On June 22, 2026, MHLW, METI, and MOE jointly promulgated an amendment to the Ordinance on Public Notice of Names of New Chemical Substances as provided in Article 4(5) of the Chemical Substance Control Law (CSCL). The amendment extends the confidentiality period before a substance name is made public from five to ten years and modernizes the notice method from the Official Gazette to online publication.
Background
Under CSCL Article 4, when a notifier submits a new chemical substance for manufacture or import, the three ministers jointly examine and classify it. For substances determined not to be Class I Specified Chemical Substances, Class II Specified Chemical Substances, or Monitoring Chemical Substances—commonly referred to as "white" or low-risk substances—Article 4(5) requires the ministers to publicly notify the substance's name after a designated confidentiality period, enabling downstream users and other companies to identify substances that have already undergone government screening. The original ordinance (Heisei 16 Joint Ministerial Ordinance No. 4 of March 18, 2004) set this period at five years from the date of the screening determination.
Key Changes
The amendment introduces two changes:
- Confidentiality period extended to 10 years: The period before a substance name is made public is doubled from five to ten years. The government states that the extension aims to balance information transparency with incentives for notifiers to develop safer alternatives, while maintaining the simplicity of the regulatory system.
- Online publication: The method of public notice is updated from the Official Gazette to online publication on the ministries' websites.
Public Consultation Outcomes
A draft of the amendment was released for public consultation from March 11 to April 10, 2026, attracting six submissions. The majority of commenters opposed the uniform ten-year extension. Key concerns raised included:
- Downstream users (e.g., importers of finished products) being unable to identify the substance without the original notifier disclosing trade secret information;
- Manufacturing contractors, rather than the patent-holding notifier, bearing the practical burden of extended confidentiality;
- Potential adverse effects on industries using widely-circulated substances;
- Uncertainty regarding retroactive application to substances notified between 2021 and 2025 (Reiwa 3–7).
The government maintained the ten-year period without modification. In its responses, it emphasized that ten years represents an appropriate balance between transparency and the policy objective of encouraging the development of safer chemical alternatives. The government also pointed out that other companies wishing to handle the same substance can utilize the same-substance notification mechanism under the CSCL to obtain their own screening determination without depending on the original notifier's disclosure. Additionally, post-notification screening evaluations of notified substances will continue to be conducted irrespective of the confidentiality period.
Retroactive Application
The amendment applies retroactively. All substances whose names have not yet been published as of June 22, 2026 fall under the extended ten-year confidentiality period, regardless of when the original notification was made. The government indicated that efforts will be made to publicize the change among stakeholders.
