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 law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

in Japan.

Background

The Act sets the maximum

emissions Emission may refer to: Chemical products * Emission of air pollutants, notably: **Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue ** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion ** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...

nitrogen dioxide Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is one of several nitrogen oxides. is an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of nitric acid, millions of tons of which are produced each year for use primarily in the productio ...

() and particulate matters (PMs) allowed by

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

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, and

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

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 cc in engine displacement. Reason for existence Officially, the inspection system is in place to ensure that vehicles on Japanese roa ...

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 abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

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 (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, and

Kanagawa is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanagaw ...

* Kansai: majority of municipalities in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

and Hyogo *

Chukyo Chukyo can refer to: * Emperor Chūkyō (1218-1234), 85th emperor of Japan the city of Nagoya ( 中京 Chūkyō). Various things are named after the city: *Chūkyō Industrial Area *Chūkyō Metropolitan Area *Chūkyō Television Broadcasting *Ch ...

: majority of municipalities in

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...

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), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, 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 authorit ...

( local ordinance) that prohibit non-complying cars to use the roads in their jurisdictions.

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