August 24, 2020 Appel for Opinions on Draft Ministerial Ordinance for Partial Revisions to Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will make 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.

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 a set of technical conditions in advance for a frequency range of 28.2 to 28.3 GHz, and MIC made institutional development for the technical conditions in December of the same year.
MIC received a partial report from the Department on Information and Communications Technology of 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, and MIC has decided to make this appeal for opinions.

2. Subject and procedure of appeal for opinions

1. Subject

Draft ministerial ordinance

• Draft Ministerial Ordinance for Partial Revision of Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act

Draft notices

• Draft notice that partially revises a notice (MPT Notice No. 87 of 1976) on minor matters of construction design that does not require permission under the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act
• Draft notice for the partial revision of MIC Notice No. 344 of 2003 (Matters that determine the fact that the radio equipment of a foreign radio station conforms to the technical standards equivalent to the technical standards specified in Chapter III of the Radio Act)
• Draft notice of partial revision to Notice of MIC No. 426 (Subject of specifying frequencies used by radio stations stipulated for in each item of Paragraph 7, Article 6 of the Radio Act)
• Draft notice for the partial revision of MIC Notice No. 435 of 2012 (Matters that determine technical conditions of wireless equipment of radio stations using broadband mobile wireless access systems)
• Draft notice that partially revised a notice (MIC Notice No. 471, 2012) on the Frequency Reorganization Action Plan (related to additional frequency allocation)
• Draft notice for the partial revision of MIC Notice No. 356 of 2018 (Matters that determine codes (excluding the purpose codes and the communications item codes of radio stations) used in the description of each field of the radio station information sheet attached to each radio station license application)
• Draft notice for the partial revision of MIC Notice No. 23 of 2019 (Matters that determine the technical conditions of radio stations that perform mobile radio communication using single-carrier frequency-division multiple-access or orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access systems)
• Draft notice for the partial revision of MIC Notice No. 298298 (Matters that stipulate communications that should not be performed using carrier aggregation technology)

2. Submission period

From Tuesday, August 25, and no later than Wednesday, September 23, 2020
(Opinions, if submitted by mail, will be accepted if postmarked the same day.)

3. Future plans

MIC will revise the ministerial ordinance and notices with consideration of the result of the appeal for opinions.