Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Results of Conformity Assessment Procedures between the United States of America and Japan
The agreement was signed on February 16, 2007. It is intended to streamline the conformity assessment procedures for a wide range of telecommunications equipment and facilitates trade between the United States and Japan.
It provides for the mutual recognition of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) and mutual acceptance of the results of equipment certification procedures undertaken by those bodies in assessing conformity of equipment to the importing economy's technical regulations.
The scope of the MRA includes radio and telecommunications equipment including telephone terminal equipment.
The FCC's requirements for Unintentional Radiators and Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) Equipment are not covered by the MRA. Based on a separate exchange of letters, the FCC will accept test results for information technology (IT) equipment from accredited Japanese laboratories, provided VCCI (Voluntary Control Council for Interference), a private sector Japanese organization accepts test results for IT equipment from U.S. accredited testing laboratories.
The Japan MRA is a bilateral, single sector agreement.
Under this MRA, all information is submitted to the FCC from the CABs through the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).
A joint committee has been established to discuss implementation and operational issues.
- The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with VCCI under the separate exchange of letters for IT equipment is operational as of April 2007.
- The MRA for telecommunications, radio and terminal equipment entered into force January 1, 2008 and became operational in June 2009.
The text of the Japan MRA may be viewed at:
https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2017/04/26/us_japan_mratext.pdf
Additional information regarding the Japan MRA may be found on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) web site at:
https://www.nist.gov/standardsgov/us-japan-mra
The regulator in Japan is the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC). The MIC web site may be accessed at: http://www.soumu.go.jp/english/