Japan-based. Two questions in here never really got closed, and I have the document, so:
@KandThegingchemist asked whether it stays compliant or is only compliant at manufacture. On the Japanese side that framing doesn’t quite map. The optional pre-import check is a paperwork review. The Narcotics Control Department states in the guide that they are only reviewing the documents submitted, and that this does not certify the actual goods are not a narcotic. Customs testing is separate and explicitly not waived by it. So a clean COA at manufacture is necessary and not sufficient. What clears is what the shipment tests at.
@Sidco_Cat, on the paper trail, this is the actual document. Pages 6 and 7 are an official English translation covering the COA requirements and the product-form definitions:
Things in it that catch people out:
- Only the importer can file. Not the exporter, not an import agent, not the customs broker. If you’re the supplier, you cannot do this for your buyer.
- Every import is a new request. Same product, same lot, different shipment date, file again.
- The COA needs LOQ and LOD, plus analytical method, lot number, and the signature and title of the responsible person at the lab. Seven required items, and missing one sends it back. The guide’s own worked examples for method are LC-MS/MS and LC-QTOF-MS, which tells you what they expect to see. A single HPLC number is not going to carry it.
- Form classification decides your limit, and you declare it in Japan’s categories. Oils and fats that are liquid at room temperature and powders, 10ppm. Water solutions, 0.1ppm. Everything else, 1ppm. Everything else includes vape product, gummies, balms and creams, so a fair amount of what people assume is the 10ppm bucket is actually the 1ppm bucket.
- Turnaround is one to two months.
- You cannot market the reply as MHLW approval or certification, or put their logo on anything. The guide says so directly. If a supplier tells you they’re “MHLW approved,” that isn’t a thing that exists.
Also worth knowing if you ship distillate: CBN became a designated substance here on 1 June 2026. The prohibition is written against products containing CBN, and unlike d9 there is no published residual limit for it. Worth checking what your CBN number actually is before anything goes near Japan, because full spectrum material tends to carry some.
I’m not going to walk anyone through the filing itself, and there’d be little point since the importer has to do it in their own name anyway. But the document above is the real one, and it’s short.