What Are "Goods Prohibited from Import" Under Japan's Customs Act? A Beginner's Guide to Article 69-11 and Its Penalties [2026 Edition]

Hello, this is Ryuta Hamamoto from TIMEWELL. When the conversation turns to export control, attention almost always gravitates to the outbound side. Does our product or technology fall under a regulatory list? Could it flow to a country of concern? But goods cross borders in more than one direction. The "entry point," where goods flow into Japan from abroad, is covered by an equally strong legal net. That net is the Customs Act's regime of "goods prohibited from import," the so-called absolute import ban.

You may have seen news about a small parcel bought overseas being stopped at Customs. Or a procurement team, acting in good faith, orders a part from abroad that turns out to be an item that simply cannot be imported. In this article I will lay out the "goods prohibited from import" defined in Article 69-11 of the Customs Act, item by item from No. 1 to No. 10, in terms a beginner can follow. I will also cover how these differ from regulated items that can be imported with a permit, the border crackdown on counterfeits strengthened in October 2022, and the penalties for a violation, all grounded in the primary sources published by Customs and the Japan Patent Office.

What Article 69-11 of the Customs Act ("Goods Prohibited from Import") Means

Let me start with the statute that forms the foundation. The basis for "goods prohibited from import" is Article 69-11, paragraph 1 of the Customs Act (Act No. 61 of 1954)¹. It lists, from No. 1 to No. 10, the goods whose import into Japan is, in principle, not permitted, spanning everything from narcotics to counterfeit brand products (because there are an Item 1-2 and an Item 5-2 in between, there are effectively 12 categories)².

The defining feature of this regime is that it is an "absolute import ban." Many goods in the world can be imported once you obtain a permit or approval. Animals and plants covered by CITES, and some foods and pharmaceuticals, are examples; complete the procedures and they can be imported. The goods listed in Article 69-11, however, are not permitted to be imported at all. There is no application window for a permit. If Customs finds them, they are stopped, then either confiscated and destroyed or ordered to be re-shipped abroad. Goods that "pass if you follow the procedures" versus goods that "are simply never let through." Keep that dividing line in mind and everything that follows becomes far easier to grasp.

Why name and prohibit this many categories of goods? The reasons differ by item, but broadly speaking, it is to protect public safety and order, and to protect intellectual property. Narcotics, firearms, and explosives obviously bear directly on human life and public security. Counterfeit currency shakes confidence in the economy. Counterfeit brand goods and pirated copies strip legitimate rights holders of their profits and sap the creative drive of entire industries. Because a physical checkpoint at the border is the most efficient place to stop them, the system entrusts Customs with enforcement at the water's edge.

Are there risks that such prohibited or regulated goods have slipped into your own imports or transaction flows? If you are not sure, our free import-export compliance check is a good way to take stock of where you stand. It gives you material to inspect the gaps in your own controls, covering not only export classification but the inbound side as well.

The List of Goods Prohibited from Import (Items 1 to 10)

Now let us look at exactly what is prohibited. Organizing the list in Article 69-11, paragraph 1 of the Customs Act by category, following Customs' own guidance, gives the following²³.

Item	Category of goods	Examples	Main related laws	Customs measure
No. 1	Narcotics, stimulants, cannabis, opium, etc.	Narcotics, psychotropics, stimulants, cannabis, opium-smoking paraphernalia	Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act, Stimulants Control Act, etc.	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 1-2	Designated drugs	Designated drugs under the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act (so-called dangerous drugs)	Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 2	Firearms and ammunition	Handguns, rifles, machine guns, cannon, ammunition, handgun parts	Firearms and Swords Control Act, etc.	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 3	Explosives	Explosives such as dynamite	Explosives Control Penal Regulations	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 4	Gunpowder	Gunpowder, explosive powder, pyrotechnics	Explosives Control Act	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 5	Specified substances for chemical weapons	Specified substances that serve as raw materials for sarin, etc.	Chemical Weapons Prohibition Act	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 5-2	Pathogens, etc.	Class I and Class II pathogens	Infectious Diseases Control Act	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 6	Counterfeit currency, securities, forged cards	Counterfeit bills and coins, forged securities, forged credit cards	Penal Code, etc.	Forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment order
No. 7	Goods harming public safety or morals	Obscene books, drawings, DVDs, etc.	—	Identification procedure (Art. 69-12)
No. 8	Child pornography	Goods constituting child pornography	Act on Punishment of Child Prostitution and Child Pornography	Identification procedure (Art. 69-12)
No. 9	IP-infringing goods	Counterfeit brand goods, pirated copies, imitations	Patent Act, Trademark Act, Copyright Act, etc.	Identification procedure, forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment
No. 10	Goods related to unfair competition	Goods causing confusion with well-known or famous indications, imitations of product form, etc.	Unfair Competition Prevention Act, Art. 2(1)	Identification procedure, forfeiture and destruction / re-shipment

The first half, from No. 1 to No. 6, is the set of "goods anyone would call dangerous." Drugs such as narcotics, stimulants, cannabis, and opium-smoking paraphernalia (No. 1); designated drugs regulated as so-called dangerous drugs (No. 1-2); handguns, machine guns, cannon, and their ammunition and handgun parts (No. 2); explosives specified in the Explosives Control Penal Regulations (No. 3); gunpowder under the Explosives Control Act (No. 4); specified substances under the Chemical Weapons Prohibition Act (No. 5); Class I and Class II pathogens under the Infectious Diseases Control Act (No. 5-2); and counterfeit, altered, or imitation coins, banknotes, securities, and forged credit cards (No. 6). Because these bear directly on public safety, the Director-General of Customs may, as described later, exercise authority to confiscate and destroy them or order their re-shipment.

