Environment Ministry Sets VOC Emission Standards

The Japanese Ministry of the Environment announced on April 8, 2005, that it would proceed with formulation of a government ordinance to set emission standards for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under the Air Pollution Control Law, based on a report submitted by the Central Environment Council, an advisory panel to the Environment Minister.

The report on the introduction of regulations to control VOC emissions proposed six types of facilities that should be regulated, recommended that those which have potential VOC emissions of 50 tons or more a year should be subject to the regulations, and specified emission limits for each type of facilities. The six categories are coating, adhesive bonding, printing, chemical product manufacturing, solvent cleaning and VOC storage.

The ministry hopes that the government ordinance will be enacted at the start of fiscal 2006, while existing facilities are to be exempted until the end of fiscal 2009. The council's report estimated that the regulations will help reduce national VOC emissions from stationary sources by about 10 percent.



Posted: 2005/06/15 06:44:33 PM
Japanese version