2 Alcoholic Beverages (Beer, Wine, Whisky, etc.) - ASEAN-Japan ...

C-2. Alcoholic Beverages (Beer, wine, whisky, etc.)
The taxable volume is regarded as equivalent to the volume of liquors distributed and sold in Japan. Liquor taxes are collected
on domestic liquor when it is shipped from the factory, and on imported liquor when it is taken from the bonded warehouse.
happoshu uses less malt than beer, they are classified as miscellaneous liquors under the Liquor Tax Law, and thus are subject
to lower liquor taxes than beer.
3. Key Considerations with regard to exports to Japan
(1) Regulations and Procedural Requirements at the time of Importing in Japan
Alcoholic beverage imports are subject to the provisions of the Food Sanitation Law and the Liquor Tax
Law.
1) Food Sanitation Law
All food products to be imported for the purpose of sales and marketing are subject to the procedures of
Food Sanitation Law. The Importers must submit a “Notification Form for Importation of Food, etc.” together
with other necessary documents as ingredients list and production process chart when the processed food is
the case, to the quarantine station at the port of entry. Upon examination of the documents, when the products
are judged as subject to sanitary inspection, the inspection will be carried out inside bonded area and then
decision will be made for import. The procedures required under the Food Sanitation Law is shown below.
Marketing Guide for ASEAN Exporters to Japan
200
Fig. 13 Procedures required under the Food Sanitation Law
Advance consultation service
Advance information acquisition (regarding production methods, content of ingredients, etc.)
Advance inspection (by the competent government agency of the exporting country,
or the official laboratory registered with the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare)
Submission to the Quarantine Station
(“Notification Form for Importation of Foods, etc.” and other related documents)
Examination of documents
Cargo required inspection Cargo not required inspection
Failure Pass
Reshipment, destruction,
conversion to other purposes
Certificate of notification processing, or
certificate of passing inspection
Customs declaration
On May 29, 2006, the new positive list system was introduced and came into force. The system stipulates
all food products, if detected agricultural pesticides, feed additives, animal veterinary drugs to remain in
excess of certain quantity, importation and sales of such food products will be in principle prohibited. In this
system, for the agricultural pesticides etc. recognized to use and remain in the product, the maximum residual
level is fixed, and for other chemicals uniform standard of 0.01ppm residual level is applicable (quantity
understood as hardly affect human health).
All food products, including processed food products, are subject to the positive list system, and of course
alcoholic beverages are also subject to the system. For more detail, refer to the Ministry of Health, Labor,
and Welfare website. (⇒http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/foodsafety/positivelist060228/index.html)
It is required for the importers to gather abundant and enough information on the projected import foods to
study whether the products meets the requirement of the Food Sanitation Law in their specifications and
standards by obtaining, in advance, ingredients lists and production process charts or by making consultation
with the quarantine office.
Prior to importing, the importer may take a sample of forthcoming imports to laboratories registered with
the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare or the competent governmental agencies of the exporting countries.
Those test results may be substituted for the corresponding inspection at the port of entry, which expedites the
quarantine process.
In addition, importers who wish to submit their notification by computer may make use of the computerized
FAINS (Food Automated Import Notification and Inspection Network System) for processing import-related