October 12, 2020 Results of Appeal for Opinions on Draft Ministerial Ordinance and Relevant Notices for Partial Revision of the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and Report from the Radio Regulatory Council

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) made an appeal for opinions from Tuesday, August 25 through Wednesday, September 23, 2020, on a draft ministerial ordinance and relevant notices for partial revisions to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act. As a result, 56 opinions were submitted. Accordingly, MIC has decided to open the submitted opinions to the public, along with MIC’s views on the opinions. With consideration of the results of the appeal for opinions, MIC submitted an inquiry about the drafted revision of the ministerial ordinance to the Radio Regulatory Council (Chaired by YOSHIDA Susumu, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University). In response to the inquiry, MIC has today received a report stating its approval as drafted.
MIC will promptly make the institutional development of relevant regulations based on the appeal for opinions and the report from the Radio Regulatory Council.

1. Overview

Local 5G is a system that can be flexibly used by various entities, such as local companies and local governments throughout Japan, according to the individual needs of each region and industry. Local 5G is expected to be a trump card that will realize problem solutions and the revitalization of various regions throughout Japan. In June 2019, the Information and Communications Council summarized technical conditions in advance for a frequency range of 28.2 to 28.3 GHz. MIC made institutional development for the technical conditions in December of the same year.

MIC received a partial report from the Information and Communications Council in July of this year. This report was for an expansion of the local 5G frequency bands to a range of 4.6 to 4.9 G Hz and 28.3 to 29.1 GHz and the achievement of the asynchronous operation of the bands. In response to the report, MIC prepared a ministerial ordinance, etc. that will partially revise the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and pertinent conditions. Accordingly, MIC has decided to make this appeal for opinions.

2. Report from the Radio Regulatory Council

With consideration of the results of the appeal for opinions, MIC submitted the inquiry to the Radio Regulatory Council based on the Radio Act (Act No. 131 of 1950) about matters related to the drafted ministerial ordinance for the partial revision of the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act. Then, MIC received the report today stating its approval as drafted.

3. Future plans

Considering the report from the Radio Regulatory Council and the results of the appeal for opinions, MIC will proceed promptly with the necessary procedures for the revision of the ministerial ordinance and notices.