The phones at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry have been ringing off the hook since early February when it suddenly and quietly changed its enforcement of a 2001 law on electrical appliance safety.
The change has outraged the 300,000 businesses nationwide that trade in secondhand electrical goods, and METI has been fielding more than 100 calls a day from people demanding to know why, as of April 1, retailers can no longer sell old electrical products without special safety certification.
After a five-year moratorium, the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law now requires that 259 types of electrical products, including most home appliances, only be sold if they meet METI's Product Safety of Electrical Appliance and Material (PSE) standards.