There's been extended outcry over the "Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law" that was passed back in 2001 in Japan that was meant to go into effect at the end of this week. It would ban the sale of electronic goods made before 2001 unless they passed a safety inspection -- with the cost of the inspection sometimes being more than the product's worth. It was meant to help take old and damaged products out of circulation while encouraging consumption of new items to stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, however, it also would've crippled the huge secondhand electronics market in Japan and made retro and vintage items extremely scarce.

It wasn't just gamers, gadget fans and used appliance salesmen who were against the law, however:

Famous Japanese musicians such as Ryuichi Sakamoto led a 75,000-strong petition, stating in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper that "whether something is vintage or not is not a matter for government officials to decide".

Musicians particularly despised the law because new instruments are almost always beyond the meagre means of budding musicians. Putting secondhand electronic instruments beyond their reach would kill a vibrant music industry. Sakamoto backed this up further in a joint statement with the Japan Synthesizer Programmers Association, saying: "This will greatly hinder the development of Japanese music and artistic culture."

At first the government tried to appease the public by offering free testing for the first six months and making exceptions for vintage instruments. But that didn't do much for the secondhand shop owners, and they still rushed to unload stock before the law came into effect. Thus, last week the law was revised, to make 1989 the cutoff date for "old" rather than 2001, and with many items exempted from needing certification. In effect, the original law was almost entirely reversed.

So good for the Japanese, perhaps less good for the hording American collectors hoping to see a mass export of classic gaming hardware after the law went into effect.

Source: The Guardian