The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) of Japan jointly released the 2025 notification schedule for the production and import of low volume and small volume new chemical substances. Under the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL), enterprises shall report new chemical substances based on their annual production or import volume. Substances with an annual production or import volume less than 1 ton require small volume notification, while those produced or imported from 1 ton to 10 tons require low volume notification.
2025 Notification Schedule for Low Volume New Chemical Substances
Enterprises can submit their notifications online, on optical discs, or in document form. The specific acceptance schedule for notification is as follows:
| 1 | Notification dates | |
| Online notification | February 19,2025-February 27,2025 | |
| Optical disc／Document notification | February 19,2025-February 25,2025 | |
| 2 | April 18,2025-April 24,2025 | |
| 3 | May 16,2025-May 22,2025 | |
| 4 | June 20,2025-June 26,2025 | |
| 5 | July 18,2025-July 25,2025 | |
| 6 | August 26,2025-August 29,2025 | |
| 7 | September 19,2025-September 26,2025 | |
| 8 | October 16,2025-October 22,2025 | |
| 9 | November 17,2025-November 21,2025 |
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| 10 | December 15,2025-December 19,2025 |
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| 11 | January 20,2026-January 26,2026 |
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| 12 | February 9,2026-February 12,2026 |
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2025 Notification Schedule for Small Volume New Chemical Substances
Enterprises can submit their notifications online, on optical discs, or in document form, although not all rounds accept optical discs and document notification. The acceptance schedule for notification and the expected arrival dates of confirmation notices are as follows:
| Notification method | Notification dates | Expected arrival dates of confirmation notices | |
| 1 | Online notification | January 15,2025-January 22,2025 | March 25,2025 |
| Optical disc notification | January 15,2025-January 21,2025 | ||
| Document notification | January 15,2025-January 20,2025 | ||
| 2 | Online notification | April 1,2025-April 7,2025 | May 19,2025 |
| 3 | Online notification | May 2,2025-May 12,2025 | June 18,2025 |
| 4 | Online notification | June 2,2025-June 6,2025 | July 18,2025 |
| Optical disc notification | June 2,2025-June 5,2025 | ||
| Document notification | June 2,2025-June 5,2025 | ||
| 5 | Online notification | July 1,2025-July 7,2025 | August 12,2025 |
| 6 | No new notifications will be accepted. Only confirmations for notifications from the 5th round and earlier that were accepted but did not include a certificate of use will be processed. | August 29,2025 | |
| 7 | Online notification | September 1,2025-September 5,2025 | October 17,2025 |
| Optical disc notification | September 1,2025-September 4,2025 | ||
| Document notification | September 1,2025-September 4,2025 | ||
| 8 | Online notification | October 1,2025-October 7,2025 | November 14,2025 |
| 9 | Online notification | November 4,2025-November 10,2025 | December 12,2025 |
| 10 | Online notification | December 1,2025-December 5,2025 | January 16,2026 |
| Optical disc notification | December 1,2025-December 4,2025 | ||
| Document notification | December 1,2025-December 4,2025 | ||
The notification documents must include the enterprise name and address, notifier's name, volume of the chemical, its uses, and structure. In principle, the production and import of new chemical substances can only proceed after receiving the confirmation notice.
Future Notification Schedule
The 2026 notification schedule for low volume and small volume new chemical substances is expected to be released in mid-October 2025. Enterprises should stay informed to ensure timely compliance with the regulations.
