In short
What does PSE certification in Japan require?
Any product that matches an entry in the Enforcement Order of Japan’s Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act (DENAN) needs the correct PSE mark before it can be sold in Japan. The route depends on that entry, not on the product’s category name. Diamond PSE covers the 116 specified items and needs conformity assessment by a registered inspection body; round PSE (also called circle PSE) covers the 341 non-specified items and needs no third-party assessment: the importer or manufacturer checks the product against the technical standards and keeps the records. Quotes for PSE certification vary widely, from about US$1,700 to over US$50,000, and providers state lead times of roughly 8 to 16 weeks; no official timeline is published (see PSE certification cost in Japan). Terra Vista Co., Ltd. returns a one-page PSE route sheet for your product in 3 business days.
The challenge
No PSE mark, no legal sale in Japan
Under Japan’s Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act (電気用品安全法, DENAN), most electrical products cannot be legally imported or sold in Japan without the correct PSE mark. The rules split products into two categories with very different requirements, and getting the category wrong, skipping technical-standards conformity, or missing the third-party conformity assessment can stall your shipment at customs or block sale entirely — costly to discover after your goods have already arrived.
Our role
PSE support inside our cross-border compliance practice
Terra Vista supports importers and manufacturers through the full PSE pathway as one focused sub-service of our cross-border compliance hub. We help you determine the right PSE category, prepare technical-standards documentation, coordinate with the appropriate registered conformity assessment body when third-party assessment is required, and get importer and labeling obligations right — so the process runs in the correct order, without avoidable rework.
Scope
What decides whether a product falls under PSE — and which of the two routes it takes?
Under Japan’s Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act, a product is in scope for PSE because it matches an entry in one of the two tables appended to the Enforcement Order — and an entry is not the same thing as a category name. Four top-level names appear in both tables; where a name appears twice, what settles the route is the entry read in full — the sub-types listed under it, the numbered list beneath a sub-type whose name is printed on both sides, and the conditions in parentheses at each level.
Both tables are published in full in the 電気用品安全法施行令 (Enforcement Order) on e-Gov. Article 2 of the Order designates the 上欄 (upper column) of Appended Table 1 (別表第一) as 特定電気用品; Article 1 defines 電気用品 as that upper column together with Appended Table 2 (別表第二). Each table is written as item groups: a top-level name, conditions in parentheses, and — for most items — numbered sub-types beneath it, with a further numbered list under some of those sub-types. The number of item groups on each side is set out on PSE certification cost in Japan.
The diamond and round shorthand is the familiar name for the split; neither the Act nor the Order writes the mark shapes.
The top-level item groups of Appended Table 1 (特定電気用品, the diamond route):
- 一 電線 — electric wires
- 二 ヒューズ — fuses
- 三 配線器具 — wiring devices
- 四 電流制限器 — current limiters
- 五 小形単相変圧器及び放電灯用安定器 — small single-phase transformers and discharge-lamp ballasts
- 六 電熱器具 — electric heating appliances
- 七 電動力応用機械器具 — machines and appliances applying electric motive power
- 八 高周波脱毛器 — high-frequency hair removers
- 九 第二号から前号までに掲げるもの以外の交流用電気機械器具であつて、次に掲げるもの — AC electrical machines and appliances other than items 2–8, limited to the four sub-types listed under it
- 一〇 定格電圧が三〇ボルト以上三〇〇ボルト以下の携帯発電機 — portable generators rated 30 V to 300 V
The top-level item groups of Appended Table 2 (別表第二, the round route):
- 一 電線及び電気温床線 — electric wires and electric hotbed wires
- 二 電線管類及びその附属品並びにケーブル配線用スイッチボックス — conduits and their fittings, and switch boxes for cable wiring
- 三 ヒューズ — fuses
- 四 配線器具 — wiring devices
- 五 小形単相変圧器、電圧調整器及び放電灯用安定器 — small single-phase transformers, voltage regulators and discharge-lamp ballasts
- 六 小形交流電動機 — small AC motors
- 七 電熱器具 — electric heating appliances
- 八 電動力応用機械器具 — machines and appliances applying electric motive power
- 九 光源及び光源応用機械器具 — light sources and appliances applying them
- 一〇 電子応用機械器具 — electronic machines and appliances
- 一一 第三号から前号までに掲げるもの以外の交流用電気機械器具であつて、次に掲げるもの — AC electrical machines and appliances other than items 3–10, limited to the eleven sub-types listed under it
- 一二 リチウムイオン蓄電池 — lithium-ion storage batteries
Category names
Can the category name on your spec sheet tell you which route applies?
