
|
Article 1 |
1 October 2025 |
|
Article 2 |
1 April 2026 |
|
Article 3 |
1 April 2027 |
We acknowledge that the above information has been compiled from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Portal - Japan.
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