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

1. Outline of the new establishments and revisions of standards

In September 2020, METI newly established 12 standards and revised 14 standards. Among these standards, 13 are based on proposals prepared by the Japanese Standards Association (JSA), which is the first organization approved under the System for Approval Bodies for Development of Industrial Standards, a system permitting METI to establish or revise JIS without holding discussions at the Committee for Preparing Draft Proposals, resulting from of a legal revision made in July 2019. This is the first case where METI established and revised JIS based on a proposal by an approval body (see Appendix 1). In particular, METI believes that the following establishments of JIS are especially important.

(1) Establishment of the JIS for safety requirements for “horse riding style” electric wheelchairs

In recent years, Japan has been facing a shortage of human resources that can play a leading role in the field of nursing care, which is a rising challenge in an aging society. Specifically, this situation has been imposing excess burdens on caregivers when they try to move care receivers from beds to wheelchairs. To overcome this, Japanese industries have been advancing the development of “horse riding style” electric wheelchairs to help caregivers more easily move care receivers. However, such products are still on the way to popularization and these industries have no fixed specifications for the products. To address this challenge, METI established JIST9210 as a standard for safety requirements for “horse riding style” saddle type electric wheelchairs.* This standard will permit industries to incorporate all necessary safety considerations in developing such products. In addition, this establishment is expected to contribute significantly to not only creating new markets but also supporting care receivers in obtaining independence in their daily lives and reducing the burden on caregivers as workers engaging in the field of nursing care.

*Note: This JIS was established taking advantage of the Standardization System for Cultivating New Markets.

• Front and side views of a “horse riding style” electric wheelchair

(2) Establishment of the JIS for open systems dependability

Information technologies and networks are becoming increasingly complicated and sophisticated. These technologies make use of open systems that are constructed by connecting software and devices that are developed by a variety of providers, and this situation requires the providers to maintain competence in terms of their ability to sustainably maintain the interests of stakeholders  in the face unexpected failures in their technologies, attacks against them, or environmental changes that may affect them (“open system dependability”). International guidance in relation to a set of requirements to achieve open systems dependability has already been established as de jure standard based on Japan’s proposal, and against this backdrop, METI established this standard as a new JIS.

This standard is expected to not only contribute to better reliability and maintenance of open systems, but also to allow system providers to ensure accountability and secure the quality of their systems.

2. Outline of JIS

JISs stipulate types and quality of products, data, services, etc., the test or assessment methods for assessing the types and quality of such, and the values of standards that businesses are required to meet. Producers, service providers, product users and consumers and other stakeholders, for example, make use of these standards in assessing quality products and enjoying secure services. METI has been establishing new standards or revising existing ones for JIS in response to technological advancements, changes in social environments and other factors as necessary.

For more information on JIS, visit the following websites:

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

For more information on the Standardization System for Cultivating New Markets, visit the following websites:

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

• JIS Search Service (in Japanese)

3. Past news releases

For past news releases related to the establishments and revisions of JIS, visit the following website.

• Latest information on JIS (in Japanese)

4. Contact counters for the respective JIS

If you wish to make any inquiry on details of the respective JIS that have been publicized, please email the divisions in charge at METI as shown in Appendix 1. Please note that the division in charge of Item 1, (1) above is the International Standardization Division, and that in charge of Item 1, (2) above is the International Electrotechnology Standardization Division. If you make contact through email as above, please clearly indicate your name, the name of your company (if you send an email as a representative of a company or other entity), and your contact information.

Related document

• Appendix1: List of Newly Established and Revised JIS Publicly Notified on September 23, 2020 (PDF:24KB)

Division in Charge

• Information on this press release:

  Standards and Conformity Assessment Public Relations Office, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau

  E-MAIL：MLLWA@meti.go.jp

• Information on the respective JIS:

  International Standardization Division

  E-MAIL：s-kijun-ISO@meti.go.jp

  International Electrotechnology Standardization Division

  E-MAIL：s-iec@meti.go.jp

  Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau