Consumer Affairs Agency Founded	No.650 September 15, 2009
		The Consumer Affairs Agency opened on September 1. It is a new government office founded after 38 years since 1971 when the Environment Agency (now Ministry of Environment) was established. The agency will integrate all the separated administrative jobs into a single control to respond comprehensively to demands of consumers from the point to protect their benefits. We expect that the new organization will work effectively and steadily for a society in which people may live in safe. PEOPLE EXPECT GOOD CONTROL OVER CONSUMER AFFAIRS The new office is a headquarters on the affairs related to consumers. It will collect relevant information, and study and analyze it to take necessary steps. For this purpose the agency is authorized to cover thirty laws under its jurisdiction and make an on-the-spot inspection in cooperation with government offices to advise and instruct to solve problems. The Consumer Affairs Agency independently commits in spheres that other government offices do not handle, overcoming the vertically-divided bureaucratic structure, and is entitled to plan and elaborate laws. Many Accidents Happened The agency was founded because many accidents had happened to consumers: the failures in the commodities were the outcome of a series of policies taken by the coalition administrations of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. They favored the industry circle first, and put secondly benefits of consumers. The deregulation policy applied to the quality check system from a stage prior to production to a post-production phase has generated risks and heightened anxiety on the side of consumers. We remember what happened last year as a social problem, the accidents caused by sub-standard commodities. The first was frozen dumpling imported from China, then, water-heaters of Paloma brand, sweet jelly of arum root, elevators, labeling fraud of origin of food and BSE (bovine sponge-form Encephalopathy). No quick, appropriate action was taken due to absence of the right authority to be in charge of the incidents in the comprehensive way. After One Month It took a month for a notice of the tainted frozen Chinese dumpling detected at a local public health office to reach the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which caused multiple cases of poisoning. The water-heater’s accidents occurred 20 years ago when some people were killed by carbon mono-oxide gas, but the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has left intact the product’s mechanical defect. The sweet jelly product caused suffocation to deaths, but due to absence of right government office, fatal accidents have not been studied in any way. The sweet falls outside the jurisdictions of existing offices. The new agency copes with serious cases that may cause damages to health and life of consumers: it obliges local governments and public organizations to immediately report data of incidence directly so that such information found at hospitals, health offices and police stations may reach the Agency without fail. The agency makes a databank of accident information to share across the country. To cope with troubles for a sales contract, a specific, unified phone number is ready at local Consumer’s Life Centers, which convey claims to the National Center of People’s Life through a computer network. The information gap between manufacturers and consumers is substantial. The agency is established to shrink the gap as much as possible by way of administrative mechanisms and legislative changes. That is why the new agency is expected to do the best job. So that Lawsuits be Unnecessary Until today consumers, if inflicted damages by a certain commodity, have filed a suit for relief and protection at the law court. That is why the Japan Bar Association adopted a resolution in the Congress to Defend Human Rights in 1989 which ‘demands the state government to implement a policy to prevent and relieve damages sustained by consumers’. It requested a comprehensive, integrated control of consumer affairs. Many civic groups and consumer organizations have campaigned to remove obstacles which hinder a smooth solution of troubles, including the vertical division of government offices and the outmaneuvered bureaucratic responses. Overcome Turmoil The Aso’s outgoing government hurried up to open the agency beyond the schedule, which has produced fusses: emerged a policy difference to nominate Director General from the coming government, Democratic Party of Japan, messes over personnel affairs of the Consumers’ Committee, which is the major controlling body, and etc. The agency must work for the sake of people, clearing these difficulties.