Japan: Light-duty: Emissions

Overview

 * Standard type: Conventional pollutant emission limits
 * Regulating body: Ministry of the Environment (MOE)
 * Current standard: New Post Long-Term Standards
 * Future standard: Standards are updated within existing legislation
 * Applicability: New type-approved passenger cars and light trucks with GVW < 3.5 t

History
Japan first established emissions limits for light-duty vehicles in the 1970's. Limit values for new vehicles are set by the Ministry of the Environment under authority of Japan's Air Pollution Control Law. Since 2000, exhaust emission standards have been strengthened three times: in 2000-2002 (the "New Short Term Standards"), in 2005-2007 (the "New Long Term Standards"), and in 2009-2010 (the "Post New Long Term Standards"). Japan’s New Post Long-Term Regulations were introduced in October 2009 and are similar in stringency to the Euro 6 standards (which will come into effect in 2014). Testing is conducted over Japan-specific drive cycles.

Technical Standards
Two types of exhaust emission standards are established in Japan, denoted as “mean” and “max.” The “mean” standards are to be met as a type approval limit and as a production average. The “max” standards are to be met generally as an individual limit in series production and as type approval limit if sales are less than 2000 per vehicle model per year. The “max” standards are shown in parentheses in the following tables.

Implementation dates in the tables refer to new vehicle models. Current production models are often allowed a delay of up to one year.

Diesel Vehicles
Emission standards for new diesel powered cars are listed below. The test method is the 10-15 mode cycle (which superseded the older 10-mode cycle effective November 1991 for domestic cars and April 1993 for imports). The 2005 regulation introduced a new JC08 mode cycle which will be fully phased-in by 2011. Vehicles are tested using 50 ppm S fuel for the 2005 standards.

Gasoline Vehicles
Emission standards for new gasoline powered cars are listed below.

Regulatory Documents
New Post Long-Term Standards

Historical Emission Standards

Regulatory Agencies
Ministry of the Environment (MOE)

Additional Resources
The Motor Industry of Japan report, JAMA, May 2013