On April 1, 2019, the Japanese Standards Association will become the Japanese Standards Association Group.

Revision of the Industrial Standardization Act was established May 23 and promulgated May 30, seeking to promote the strengthening of standardization systems introduced by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Pursuant to this amendment, the Japanese Standards Association will become a private accredited certification body, and, in order to make its standardization activities more global, it must also improve the structure of its systems, for example by creating separate divisions for standards development and for certification. Accordingly, the association held a board meeting on June 11 to discuss the organization of the association’s structure, and made the following decisions.

1. The Japanese Standards Association will be reorganized into an entity focused on standards development. It will aim to train and nurture standardization specialists, to establish a body that will establish standards for the certification & accreditation industry, and to strengthen its global standardization activities as it pursues greater cooperation with ISO, IEC and other international standardization organizations.
2. JSA Solutions Co., Ltd., a newly established company, will include a business division offering total standardization solutions to clients, and an organization certification division.
3. The Japanese Registration of Certificated Auditors and experts, a newly established association, will be made up of three clearly separate divisions: personnel certification, standards development, and organization certification.

On April 1, 2019, these three entities, under the slogan, “Standards that connect the world,” will begin operation as the Japanese Standards Association Group.

• Toshio Ibi, President & CEO
• Kenichi Shimosakai, Executive Director
• Shuji Hirakawa, Executive Director
• Hidetaka Namai, Executive Director
• Katsuji Fujimoto, Executive Director
• Taizo Yakushiji, Executive Director
• Toshiyuki Iizuka, Auditor
• Akira Ono, Auditor
• Tomoko Nakanishi, Auditor

① Group Management 
② Standards Development 
③ Standardization Promotion 

• Toshio Ibi, President
• Yasutoshi Hiraoka, Director
• Kenichi Shimosakai, Director
• Toshiyuki Iizuka, Auditor

① Public Relations and Sales 
② Publication and Information
③ Training 
④ Management Systems Enhancement 

• Toru Maegawa, President
• Yasuhiro Ogata, Director General
• Goichiro Yukawa, Executive Director
• Toshiyuki Iizuka, Auditor

① Personnel Certification