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OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform - Japan: Progress in Implementing Regulatory Reform

Since 1999, the Japanese government has introduced a number of measures to enhance regulatory quality and to promote regulatory reform, competition policy and market openness. This study updates information about competition policy in Japan, and such trade-related matters as internationally harmonised measures and conformity assessment processes. It calls attention to the linkages between regulatory policies and tools, and the application of competition and market-openness principles. Innovative efforts, such as the Special Zones initiative, also receive attention. The overall concern is how further progress on regulatory reform can enhance Japan’s growth potential. The report brings out many of the lessons of implementation, which take account of the specificities of the Japanese context, but can be of wider value in other countries as well.