On August 29, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism issued a ministerial ordinance specifying the method for calculating weight for the designation of specific shippers and various notification and reporting forms, etc., regarding the parts of the "Act to Amend Part of the Act on Promotion of Integration and Efficiency of Distribution Operations and the Motor Carrier Business Act" that were promulgated in May of last year and will come into effect in 2026.
With the partial enforcement of the revised law on April 1, 2026, shippers and logistics operators above a certain size will be designated as specified operators, and will be required to submit medium- to long-term plans and periodic reports. Specified shippers will also be required to appoint a logistics management officer.
The ministerial ordinance specifies eight methods for calculating cargo weight for designation as a specific Class 1 shipper, including actual measurement, multiplying the weight per unit quantity of the cargo by the quantity, and multiplying the volume of the cargo by the specific gravity of the cargo.
Furthermore, the regulations include provisions such as requiring that notifications regarding the weight of cargo related to the designation of specific shippers be submitted in the prescribed format by the end of May each year, and that logistics managers must be appointed without delay from the date on which the grounds for their appointment arise.
The role of logistics managers is defined as raising employee awareness regarding the establishment and streamlining of collaborative systems among various departments, such as production, distribution, sales, procurement, and inventory management, in order to improve the efficiency of transportation and cargo handling, as well as coordinating and collaborating with business partners and other stakeholders to achieve efficiency.