A category name does not settle the route on its own. Four names appear word for word in both appended tables — ヒューズ (fuses), 配線器具 (wiring devices), 電熱器具 (electric heating appliances) and 電動力応用機械器具 (machines and appliances applying electric motive power) — so for those four, a hit in Appended Table 1 identifies a candidate entry rather than a route. Names appearing on one side only are the opposite case, treated below.
The name then tells you only that two entries must be compared, one on each side. The lists above are the whole population of top-level names, so the overlap is checkable in the Enforcement Order.
Several other names differ only slightly, a trap of its own for keyword search: Table 1’s 電線 against Table 2’s 電線及び電気温床線, or 小形単相変圧器及び放電灯用安定器 against 小形単相変圧器、電圧調整器及び放電灯用安定器, with 電圧調整器 added. A near match tells you which entries to read, not which one your product sits in.
Worked example — fuses
Do the voltage and current ratings decide which PSE table a fuse falls under?
Voltage and current ratings do not settle the route for fuses. Both fuse entries carry the same voltage band and the same AC-circuit condition, but the current band is not written at the same level. Appended Table 2 states 1 A to 200 A at the head of its item, where it binds both sub-types; Appended Table 1 states it only inside sub-type （二）その他のヒューズ, so a 温度ヒューズ under （一） carries no current condition at all. The route follows the sub-type that describes the fuse; the ratings only tell you whether that sub-type’s conditions are met.
Read side by side, the two fuse entries in the Enforcement Order line up like this:
| Appended Table 1, item 二 ヒューズ | Appended Table 2, item 三 ヒューズ | |
|---|---|---|
| Route | 特定電気用品 (別表第一 上欄) | 別表第二 |
| Rated voltage | 100 V to 300 V (item level) | 100 V to 300 V (item level) |
| Rated current | None at item level. 1 A to 200 A (motor fuses: applicable motor rated capacity 12 kW or less) applies only inside （二）その他のヒューズ; （一）温度ヒューズ carries no current condition | The same 1 A to 200 A band, but at item level, so it binds both sub-types |
| Circuit | AC circuits (item level) | AC circuits (item level) |
| Sub-types | （一）温度ヒューズ thermal fuses ／（二）その他のヒューズ other fuses | （一）筒形ヒューズ cartridge fuses ／（二）栓形ヒューズ plug fuses |
A thermal fuse rated 250 V AC at 300 A is therefore still described by Appended Table 1: the 200 A ceiling sits under その他のヒューズ and never reaches 温度ヒューズ. A cartridge fuse at 300 A falls outside Appended Table 2, where that ceiling sits at the head of the item, and outside Appended Table 1’s その他のヒューズ as well, which carries the same ceiling — neither fuse entry describes it. Applying one table’s condition to the other is the error the layout invites.
The entries also carve each other out by reference rather than by rating: sub-type （二）その他のヒューズ in Appended Table 1 excludes 「別表第二第三号に掲げるもの」 — the items under item 3 of Appended Table 2 — and 半導体保護用速動ヒューズ (fast-acting fuses for semiconductor protection). Opened from one side only, that exclusion is invisible.
One-sided items
Which item groups appear on only one side of the split?
Several item groups appear in only one of the two appended tables, and for those the name does settle which table is in play: リチウムイオン蓄電池 (lithium-ion storage batteries) stands as item 12 of Appended Table 2, and no item of Appended Table 1 describes a storage battery as such — the one item there written as a residual is limited to 交流用電気機械器具 and lists four named sub-types, none of them a battery.
As top-level names, 電子応用機械器具 (electronic), 光源及び光源応用機械器具 (light sources), 小形交流電動機 (small AC motors) and 電線管類及びその附属品並びにケーブル配線用スイッチボックス (conduits and switch boxes) appear only in Appended Table 2; 高周波脱毛器 (high-frequency hair removers), 電流制限器 (current limiters) and 携帯発電機 (portable generators) only in Appended Table 1. Read that qualifier strictly: 電子応用機械器具 does occur in Appended Table 1, but only in the numbered list under another item’s sub-type — entry ２ 電子応用機械器具用変圧器, under （一）小形単相変圧器 of item 五.
A one-sided name removes the first ambiguity, not the second: in the Enforcement Order that entry still sets its own conditions and carve-outs, and where it has sub-types they still decide whether a particular unit is described there. リチウムイオン蓄電池 has none — its threshold and its carve-outs are written into the parentheses of the item itself.
