New Establishment and Revision of the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) (May 2020)

1. Outline of the new establishment and revision of standards

In May 2020, METI newly established 3 standards and revised 5 standards (see Appendix 1). In particular, METI believes that the following revision of the existing JIS is especially important.

(1) Revision of the JIS for public information symbols

Public information symbols are visual signs that communicate information and provide direction to people with a quick glance. Aiming to make public information symbols more concise for overseas tourists as well as Japanese nationals in view of recent societal changes, METI added nine public information symbols to the existing JIS Z8210 (public information symbols): those representing “all-gender toilets,” “children’s toilets,” “ baby feeding room (for women),” “baby feeding room  (for women and men),” “diaper changing table,” “care bed,” “baby chair,” “changing board” and “Cool, Relaxing rest area.” This addition of nine public information symbols is expected to encourage public buildings and other facilities to make use of such symbols under the JIS, providing more user-friendly guidance to many people.

Newly added public information symbols

All-gender toilet	Children’s toilet	Baby feeding room (for women)

Baby feeding room (for women and men)	Diaper changing table	Care bed

Baby chair	Changing board	Cool, Relaxing rest area

2. Outline of the JIS

The JIS stipulate types and quality of products, data, services, etc.; test or assessment methods for ascertaining such types and quality; and the quality of standards that businesses are required to meet. These standards are utilized to ensure product reliability in quality for manufacturers, users and consumers, as well as ensuring quality service for customers.

METI has been establishing new standards or revising the existing ones for the JIS in response to technological advancements, changes in social environments and other factors as necessary.

For more information on the JIS, visit the following websites.

• The Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (in Japanese)
• METI website for standardization and certification (in Japanese)

For details of the respective JIS, visit the following website.

• Website for retrieving JIS (in Japanese)

3. Past news releases

For past news releases related to the establishment and revision of JIS, visit the following website.

• Latest Information on JIS (in Japanese)

4. Partial revision of the Industrial Standardization Act

The Bill for the Act of Partial Revision of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, etc. (Act No. 33 of 2018) was approved at the 196th ordinary session of the Diet in 2018 and the Act was established. In line with this, the Industrial Standardization Act was partially revised to newly entitle data and services as targets of standardization under the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) and to change the title of the Industrial Standardization Act from “Kogyo Hyojyunka Ho” to “Sangyo Hyojyunka Ho” in Japanese as well as the title of the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) from “Nihon Kogyo Kikaku” to “Nihon Sangyo Kikaku” in Japanese. The revised Act came into force on July 1, 2019.

For more information, visit the following site;

• METI’s website (in Japanese) :

5. Contact counter of the respective JIS

If you wish to make an inquiry on details of the respective JIS that have been publicized, contact, by email if possible, the divisions in charge of METI shown in Appendix 1. Please note that the division in charge of Item 1, (1) above is the International Standardization Division, METI. When sending an email, please clearly state: your name, the name of your company (if you send an email as a representative of a company or other entity) and contact address.

Related Document

• List of Newly Established and Revised JIS Publicly Notified on May 20, 2020 (PDF:14KB)

Division in Charge

• Information on this press release:
  Standards and Conformity Assessment Public Relations Office, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau
• Information on the respective JIS:
  International Standardization Division, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau