There are no general requirements for Japan.

Japanese Agricultural Standard ​organic logo

The Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for organic livestock products and organic processed foods changed from a voluntary standard to a mandatory standard from 16 July 2020. After this date, all organic livestock products and organic processed foods sold in Japan must be labelled with the JAS organic logo. In Japan, JAS certified importers will be required to label the products with the JAS organic logo.

The livestock products that are subject to the JAS livestock regulation include:

• meat and livestock products derived from the following domesticated animals including bovine, equine, ovine, caprine, and porcine animals, and
• poultry (chickens, quails, ostriches, ducks, and wild duck).

Effective from 25 July 2021, organic turkey exported to Japan is required to be labelled with the JAS organic logo.

Further, plant and organic plant products and organic processed foods qualify to use the JAS organic logo.

Honey and fishery products are not included under the JAS standard and, therefore, are not eligible for the JAS organic logo in Japan.

The equivalence agreement outlines that:

• Australian certified organic products can be exported to Japan, on the condition they are grown or processed in Australia and accompanied by an organic goods certificate (OGC).​
• If OGCs are issued under mutual recognition, they must include the name and address of the approved certifying body who certified the organic operator and the approved certifying body issuing the OGC. These details must be recorded in the ‘Certified producer(s) or manufacturer(s) details’ section of the OGC.

Exclusions

Exporters should note the following organics products are currently excluded from the equivalence agreement:

• honey
• fishery products, and
• cosmetics.

For further details refer to Market Access Advice dated 16 July 2020 (MAA 2020-04). In addition, under the DAWE-MAFF Equivalence Agreement*, the below product types that fall under section 5.6 (Produce labelled as in-conversion) of the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce​ cannot be exported from Australia to Japan:​

• certified in-conversion livestock products
• processed products that contain certified in-conversion livestock ingredients.

Note

*The Department was known at the time of signing the Agreement as the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE).

Prohibitions

The Agreement prohibits the use of:

• homeopathic preparations for use in soil fertilising and soil conditioning
  
• wetting agents whose ingredients are not listed in the Codex "Guidelines for the production, processing, labelling and marketing of organically produced foods", Table 2 of Annex 2
  
• disodium diphosphate, ammonium phosphate and ammonium sulphate as food additives.
  

Under the DAWE-MAFF Equivalence Agreement*, the below product types that fall under section 5.6 (Produce labelled as in-conversion) of the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce​ cannot be exported from Australia to Japan:​

• certified in-conversion livestock products
• processed products that contain certified in-conversion livestock ingredients.

Note

*​​The Department was known at the time of signing the Agreement as the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE).