September 12, 2003
Four hundred and forty-six additional survey institutions have been newly designated and will be publicly announced in the official gazette on September 16, 2003.
A designated survey institution is defined as an institution that performs soil contamination surveys pursuant to the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law. An institution wishing to conduct such surveys is required to file an application for designation by the Minister of the Environment.
During the second filing period from May 19 through July 4, 2003, which followed the first filing (November 15 through December 13, 2002), 454 institutions submitted applications. In the subsequent review, 446 institutions were qualified for designation. As a result, the combined total number of institutions recognized as designated survey institutions through the first and second reviews has reached 1,327.
The prefecture-by-prefecture list of designated institutions authorized to conduct surveys is published on the Ministry of the Environment website (available only in Japanese at: http://www.env.go.jp/water/dojo/kikan/pref/p_index.html).
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| * | (Japanese only) List of designated institutions authorized to conduct surveys under the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law |