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

1. Outline of the new establishment and revision of standards

In November 2020, METI newly established 9 standards and revised 15 standards. Among these standards, it revised 2 standards based on proposals prepared by the Japanese Standards Association (JSA), an organization approved under the System for Approval Bodies for Development of Industrial Standards, in which METI is permitted to establish or revise JIS without discussions at the Committee for Preparing Draft Proposals resulting from of a legal revision made in July 2019 (see Appendix 1). METI believes that the following establishment and revision of JIS are especially important.

(1) Establishment of JIS for assessing the performance of non-destructive, automatic inspection devices for finding “flaws” on the inner diameter surfaces of machined holes

Conventionally, manufacturers have conducted human visual inspections to find “flaws” on the inner diameter surfaces of machined holes of precision parts for automobiles and industrial machinery when they process the holes. In recent years, a variety of automatic inspection devices (i.e., automatic devices that inspect the inner diameter surfaces of machined holes) have been developed and are becoming popular. In spite of this, there have been no methods for objectively and uniformly assessing the performance of such devices.

Against this backdrop, METI established a JIS* for assessing the performance of “automatic devices used for the inspection of the inner diameter surfaces of machined holes” which are categorized into three types: laser type, camera type and eddy current type (*1). This JIS is expected to i) allow manufacturers to objectively assess and compare the performance of automatic devices that inspect the inner diameter surfaces of machined holes; ii) improve public trust in such devices; iii) contribute to disseminating the devices and thereby creating new markets; and iv) streamline the “flaw” inspection processes and reduce the labor force necessary for that task.

• Laser type
  (source: Sigma Corporation)
• Camera type
  (source: Yuki Laboratory)
• Eddy current type
  (source: Rohmann Japan Co., Ltd.)

Figure 1: Automatic devices used for the inspection of the inner diameter surfaces of machined holes

(2) Revision of JIS of about 60,000 kanji characters and new pictograms as international character codes adopted in the Universal Coded Character Set (UCS)

Further advancing digitalization in administrative services in municipalities requires displaying accurately a large volume of kanji characters in such official documents as family registers and resident records, regardless of the computer terminals or types of machines used. An international standard was issued in 2019 which adopted all of the approximately 60,000 kanji characters used in family registers and resident records in Japan and in line with this, METI revised the existing JIS to meet the international standard.

This revision is expected to contribute to i) removing burdens from municipal personnel in charge who need to prepare non-standard characters which are not included in official character codes in the respective municipalities; ii) solving difficulties in sharing information on such non-standard characters among municipalities; iii) improving user-friendliness in building and operating administrative online systems; and iv) facilitating digitalization of administrative services, including issuance of copies of family registers and resident records.

2. Outline of the JIS

The JIS stipulate types and quality of products, data, services, etc., testing or assessment methods for ascertaining such types and quality, and the numerical 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 purchasing quality products and enjoying services in a secure manner.

METI has been establishing new standards or revising the existing ones 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 website:
• METI website for standardization and certification (in Japanese):

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

• METI website on the Standardization System for Cultivating New Markets (in Japanese):

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 establishment and revision of JIS, visit the following website.

4. Contact counter for the respective JIS

If you wish to make an inquiry regarding details of the respective JISs that have been established, please contact the divisions in charge of METI as shown in Appendix 1 by email. Please note that the division in charge of the establishment described in 1. (1) above is the International Standardization Division, and that in charge of the revision described in 1. (2) above is the International Electrotechnology Standardization Division. When sending an email, please clearly indicate your name, the name of your company or organization (if you send an email as a representative of a company or other entity), and your contact information.

• Appendix 1: Establishment and revision of JIS announced on November 20, 2020

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

  International Electrotechnology Standardization Division, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau