Consumer Affairs Agency launched amid doubts over personnel pick+

TOKYO, Sept. 1 Kyodo - A government agency aimed at better protecting consumers was launched Tuesday amid uncertainty as the incoming government led by the Democratic Party of Japan may seek a change in the agency's top personnel.

The inaugural ceremony for the Consumer Affairs Agency, set up by the outgoing
Liberal Democratic Party-led administration, was held with consumer affairs
minister Seiko Noda and agency chief Shunichi Uchida attending.
It marked the first establishment of a new administrative organ with new
jurisdictions since the 1971 creation of the then Environment Agency.
The Consumer Commission, a new watchdog under the Cabinet Office which will
work alongside the agency in protecting consumers, also held an inaugural
meeting the same day, and panel members selected Tsuneo Matsumoto, dean of
Hitotsubashi University Law School, as its first chairman.
''The Consumers Affairs Agency and the Consumer Commission will be the major
pillar of our efforts to realize a secure society,'' Prime Minister Taro Aso
told the commission meeting.
Noda told a news conference that she will try to ensure that the two
organizations achieve a major shift in policy priority toward consumers and
ordinary people.
''Mr. Uchida is irreplaceable, and we made a solid personnel selection,'' Noda
said, defending the appointment of Uchida, a former Cabinet Office vice
minister. ''We didn't choose him because he is an LDP supporter.''
The DPJ, which defeated the long-dominant LDP in a landslide victory in
Sunday's general election, has pledged to reduce the power of bureaucrats and
said it would review the former bureaucrat's appointment. The new government
led by DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama is expected to be launched in mid-September.
The commission has also had its share of personnel issues. Hiroko Sumita, a
prosecutor-turned-lawyer, had been tapped as commission head but withdrew her
name from the panel at the last minute.
The new agency will have the authority to gather information from consumers and
give instructions and recommendations to other ministries and agencies to
better serve consumer interests.
But the agency faces other issues, as well. For example, it failed to launch on
Tuesday a consolidated call-in service aimed at collecting tips from the public
nationwide, due to a lack of preparation.
''We want to begin implementing it in limited areas on a trial basis around the
middle of this month,'' Uchida told a news conference.
As to the agency's location inside a commercial high-rise whose rents the DPJ
has criticized as being too high -- more than 800 million yen a year in all --
Uchida admitted that the location is less than prime.
But given that the agency needed to find space large enough to house its
roughly 200 personnel, he said, ''Although it is best to be housed in a
government building, sadly there was not one available (in the vicinity).''
In 2008, then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced plans to create the agency
following a series of scandals involving defective products and falsely labeled
foods that gave rise to criticism that the government remains focused on the
needs of manufacturers and businesses rather than consumers.
Legislation for the establishment of the agency was enacted in May under the
government of his successor Aso.
==Kyodo