The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan jointly released the 2025 notification schedule for the production and import of low volume and small volume new chemical substances.
Under the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL), enterprises must report new chemical substances based on annual production or import volume. Substances with an annual production or import volume of less than 1 ton require small volume notification, while those produced or imported from 1 ton to 10 tons require low volume notification.
2025 Notification Schedule for Low Volume New Chemical Substances
Enterprises can submit their notifications online, on optical discs, or in document form. The specific acceptance schedule for notification is as follows:
1 | Notification dates | |
Online notification | February 19-27, 2025 | |
Optical disc/Document notification | February 19-25, 2025 | |
2 | April 18-24, 2025 | |
3 | May 16-22, 2025 | |
4 | June 20-26, 2025 | |
5 | July 18-25, 2025 | |
6 | August 26-29, 2025 | |
7 | September 19-26, 2025 | |
8 | October 16-22, 2025 | |
9 | November 17-21, 2025 | |
10 | December 15-19, 2025 | |
11 | January 20-26, 2026 | |
12 | February 9-12, 2026 |
2025 Notification Schedule for Small-Volume New Chemical Substances
Enterprises can submit their notifications online, on optical discs, or in document form, although not all rounds accept optical discs and document notifications. The acceptance schedule for notification and the expected arrival dates of confirmation notices are as follows:
Notification method | Notification dates | Expected arrival dates of confirmation notices | |
1 | Online notification | January 15-22, 2025 | March 25, 2025 |
Optical disc notification | January 15-21, 2025 | ||
Document notification | January 15-20, 2025 | ||
2 | Online notification | April 1-7, 2025 | May 19, 2025 |
3 | Online notification | May 2-12, 2025 | June 18, 2025 |
4 | Online notification | June 2-6, 2025 | July 18, 2025 |
Optical disc notification | June 2-5, 2025 | ||
Document notification | June 2-5, 2025 | ||
5 | Online notification | July 1-7, 2025 | August 12, 2025 |
6 | No new notifications will be accepted. Only confirmations for notifications from the fifth round and earlier that were accepted but did not include a certificate of use will be processed. | August 29, 2025 | |
7 | Online notification | September 1-5, 2025 | October 17, 2025 |
Optical disc notification | September 1-4, 2025 | ||
Document notification | September 1-4, 2025 | ||
8 | Online notification | October 1-7, 2025 | November 14, 2025 |
9 | Online notification | November 4-10, 2025 | December 12, 2025 |
10 | Online notification | December 1-5, 2025 | January 16, 2026 |
Optical disc notification | December 1-4, 2025 | ||
Document notification | December 1-4, 2025 |
The notification documents must include the enterprise name and address, notifier's name, volume of the chemical, its uses, and structure. In principle, the production and import of new chemical substances can only proceed after receiving the confirmation notice.
Future Notification Schedule
The 2026 notification schedule for low volume and small volume new chemical substances is expected to be released in mid-October 2025. Enterprises should stay informed to ensure timely compliance with the regulations.
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