Liquor

The EBC Liquor Committee played a key role in securing a reduction in the tax rate differential between shochu and non-shochu liquor in 1998. This development rewarded the EBC Liquor Committee and its European counterpart Confederation Europeenne des Producteurs de Spiritueux for many years of vigourous lobbying, which culminated with a World Trade Organisation ruling issued in 1996 confirming discrimination in the Japanese tax regime against imported spirits such as whisky and gin.

Legal services

The EBC Legal Services Committee, in cooperation with other foreign business organizations and government representatives, successfully lobbied for changes to regulations restricting freedom of association between Japanese and foreign lawyers in Japan. Revisions to relevant laws will soon allow for full partnerships between Japanese and foreign lawyers, which will make it easier for the legal services community in Japan to provide comprehensive trans-national legal services in the wake of economic liberalisation, deregulation, and globalisation. 

Banking

The former EBC Securities Committee (now Banking Committee) was instrumental in securing "double-hatting" of certain back-office functions between affiliates of financial services groups. Firewall regulations artificially separating financial service functions have been particularly detrimental to European financial services firms as many are part of universal banking groups. The EBC continues to lobby for the complete elimination of Article 65 of the Securities and Exchange Law, which forbids banks from conducting securities business and vice versa.

Phytosanitary 

The EBC Phytosanitary Committee, in cooperation with the European Commission, successfully lobbied the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) to investigate the business practices of fumigation service providers at Narita airport. In August 2001 the JFTC concluded that the incumbent service providers were colluding to set prices and share orders in violation of the Anti-Monopoly Act. One of the two companies involved was subsequently fined, and both were ordered to stop colluding to set prices and share orders for work.

Medical Devices 

The Office of the Trade Ombudsman (OTO) started proceedings on the regulation of medical devices as a result of the publication of the EBC's annual White Paper: "Issues for the Millennium: the EBC Report on the Japanese Business Environment 2000". Following the publication of this report, the EBC Medical Diagnostics Committee was asked by the OTO to submit a formal complaint calling for improvements to the approval process for in-vitro diagnostic products in Japan. The OTO's ruling on this issue prompted the MHLW to review its approval processes, which has led to a marked shortening of the time needed to gain approval for low-risk products. 

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