Consumer Affairs Agency to be launched Tues. amid DPJ calls for change

TOKYO, Aug. 31 Kyodo -
A government agency for tackling consumer issues will be launched Tuesday amid
uncertainties over personnel and other matters following the Democratic Party
of Japan's landslide election victory.
The Consumer Affairs Agency, planned under the administration led by the ousted
Liberal Democratic Party, will be headed by former Cabinet Office vice minister
Shunichi Uchida.
The DPJ, which has pledged to reduce the power of bureaucrats and wasteful
spending after taking power, is opposed to Uchida's appointment and is seeking
to relocate the agency's headquarters to a government building from a
private-sector building that costs over 800 million yen in annual rent.
An inauguration ceremony for the agency will be held Tuesday morning with
Uchida and Consumer Affairs Minister Seiko Noda scheduled to attend, followed
by a meeting at which the chief of a key committee will be chosen.
The new agency will have the authority to gather information on consumer
administration and issue recommendations to other ministries, while formulating
bills to deal with consumer issues such as false labeling of food products.
Around 200 people will be drafted in from the economy, welfare and agriculture
ministries to work at the agency.
==Kyodo