U.S. Firms Fight Japanese Plan for Software Standard

U.S. electronics industry officials said Friday that they have asked Washington to block a proposed Japanese quality standard for computer software, arguing it could become a barrier to foreign products.

A private Japanese standards group has proposed that software companies voluntarily submit their products to it for quality review based on the widely used manufacturing standards called ISO 9000.

However, U.S. software companies say they fear the Japanese government and other organizations may make certification mandatory for the software they buy.

That would make it more difficult for foreign software makers to sell in Japan, an important market for U.S. software, the companies argue.

John Stern, director of the American Electronics Assn.’s Tokyo office, said the certification standard would greatly increase the cost of developing software and increase the time it takes to bring products to market.

The heads of the AEA and five other American electronics and software associations sent a letter last week to U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor saying the proposal could amount to a trade barrier.

They hope the government will raise the issue with Japanese officials in trade talks next week on government purchases of information technology and telecommunications.

Many European companies, and some in the United States, require their suppliers to meet ISO 9000 standards for manufactured goods, which were developed by the Geneva-based International Standards Organization to assure high quality.

But most U.S. customers do not observe the standards when purchasing software.

Certification under ISO 9000 is a complex process involving visits by inspectors, who examine paperwork and management supervision of the production process.

Japanese companies at first resisted adoption of the ISO 9000 standards, but as more European companies have required certification, the standards have become more accepted in Japan.

The software proposal, by the Japan Accreditation Board for Quality System Registration, “would apply ISO 9000 standards in a much broader fashion than they’ve been before to a wider range of products than before,” Stern said.

Officials in Japan’s trade ministry have denied that, saying the country is merely implementing standards accepted internationally.

“The United States agreed to software’s inclusion in ISO 9000,” said Masakuni Inoue of the ministry’s Machinery and Information Services Bureau. “If it’s opposed to that, they should discuss it with the ISO.”