October 12, 2020 Results of Appeal for Opinions on Draft Ministerial Ordinance and Pertinent Conditions for Partial Revision of 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 Thursday, August 20 through Friday, September 18, 2020, on a draft ministerial ordinance and pertinent conditions. The ministerial ordinance and pertinent conditions will partially revise the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act for institutional development to introduce an L-band safety communications system. As a result, one opinion was submitted. Accordingly, MIC has decided to open the opinion to the public, along with MIC’s view on the opinion.
With consideration of the results of the appeal for opinions, MIC submitted an inquiry today about the drafted partial revision of the ministerial ordinance, etc. to the Radio Regulatory Council (Chaired by YOSHIDA Susumu, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University). In response to the inquiry, MIC has received a report stating its approval as drafted.

1. Background

Satellite operators are planning to use an existing L-band mobile satellite communications system with a constellation of non-geostationary satellites and upgrade the existing satellites and utilize them for aircraft safety communications. In this connection, the Satellite Communications System Subcommittee (Chief Investigator: ANDO Makoto, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology) under the Information and Communications Council has been studying the technical requirements for the sophistication of the system since May 2017. As a result of the study, MIC received a partial report from the Information and Communications Council (Chaired by UCHIYAMADA Takeshi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toyota Motor Corporation) on February 13, 2019.

Furthermore, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved the system as the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) to conduct ship distress communications, and its frequencies were designated at the 2019 World Radio Communication Conference (WRC-19).

Accordingly, MIC made this appeal for opinions from Thursday, August 20 through Friday, September 18, 2020, on the drafted ministerial ordinance, etc. to partially revise the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act for institutional development. This revision will introduce the advanced system to ensure the safe communication of ships and aircraft as part of the GMDSS.

2. Report from the Radio Regulatory Council

Considering the results of the appeal for opinions, MIC submitted the inquiry to the Radio Regulatory Council about the drafted ministerial ordinance, etc. 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 results of the appeal for opinions and the report from the Radio Regulatory Council, MIC will promptly make institutional development for the ministerial ordinance, etc.