Japan’s Positive List (PL) Takes Effect; Consumer Affairs Agency Publishes Guidance for New Petitions
On June 1, 2025, Japan’s Positive List (PL) of synthetic resins used in apparatuses, containers, and packaging (ACP) (or utensils, containers, and packaging (UCP)) became effective after officially being released almost two years ago. Prior to the effective date of the PL, Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) issued an updated English version of its Questions & Answers (Q&A) on the Positive List on May 9, 2025.
Following full implementation of the PL from June 1, 2025, synthetic resins and additives used thereto as raw materials of ACP/UCP for food and food additives shall be explicitly authorized by virtue of listings on the PL, except for the cases of stock exhaustion as stipulated in the Section IV (“Effective date”) of MHLW Notice No.1130-4, November 30, 2023. Regarding this stock exhaustion policy, Q5-1 in the Q&A provides additional guidance to industry as to its interpretation, in particular, the application of the policy to products manufactured or imported into Japan prior to or during the transition period (from June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2025).
Importantly, the Q&A clarifies that apparatuses, containers, or packaging that were manufactured, imported, marketed, or used for business purposes in Japan before June 1, 2020, remain subject to the regulations in place before the introduction of the PL and, therefore, may be marketed or used for business purposes after the transitional period (after June 1, 2025). Additionally, apparatuses, containers, or packaging that are “similar to” those placed into commerce before the transitional period that are placed into commerce during the transitional period may be regarded as being manufactured, imported, marketed, or used for business purposes before introduction of the PL and, thus, as complying with the positive list after the transitional measure (after June 1, 2025). Notably, this exhaustion of stocks clause “does not apply to raw materials that have not been processed into apparatus, containers, or packaging.”
The Q&A defines “similar” apparatuses, containers, or packaging as those that are manufactured or imported using additives that have been used in packaging and are placed into commerce, imported, or used before June 1, 2020, within the range of the relevant use. The range of relevant use excludes use of an additive in a different base material in which the additive was not used prior to June 1, 2020, and use at a level exceeding that which the additive had been used prior to June 1, 2020.
Lastly, the Q&A confirms that the manufacture or import of apparatuses, containers, and packaging after the transitional measure (after June 1, 2025) must involve only ACP or UCP comprised of synthetic resins and additives listed on the PL.
CAA has provided guidance on how companies can petition to list new substances on the PL. The official procedure for petitioning new substances to the PL has, as of today, only been posted in Japanese (seen here). However, an unofficial English translation of the draft public notice is posted to CAA’s website (seen here). The unofficial draft should provide companies with the information they need to know regarding the new substance petition process, as no substantive changes are expected before an official English version is released.