February 2, 2022 Report from the Radio Regulatory Council on Draft Ministerial Ordinance to Revise Part of Regulations for Radio Operators and Results of Appeal for Opinions

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) submitted an inquiry today to the Radio Regulatory Council (Chaired by HIBINO Takashi, Chairman of the Members of the Board and Chairman of Daiwa Securities Group Inc.) about a draft ministerial ordinance to revise part of the Regulations for Radio Operators. In response to the inquiry, MIC has received a report stating its approval as drafted.
In this connection, MIC made an appeal for opinions on the draft from Friday, November 5 through Monday, December 6, 2021, and received 11 opinions as a result. Accordingly, MIC has decided to open the submitted opinions to the public, along with MIC’s views on the opinions.

1. Overview

The method of national examinations for radio operators is specified in Article 3 of the Regulations for Radio Operators (Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Ordinance No. 18 of 1990). Until now, the said national examinations have been conducted in written form, except for the examinations for telecommunications skills.
Due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the national examinations for radio operators scheduled from April to July 2020 were canceled. In this connection, MIC has decided to specify in the ministerial ordinance that computer-based testing (CBT) may be used for national examinations for radio operators in addition to the conventional method. This revision will prevent the total cancellation of examinations as much as possible and provide a stable opportunity to take examinations.

2. Results of appeal for opinions

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  The published material is in Japanese only.

3. Future plans

Considering the Radio Regulatory Council’s report and the results of the appeal for opinions, MIC will proceed promptly with the necessary procedures for revising the Regulations for Radio Operators.