New Border Measures (31) (Review on the requirement of the certificate of negative result of pre-departure test)

   
1. Review on the requirement of the certificate of negative result of pre-departure test
 
Based on New Border Measures (9) (March 5, 2021), all cross-border travelers and returnees continue to be required, for the time being, to submit a certificate of negative test result of pre-departure COVID-19 test conducted within 72 hours prior to departure from the original country/region.
 
Among those entrants, however, for all cross-border travelers and returnees from countries/regions where the B.1.1.529 Omicron variant becomes dominant (all countries/regions except for those where COVID-19 variants other than the Omicron variant become dominant, based on the New Border Measures (27) (February 24, 2022)) designated in the paragraph 1 of the New Border Measures (28) (May 20, 2022) (hereinafter referred to as “the Measures (28)”), persons with a valid vaccination certificate of COVID-19 (validity of which is certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)) and which proves that three doses of COVID-19 vaccine stipulated in the Annex 2 of the Measures (28) are inoculated. Hereinafter referred to as “vaccination certificate”.) will be no longer required to submit the certificate of negative test result of pre-departure COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to departure from the original country/region.
 
(Note 1) The abovementioned measures will be implemented from 0:00 AM (JST) on September 7, 2022.
   
   
In applying measures based on New Border Measures (28) (May 20, 2022), COVID-19 vaccination certificates recognized as valid, in principle, fall under any of the categories 1 or 2 below.
 
1. COVID-19 vaccination certificates issued in Japan which fall under any of the categories (1)-(3) below, and prove that at least three doses of COVID-19 vaccine are inoculated.
 (1) COVID-19 vaccination certificates issued by either the Government of Japan or a local public authority/municipality in Japan (The COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate for overseas travel)
 (2) Documents to prove vaccination for COVID-19 issued by a local public authority/municipality in Japan
 (3) Records of Vaccination for COVID-19 issued by medical institutions in Japan
 
2. COVID-19 vaccination certificates issued abroad which fulfill all the three requirements (1)-(3) below.
 (1) All relevant items described below should be listed on the certificate either in Japanese or English:
Name, date of birth, product name or manufacturer of vaccines, vaccination date, number of COVID-19 vaccine doses (Note 1)
 (Note 1) COVID-19 vaccination certificates written in languages other than Japanese or English are considered as valid if the translation (Japanese/English) is attached and all the items are clearly identifiable.
 
(2) The certificate should prove that at least two doses (as for JCOVDEN, intramuscular injection / Janssen, one dose is counted as two doses) of any of the COVID-19 vaccines described in the table a. below are inoculated, and any of the COVID-19 vaccines described in the table b. below is inoculated for the third vaccination or after. (Note 2)
 
a. COVID-19 vaccines up to the second dose:

Product Name or Manufacturer	Designated Date	Abolished Date
COMIRNATY, intramuscular injection / Pfizer (Note 3)	May 20, 2022
Vaxzevria, intramuscular injection / AstraZeneca (Note 3)	May 20, 2022
Spikevax, intramuscular injection / Moderna	May 20, 2022
JCOVDEN, intramuscular injection / Janssen	May 20, 2022
COVAXIN / Bharat Biotech	May 20, 2022
Nuvaxovid, intramuscular injection / Novavax (Note 3)	May 20, 2022

(Note 2) Mix-and-match vaccines are also considered as valid.
(Note 3) In applying measures based on New Border Measures (28), COMIRNATY manufactured by Fosun Pharma / BioNTech and Covishield / COVOVAX manufactured by the Serum Institute of India are treated as identical to COMIRNATY, intramuscular injection / Pfizer, Vaxzevria, intramuscular injection / AstraZeneca and Nuvaxovid, intramuscular injection / Novavax, respectively.  
 
b. COVID-19 vaccines for the third dose or after:

Product Name or Manufacturer	Designated date	Abolished date
COMIRNATY, intramuscular injection / Pfizer (Note 4)	May 20, 2022
Spikevax, intramuscular injection / Moderna	May 20, 2022
Nuvaxovid, intramuscular injection / Novavax (Note 4)	May 20, 2022
Vaxzevria, intramuscular injection / AstraZeneca (Note 4)	June 22, 2022
JCOVDEN, intramuscular injection / Janssen	June 22, 2022
COVAXIN / Bharat Biotech	July 27, 2022

(Note 4) In applying measures based on New border measures (28), COMIRNATY manufactured by Fosun Pharma / BioNTech and COVOVAX manufactured by the Serum Institute of India will be treated as identical to COMIRNATY, intramuscular injection / Pfizer, Vaxzevria intramuscular injection / AstraZeneca, and Nuvaxovid, intramuscular injection / Novavax, respectively.
 
(3) The certificate should be issued by an official body, such as a government.