jp.bev-cuvee.org · AS OF 2026-11-10

Japan

The business-to-business (B2B) hub for beverage alcohol: the trade rulebook for beverage alcohol, country by country, each section with its official sources.

The Library door agent-bev.ai Buyers' door bevgtin.ai Hub node · jp-bev.ai

As of 2026-11-10

Market status

Licensed. Private operators may import, wholesale, distribute and sell alcoholic beverages where they hold the relevant liquor-sales licence and comply with imported-food and customs procedures. The channel model is licence-based rather than monopoly-based: the National Tax Agency licensing categories distinguish retail, wholesale, export/import wholesale, and sale agency or mediation activities.

Sources

Who can trade

Import: Alcoholic beverages imported for sale require a food import notification to the quarantine station for each import under the Food Sanitation Act procedure. Japan Customs also states that a person importing alcoholic beverages for sale must obtain a liquor-sales licence under the Liquor Tax Act.

Wholesale and distribution: A continuing sale of liquor is licensed whether or not the seller seeks profit and whether buyers are specified or unspecified. Wholesale licences cover sales to liquor sellers or manufacturers. Categories include all-liquor wholesale, beer wholesale, western-liquor wholesale, store-delivery wholesale, co-operative-member wholesale and export/import wholesale. The export/import wholesale licence is for liquor exported or imported by the licensee; wholesale of liquor imported by another person may require the applicable product-category wholesale licence.

Premises and intermediaries: A sales licence is tied to the sales place. If contracts, payments or delivery are repeatedly handled at another specific place, that place can require its own licence. Continuing agency or mediation of liquor sales is also a licensed activity.

Business-to-business (B2B) online sale: The online channel does not replace the underlying sale, agency or mediation licence. Specific independent online platform, broker, payment-intermediary and off-site fulfilment treatment for B2B-only models: Not yet sourced.

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Customs and duty

Tariff headings: 2203: beer made from malt. 2204: wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wine, and grape must other than heading 20.09. 2206: other fermented beverages, including cider, perry, mead and sake, and qualifying mixtures. 2208: undenatured ethyl alcohol of alcoholic strength under 80% by volume; spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

Import duty: Japan Customs publishes Japan’s Tariff Schedule, Statistical Code for Import; the current English schedule page lists Chapter 22 and the dated tariff table, with statutory rates and economic-partnership columns. Use the full statistical code, origin, preference and any applicable customs measure. A four-digit heading alone does not determine the payable duty, and Japan Customs states that the English schedule is for reference with statutory Japanese publications controlling.

Excise: Liquor tax is separate from customs duty. The National Tax Agency rate tables divide alcohol into sparkling liquors, brewed liquors, distilled liquors and mixed liquors, with product categories such as beer, fruit wine, whisky, spirits and liqueur and with strength-based bands for specified categories. Imports can also attract liquor tax at import collection.

Territorial treatment: The cited tariff is a Japan Customs national schedule. Separate customs or liquor-tax territorial treatment for Okinawa, remote islands or free-zone movements: Not yet sourced.

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Labelling

Required language(s): Food products sold in Japan must have Japanese food labelling on their containers and packaging. Mandatory information must be labelled in Japanese. Liquor-specific display rules also require Japanese characters for specified statements.

Mandatory warnings: Liquor containers and packaging must show, in Japanese, that drinking by persons under 20 is prohibited by law. The display can be omitted for products used exclusively for delivery to bars, restaurants and similar premises, for contents of 50 millilitres or less, and for products clearly used as seasonings or medicines. General pregnancy or alcohol-health warning beyond the under-20 statement: Not yet sourced.

Alcohol strength: Liquor display obligations include the operator details, manufacturing or withdrawal place, contents, liquor item, alcohol content, and, for specified sparkling and miscellaneous categories, the applicable tax-category statements.

Allergens: Alcoholic beverages are outside the food-allergen labelling obligation; the Consumer Affairs Agency handbook states that liquor, including alcohol used in food manufacturing, is not subject to mandatory allergen display.

Origin: Imported food labels must include country of origin and importer details. Imported wine must show the country of origin under the fruit-wine labelling check sheet.

Wine particulars: The National Tax Agency wine rules distinguish Japanese wine, domestically made wine and imported wine. Japanese wine is made in Japan only from domestic grapes. Grape variety, harvest year and geographical expressions for Japanese wine depend on the prescribed composition tests, including the 85% thresholds. Domestically made wine using imported wine or concentrated juice must display that use on the front label.

Label registration: Prior label registration or pre-approval for ordinary imported alcoholic beverages: Not yet sourced.

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Age and sale limits

Legal purchase and drinking age: 20. The National Tax Agency states that, although the civil-law adulthood age was lowered to 18 from 2022-04, the alcohol age limit remains 20. The under-20 drinking law prohibits sellers and food-service operators from selling or supplying alcohol where they know it will be drunk by a person under 20, and requires age-confirmation and other necessary measures.

Sale-hour and channel limits: The under-20 display standards require retail alcohol display areas to state that the operator will not sell where age 20 or over cannot be confirmed. For internet and other distance sales, the advertising medium, order screen or form, and delivery document or electronic notice must include the under-20 prohibition or no-sale statement, and the order route must collect or confirm age information.

Regional layers: National sale-hour limits and prefectural or municipal sale-hour rules: Not yet sourced. Detailed wholesale-only delivery-hour rules: Not yet sourced.

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Protected names

Protection framework: The National Tax Agency lists geographical indications designated by the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency and liquor geographical indications mutually protected through international agreements. Use depends on the registered name, category, geographical area and product specification.

Verified wine examples: Yamanashi, Yamagata, Hokkaido, Osaka and Nagano are Japan-designated wine geographical indications. Foreign wine names protected in Japan under the European Union (EU)-Japan agreement include Champagne, Chablis and Bordeaux. These examples are not exhaustive.

Verified spirit examples: Iki, Kuma, Ryukyu, Satsuma and Tokyo Shimazake/Tokyo Island Shochu are Japan-designated spirit geographical indications. Japan also protects foreign spirit names including Tequila through the Mexico agreement, Cognac through the EU-Japan agreement, and Bourbon Whisky and Tennessee Whisky through the United States exchange.

Verified beer names: The EU-Japan list includes beer-related protected names such as Budějovické pivo, České pivo, Bayerisches Bier and Münchener Bier, categorised by the Japanese list under other kinds of liquor.

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GTIN authority

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) member organisation: GS1 Japan, operated by the Distribution Systems Research Institute. Its guidance states that the product’s brand owner applies to GS1 Japan for a GS1 company code and assigns GTINs to products.

Sources

Not yet sourced

Specific independent online platform, broker, payment-intermediary and off-site fulfilment treatment for B2B-only models; separate customs or liquor-tax territorial treatment for Okinawa, remote islands or free-zone movements; prior label registration or pre-approval for ordinary imported alcoholic beverages; general pregnancy or alcohol-health warning beyond the under-20 statement; national sale-hour limits and prefectural or municipal sale-hour rules; detailed wholesale-only delivery-hour rules: Not yet sourced.

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