The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has restarted public comment on a draft cabinet order that would extend the validity of verification marks on electromagnetic and ultrasonic water meters from eight years to ten. The ministry's Measurement Administration Office opened the second round on 28 October 2026 because the draft changed after a first round that ran from 25 September to 24 October.
What the order changes
The draft amends the Measurement Act enforcement order, which currently sets a uniform eight-year validity for water meters. Meters without a mechanical drive, meaning the electromagnetic and ultrasonic types, would move to ten years. Other meters stay at eight.
METI traces the change to a regulatory reform council recommendation of 28 May 2025. The council asked for technical verification of validity periods by meter type, citing the spread of electromagnetic and ultrasonic meters alongside the older vane-wheel design, and improvements in weight and accuracy. After that verification, the Measurement Administration Council judged ten years appropriate for the two types without moving parts.
What changed since the first draft
A comparison of the two versions shows several edits. The reason statement in the earlier text referred only to electromagnetic meters; the new text names electromagnetic and ultrasonic meters. The enforcement date, left blank before, is now seven days after promulgation, and the list of legal provisions the order rests on drops one article of the Measurement Act (Article 50, paragraph 1).
The transition rules were also reworded. Verification marks already on affected meters at enforcement keep their existing validity period. For meter types already approved, or with an approval application pending, at enforcement, the earlier draft applied prior rules to marks affixed within four years of enforcement. The new draft applies them to marks affixed on or after the enforcement date, with no four-year window.
The comparison text does not explain why the transition wording changed. Manufacturers and water utilities that read the draft closely will want to check how the revised transition clause applies to the meter types they sell or install.
Timetable
The comment period runs from 28 October to 26 November 2026, a 30-day window, with submissions through the e-Gov portal, by post or by email, in Japanese. METI's current schedule has promulgation in mid-December and enforcement in late December. The ministry says it will treat comments as reference for the final decision and will not answer them individually.