Method
How do you check which entry a product actually falls under?
A classification is checked by reading downward through the two tables appended to the Enforcement Order, one level at a time, and stopping only when a single entry describes the product and nothing excludes it.
- Search both tables, not one. Four top-level names are shared, so for those a hit in Appended Table 1 is a candidate entry, not a route. A name that appears in only one table settles the table; a name that appears in both does not.
- Go down to the sub-types where the item has them. Most items list numbered sub-types, and in the fuse entries those are what separate the two sides. Four items have none — 電流制限器, 高周波脱毛器 and 携帯発電機 in Appended Table 1, リチウムイオン蓄電池 in Appended Table 2 — and there the wording of the item itself carries the whole condition. That wording is not always in parentheses: 携帯発電機 is written as 定格電圧が三〇ボルト以上三〇〇ボルト以下の携帯発電機, with the rating inside the item name.
- Where the same sub-type name is printed on both sides, go one level further. Under 配線器具 the sub-type （二）開閉器 appears in both tables with word-for-word identical conditions, so only the numbered list beneath it allocates the product: 箱開閉器, フロートスイッチ, 圧力スイッチ, ミシン用コントローラー, 配線用遮断器 and 漏電遮断器 in Appended Table 1; カットアウトスイッチ, カバー付ナイフスイッチ, 分電盤ユニットスイッチ and 電磁開閉器 in Appended Table 2.
- Read the conditions in parentheses, and note the level they sit at. A condition at the head of an item reaches every sub-type under it; the same condition inside one sub-type reaches only that sub-type.
- Follow the cross-references. Entries exclude one another by reference. Appended Table 1’s second fuse sub-type, （二）その他のヒューズ, is limited to fuses 「別表第二第三号に掲げるもの及び半導体保護用速動ヒューズを除く」 — it carves out the fuses listed at item 3 of Appended Table 2 and semiconductor-protection fast-acting fuses. An entry can read like a match and still send the product to the other table.
Where the fork sits
Which provision sets the 特定電気用品 split, and where are the costs covered?
Which appliances are 特定電気用品 is set in two places. Article 2, paragraph 2 of the 電気用品安全法 (Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act) defines the term and leaves the list to Cabinet Order; Article 2 of the Enforcement Order then designates the 上欄 of Appended Table 1 as that list. Article 9, paragraph 1 is a separate provision and does not draw the line — it applies 「が特定電気用品である場合には」, where the appliance already is one, and attaches the assessment duty that follows. Classification is therefore settled against the tables first, and the rest of the pathway is planned after it.
What the specified route costs, and what one registered inspection body publishes about its own fee basis, is set out on PSE certification cost in Japan. This page stops at the classification question.
Hair dryers, kettles, rice cookers and power banks are round-PSE items, while AC adapters and plug-in chargers are DC power supply units (直流電源装置), a diamond-PSE item; Small appliances into Japan lists the item numbers, the recall figures and the importer checklist for those categories.
How it works
How we support the PSE pathway
1. Determine your PSE category
We help classify each product as 特定電気用品 (“diamond” PSE, higher-risk items requiring third-party conformity assessment) or 特定電気用品以外 (“round” PSE, eligible for self-declaration) — the single decision that shapes the entire pathway.
2. Technical-standards conformity
We help you map your product against the applicable technical standards under DENAN and prepare the conformity documentation and technical file needed to demonstrate that requirements are met.
3. Third-party assessment coordination
For diamond PSE (特定電気用品), conformity must be assessed by a registered conformity assessment body. We coordinate that engagement, help assemble what the body needs, and keep the process moving.
4. Importer & labeling obligations
We clarify importer/manufacturer obligations under DENAN — notification, record-keeping, and correct PSE mark and labeling — so the right party carries the right responsibilities from day one.
5. Ongoing compliance & the wider hub
PSE rarely stands alone. We connect your PSE work to Terra Vista’s broader cross-border compliance hub — other Japan market-entry requirements and ongoing obligations — for a coherent, durable compliance posture.
FAQ
Questions buyers ask
How do you take a product through PSE?
We support and coordinate the pathway: for 特定電気用品 (diamond PSE), conformity assessment is carried out by a registered conformity assessment body; for round PSE, conformity is established through self-declaration. Our role is to guide, prepare documentation, and coordinate the proper process.
What is the difference between diamond and round PSE?
