Amendment Act on Reduction of Total Amount of Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulate Matters Originating from Automobiles in Designated Areas (introduced on 3 June 1992, amended on 19 June 2001) is a piece of

environmental legislation Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. The term "environmental law" encompasses treaties, statutes, regulations, Convention (political norm), conventions, and policies designed to protect the natural environment and manage the ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Background

The Act sets the maximum emissions of

nitrogen dioxide Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula . One of several nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide is a reddish-brown gas. It is a paramagnetic, bent molecule with C2v point group symmetry. Industrially, is an intermediate in the s ...

() and

particulate matter Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, though it is sometimes defin ...

s (PMs) allowed by

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es, and diesel passenger vehicles. Complying with this standard has become a requirement to pass the

Motor-vehicle inspection (Japan) , a contraction of , is the name of the vehicle inspection program in Japan for motor vehicles over 250 Cubic centimetre, cc in engine displacement. Reason for existence Officially, the inspection system is in place to ensure that vehicle ...

which is necessary to register cars. The Act is based on the 1992 law that was aimed at the reduction of nitrogen dioxide emissions from diesel vehicles. Further research revealed that particulate matters pose serious

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

risk to the human body. The Act was amended in 2001 to include PMs and enlarged the geographical areas under the regulation.

Affected area

* Kantō: most municipalities in Saitama, Chiba,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, and

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Kansai The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

: majority of municipalities in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and Hyogo * Chukyo: majority of municipalities in Aichi and Mie

Criticism

Critics argued the law cannot stop dirty cars from coming into the regulated areas, as they would simply register the cars at municipalities that are not covered under the law. To patch this loophole, prefectural governments have set up

bylaws A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other ...

(

local ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. Hong Kong In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () ...

) that prohibit non-complying cars to use the roads in their

jurisdictions Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple levels ...

Regulated by

* Ministry of the Environment * Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

References

{{Reflist Environmental law in Japan 1992 in law 1992 in the environment