Any new carbon tax should be imposed on consumers of fossil fuels, not their importers and processors, a senior Environment Ministry official indicated Wednesday.

Speaking at a morning meeting between officials of the ministry and the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), Environment Policy Bureau Director General Yoshio Tamura said the government need not strictly follow an August 2003 Central Environment Council committee report suggesting that a carbon levy should be imposed on the so-called upstream users of those fuels.

The council is an advisory body to the ministry.