Diamond PSE (特定電気用品) covers higher-risk categories and requires conformity assessment by a registered third-party body before the mark can be applied. Round PSE (特定電気用品以外) covers lower-risk categories and is handled through self-declaration of conformity by the responsible party. Correct classification is the first and most important step.
We import electronics into Japan — where do we start?
Start by confirming the PSE category of each product and the importer/manufacturer obligations that apply to you under DENAN. A free 30-minute consultation is the fastest way to map your specific products to the right pathway before you commit to any process or supplier.
How does this fit with broader Japan compliance?
PSE is one focused piece of market entry. It sits within Terra Vista’s cross-border compliance practice, so we can connect PSE with the other Japan requirements your products face rather than treating it in isolation.
Our product category appears in Appended Table 1. Does that confirm the diamond route?
Only for a name that appears there and nowhere else. Four names — ヒューズ, 配線器具, 電熱器具 and 電動力応用機械器具 — are printed identically in both tables of the 電気用品安全法施行令 (Enforcement Order). If yours is one of them, you have a candidate entry and not yet a route; what decides it is the entry read in full — the sub-types, the numbered list under a sub-type whose name is printed on both sides, and the conditions in parentheses at each level.
Can we settle the route from the voltage and current ratings on the data sheet?
Not by ratings alone. The voltage band (100 V to 300 V) and the AC-circuit condition are the same on both sides, but the current band 1 A to 200 A sits at item level in Appended Table 2 and only inside sub-type （二）その他のヒューズ in Appended Table 1 — so it does not filter 温度ヒューズ at all. Allocation follows the sub-type: 温度ヒューズ or その他のヒューズ on one side, 筒形ヒューズ or 栓形ヒューズ on the other.
Our product is a lithium-ion storage battery. Which table applies?
Appended Table 2 is the only table in play: no item of Appended Table 1 describes a storage battery as such, the one item there written as a residual being limited to 交流用電気機械器具 and listing four named sub-types, none of them a battery. Whether Appended Table 2 covers a given cell or pack is a separate question: that item carries no sub-types, so its threshold and its carve-outs for several categories of use sit in the parentheses at item level. A battery caught by a carve-out is not described by the item — which is not the same as sitting in the other table.
What if our product is not named in either table?
Neither table closes with a general catch-all. Appended Table 1 item 9 and Appended Table 2 item 11 are both written as 「…以外の交流用電気機械器具であつて、次に掲げるもの」 — a named list follows, four sub-types under the first and eleven under the second — and both are limited to 100 V to 300 V at 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Nor are they the last items: Table 1 ends at item 10 (携帯発電機), Table 2 at item 12 (リチウムイオン蓄電池). A product that no entry describes — reading each item’s own conditions as well as any sub-types listed under it, those two lists included — sits outside both tables. Four items carry no sub-types at all and are written at item level: 電流制限器, 高周波脱毛器 and 携帯発電機 in Appended Table 1, リチウムイオン蓄電池 in Appended Table 2.
Where can we read the two tables ourselves?
Both appended tables are published at the end of the 電気用品安全法施行令 (Enforcement Order) on e-Gov. Article 2 of that Order designates the 上欄 of Appended Table 1 as 特定電気用品, filling in the definition left to Cabinet Order by Article 2, paragraph 2 of the 電気用品安全法 (Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act). The assessment duty that follows from that designation sits separately, at 第九条第一項. A classification can then be recorded as table, item number, sub-type and the decisive condition.
Fuses appear in both Appended Table 1 and Appended Table 2. Which one applies?
The split happens at the sub-type level. In the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act Enforcement Order, item 2 of Appended Table 1 lists （一）温度ヒューズ (thermal fuses), （二）その他のヒューズ (other fuses) and （三）カットアウト (cut-outs); item 3 of Appended Table 2 lists （一）筒形ヒューズ (cylindrical fuses) and （二）栓形ヒューズ (plug fuses). Only the top-level word “fuse” overlaps, and the text itself resolves it: sub-type （二）その他のヒューズ in Appended Table 1 carries the parenthetical 「別表第二第三号に掲げるもの及び半導体保護用速動ヒューズを除く」 — excluding the items listed at item 3 of Appended Table 2, and fast-acting fuses for semiconductor protection. Cylindrical and plug fuses therefore sit on the Appended Table 2 (round) side, thermal and other fuses on the Appended Table 1 (diamond) side, and fast-acting semiconductor-protection fuses fall outside both fuse entries. The condition of 100–300 V rated voltage on an AC circuit is common to both tables and cannot decide the route on its own.
