Get your electronics now!

[puargs]

Our favorite lawmakers have passed something all you Akihabara frequenters will surely hate.

It seems that Japan's government revised its "Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law" back in April 2001, and added a stipulation that items authorized under the country's old law (the "Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law") couldn't be sold anymore, but granted those products a five-year grace period. Well, if you check your convenient wall calendar, you'll see that the five-year period is about to end, which means that as of April 1, pretty much any electronic gear sold before April 1, 2001 can't be legally resold in Japan.

Certain items are exempt, as are exports. Does this, however, mean the end to all of my horrible secret pleasures of collecting 80's electronics?

http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/22/japan-bans-old-electronics-as-of-april-1

[nullpointer]

This is applicable only to retailers, not individuals. Also, this isn't a ban, it just requires the retailer to sign-off on the safety of the device as per newer standards. Further, it only involves the safety of high-voltage, plugged into the mains devices, not electronics.

Detailed explanation http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200602210407.html,
More discussion here.

[puargs]

Huzzah!

[Taro Toporific]

[Mulboyne]

TBS News carried a feature on the law a few days ago. The general gist was that the ministry had not given it adequate publicity. The main area of complaint seemed to be musical instruments - especially for musicians who want vintage equipment. If I understand it correctly, these should still be available if they are brought up to modern power standards but that didn't come out in the broadcast. A representative of Hard Off said that the chain will no longer be buying second-hand goods that do not meet the new requirements so it may be the case that such retailers don't want the hassle of overseeing the necessary upgrades

[emperor]

so places that mostly sell 2nd hand vintage consoles like the one off sunshine st in ikebukuro will HAVE TO stock some new merchandise?

will they really enforce this law?

[Mulboyne]

[Taro Toporific]

so places that mostly sell 2nd hand vintage consoles like the one off sunshine st in ikebukuro will HAVE TO stock some new merchandise?
will they really enforce this law?

[SIZE="4"]Japan drops ban on resale of used gear [/SIZE]:banana:Engadget--2006/03/27
....The government had already relaxed some of the restrictions, which go into effect on April 1, declaring that resellers of musical instruments and some other products could be exempted from the most onerous of the new rules. Now, the rules have been completely relaxed for sellers of used products -- but only with a wink and a nod. Officially dealers won't actually be selling you anything. They'll just be "renting" it. Nudge, nudge.....

[Mulboyne]

Mutant Frog has a blog entry on the recently-deceased PSE law.

Quick lesson in METI ineptitude: The PSE Law explained

[Mulboyne]

[Greji]

Adamu has revisited this issue:

If the JRA says so, it must be good! hehe