Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) opened a public consultation on August 25, 2026 on a draft notice partially amending Notice No. 88 of 2004, the instrument that sets the characteristic test methods used in Giteki (技適) technical-conformity certification of specified radio equipment. Comments are accepted from August 26 through September 29, 2026, after which MIC says it will promptly finalize the amendment.
Notice No. 88 (平成16年総務省告示第88号, the notice specifying test methods for characteristic testing) is the technical backbone of Japan's Radio Act certification regime: under the Rule for Technical Regulations Conformity Certification of Specified Radio Equipment (Ordinance No. 37 of 1981, Appendix Table 1, item 1(3)), registered certification bodies such as TELEC must perform characteristic testing using the methods the Minister separately notifies, or equivalent-or-better methods. The draft now on the table reorganizes and updates those methods across a long list of equipment categories.
What does the draft change, and which equipment does it cover?
The draft amends the test-method annexes of Notice No. 88 for numerous categories of specified radio equipment; the full scope is set out in Appendix 2 (別紙2). Because the amendment is framed as a reorganization (整備) of the test-method provisions, the practical effect is that labs must re-check every test method applying to their product families against the new-old comparison table (別紙1) line by line, rather than assume existing SOPs still match.
MIC has not bundled this consultation with the separate, more narrowly watched ordinances on 6 GHz WLAN or 76 GHz millimeter-wave radar; those remain on their own tracks. This is a cross-cutting test-method update, not a single-band change, so the review has to be just as broad as the equipment list.
Who has to act, and by when?
Registered certification bodies, accredited test laboratories, and the OEMs and module vendors that place listed specified radio equipment on the Japanese market are the directly affected parties. The full consultation notice and the draft text on the e-Gov public-comment portal are the authoritative references.
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Consultation opens | August 26, 2026 |
| Comments must arrive (必着) | September 29, 2026 |
| MIC finalizes the amendment | Promptly, after comment review |
Postal submissions are valid with a closing-date postmark. Comments go to the Radio Environment Division (電波環境課) of the Telecommunications Bureau's Radio Department, by mail or via the e-Gov portal, which also hosts the draft for review.
How should certification bodies and labs prepare?
Treat the comment window as the moment to shape the methods, not merely acknowledge them. For each product family listed in Appendix 2, map the current test SOP against the corresponding row in the Appendix 1 comparison table, flag where the method changes, and draft a comment where the proposed method is unclear, infeasible, or inconsistent with how your lab actually measures. Registered certification bodies should also assess whether certifications in flight or follow-on models will need re-evaluation under the new methods once the notice is adopted.
What happens after the comment window closes?
MIC states it will, after reviewing the comments received, promptly (速やかに) amend Notice No. 88. Because the notice is the referenced test-method standard inside conformity certification, an adopted amendment flows directly into how registered certification bodies run characteristic testing: once the amended notice publishes, certification examinations for the listed equipment categories must use the new methods, or equivalent-or-better ones, and certifications issued under the old methods may need re-evaluation for ongoing or follow-on models. That makes the draft stage the right moment to influence the methods rather than absorb them later.
Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces a consultation like this the moment MIC publishes it, before it hardens into a binding test method.
Take advantage of this real-time watch
Verify whether your product families appear in Appendix 2, map every affected test method against the Appendix 1 comparison table, and submit comments by September 29, 2026. Brief your certification body and test lab now so updated SOPs are ready the day the amended notice takes effect. Obsidian's per-jurisdiction monitoring will keep flagging this file through to the amended notice.