Is there an Appended Table 3? We have seen fuses described as being in Appended Table 3.
It depends which instrument the table belongs to. The Enforcement Order (Cabinet Order No. 324 of 1962), which is what decides diamond versus round, carries exactly two appended tables: Appended Table 1 and Appended Table 2. Supplementary Appended Tables 3 and 4 are marked 「削除」 (deleted) in the text. An Appended Table 3 does exist in the Enforcement Regulation (MITI Ordinance No. 84 of 1962), and its title is 「検査の方式（第十一条関係）」 — the method of inspection, not a product classification list. The word fuse does appear there, but in the context of how inspection is carried out, not which route a product takes. The Regulation itself distinguishes the two instruments in writing, referring to the Order’s tables as 「令別表第１」 and 「令別表第２」. To confirm a classification, open Appended Tables 1 and 2 of the Order.
How do we decide when the same item name appears in both Appended Table 1 and Appended Table 2?
A matching top-level name does not settle the route. Three things are read in order. First, the sub-types: read down to （一）（二）… and items that share a name are often different things — fuses are the clearest example. Second, the parenthetical conditions: a condition attached at one level reaches everything below it, but a condition sitting inside a single sub-type reaches only that sub-type. The same numeric range can sit at item level in one table and inside a sub-type in the other, so carrying one table’s reading across to the other produces the wrong answer. Third, the cross-references: the entries exclude one another by name, as in 「別表第二第三号に掲げるものを除く」, and opened from one side only that exclusion is invisible.
Category reference
Which product categories are 特定電気用品 (specified), and which fall under 特定電気用品以外 (other)?
METI’s own count: the Cabinet Order names 457 regulated categories in total — 116 under Appended Table 1 (特定電気用品, diamond PSE, third-party conformity assessment) and 341 under Appended Table 2 (特定電気用品以外, round PSE, self-declaration). The table below lists every top-level category group from both tables side by side, so you can see at a glance where each category sits.
| Category group | Table 1 — 特定電気用品 (diamond) | Table 2 — 特定電気用品以外 (round) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric wires | Yes | Yes | Different entry on each side, not the same wording |
| Fuses | Yes | Yes | Same name; sub-type decides — see the worked example above |
| Wiring devices | Yes | Yes | Same name; sub-type decides |
| Current limiters | Yes | No | Table 1 only |
| Small single-phase transformers and ballasts | Yes | Yes | Table 2’s entry also covers voltage regulators |
| Electric heating appliances | Yes | Yes | Same name; sub-type decides |
| Machines and appliances applying electric motive power | Yes | Yes | Same name; sub-type decides |
| High-frequency hair removers | Yes | No | Table 1 only |
| AC electrical machines and appliances not listed above | Yes (4 sub-types) | Yes (11 sub-types) | The catch-all residual entry on each side |
| Portable generators | Yes | No | Table 1 only, 30 V to 300 V |
| Conduits, fittings and cable switch boxes | No | Yes | Table 2 only |
| Small AC motors | No | Yes | Table 2 only |
| Light sources and appliances applying them | No | Yes | Table 2 only |
| Electronic machines and appliances | No | Yes | Named as its own Table 2 category; in Table 1 it appears only nested, as a transformer sub-type |
| Lithium-ion storage batteries | No | Yes | Table 2 only |
Both counts come from METI’s own overview of the Act. METI also publishes the two categories as browsable, item-by-item lists — the 116-item specified list and the 341-item non-specified list — which mirror Appended Table 1 and Appended Table 2. A shared category name in the table above is a starting point, not a final answer: the sub-type check described earlier on this page is what settles it.
How many product categories does Japan’s PSE law regulate in total?
METI’s Cabinet Order designates 457 categories in total: 116 under Appended Table 1 (特定電気用品, diamond PSE) and 341 under Appended Table 2 (特定電気用品以外, round PSE). The category-by-category breakdown is in the reference table above; METI also publishes both as full item lists on its own site.
Where can we see METI’s own list of specified and non-specified electrical appliances?
METI publishes both as browsable lists on its own site: the 116-item specified list (別表第一) and the 341-item non-specified list (別表第二), alongside an English-language overview of the Act. These mirror the Enforcement Order’s appended tables and are the source for the category counts on this page.
Related: PSE certification cost in Japan; PSE recall cases in Japan; PSE rules for small appliances; Three-gate check for Japan.
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