The second half lists items whose classification requires a procedure. No. 7 covers books, drawings, sculptures, and other goods that harm public safety or morals; No. 8 covers child pornography. Because deciding whether goods fall into these two categories is delicate, they are handled through an "identification procedure" (Article 69-12 of the Customs Act)². The items that draw the most questions in practice are Nos. 9 and 10. No. 9 covers goods that infringe patent rights, utility model rights, design rights, trademark rights, copyrights and neighboring rights, layout-design rights, or breeder's rights, in other words counterfeit brand goods, pirated copies, and imitations. No. 10 refers to goods that constitute certain acts under Article 2(1) of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (causing confusion with a well-known indication, misappropriating a famous indication, imitating product form, and so on)¹. This intellectual property domain is the area most closely tied to everyday business.

One point about pharmaceutical-related terms is worth clarifying. So-called dangerous drugs, that is "designated drugs" under the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act, are in fact expressly listed as goods subject to the absolute import ban in Article 69-11, paragraph 1, Item 1-2. Like narcotics and stimulants, they cannot be imported at all. By contrast, certain ordinary pharmaceuticals that are not designated drugs can be imported once you obtain the approvals or confirmations required under the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Act; those sit on the Article 70 (other-law permits and approvals) side of the line. Even within the "pharmaceutical" area, designated drugs (Article 69-11, an outright ban) and ordinary pharmaceuticals (Article 70, importable once you complete the procedures) differ completely in both procedure and penalty, so it pays to stay aware of which law does the prohibiting.

How "Prohibited from Import" Differs from "Requiring Permits Under Other Laws"

What beginners confuse most easily is the difference between the "goods prohibited from import" in Article 69-11 and the "goods regulated by other laws" handled under Article 70 of the Customs Act. Whether you can keep these apart makes a large difference in day-to-day judgment.

To repeat, Article 69-11 is an absolute import ban. These are not goods that can be imported once you obtain a permit. Article 70, by contrast, sets up a mechanism for goods whose import requires a permit, approval, or inspection under other laws: you prove or have Customs confirm that you have completed those procedures. Species covered by CITES, items subject to plant quarantine or animal quarantine, and certain pharmaceuticals and chemicals fall here. These can be imported openly once you obtain the necessary permits or approvals and satisfy the conditions.

Put differently, Article 69-11 is a regulation that "seals the entrance," while Article 70 is a regulation that "places a checkpoint at the entrance." You cannot get through the sealed entrance no matter what; you can pass the checkpoint if you carry the right documents. Mix these up and you might give up on something you could actually have imported with a permit, or, conversely, build a procurement plan on the false belief that something that will never be admitted "can go through if we just get a permit." Both lead to mistakes no one laughs off in practice.

To determine which of these two worlds your goods belong to, you need a systematic view of import regulation under other laws. I have laid out the range of related laws that come into play at import, and the key points for checking them, in our trade "other laws" checklist, so please read it alongside this article. As with export control, the first step on the inbound side is to carry a map of "which law applies to which goods, and how."

Border Enforcement Against IP-Infringing Goods and the October 2022 Crackdown on Personal Imports

The most realistic cluster of risk for companies is the IP-infringing goods in Nos. 9 and 10. Here Customs works with rights holders to conduct fairly assertive border enforcement.

At the center of the mechanism are the identification procedure and the application for suspension of import. Rights holders such as trademark or patent owners can apply to Customs to suspend the import of goods likely to infringe their rights⁴. Through this application information and daily inspections, when Customs finds goods suspected of infringement, it starts an identification procedure. In that procedure, the importer and the rights holder each submit evidence and arguments, and Customs decides whether the goods really infringe⁵⁶. If infringement is confirmed, the goods are confiscated and destroyed or re-shipped abroad. The details of the identification procedure for IP-infringing goods, the application for suspension of import, sample inspection, and the like are broadly set out from Article 69-13 onward of the Customs Act, but because the fine detail of article numbers can shift with amendments, confirm the original text of the statute in practice.

There is one major change that everyone using cross-border e-commerce should know. The amendments to the Trademark Act and Design Act promulgated in May 2021 (Act No. 42 of 2021), and the accompanying amendment to the Customs Act, took effect on October 1, 2022⁷⁸. This amendment made clear that when an overseas business ships counterfeits into Japan by mail or similar means, that act constitutes trademark and design infringement⁹.

What changed? Before the amendment, there was room to clear customs even for counterfeits as long as you were "just ordering a small quantity for personal use." After the amendment, trademark- and design-infringing goods sent by an overseas business cannot be imported even for personal use and are subject to confiscation by Customs⁷. Even a single unit, even strictly for your own use, is stopped if the sender is an overseas business. In an era where cross-border e-commerce has become ordinary, this is the pitfall consumers overlook most easily. The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan has also issued warnings about counterfeit trouble in line with this amendment¹⁰.

People often ask, "What happens if I bought it without knowing?" Customs suspension and confiscation are based on the fact of infringement, so even if you did not know the goods were fake, the goods themselves are confiscated. Criminal penalties, however, are in principle not imposed on individual importers who have no business purpose. So counterfeits from an overseas business are subject to confiscation even for personal use, while penalties apply when the import was for business⁸. Even if you buy on a whim because it is cheap, the likely outcome is that it never arrives and is simply confiscated. Personally, I think the best move is not to touch such goods at all.

What Happens if You Violate (Penalties, Forfeiture, Destruction, Re-Shipment)

So what actually happens if you try to import goods prohibited from import? It is clearest to separate administrative measures from criminal penalties.

First, the administrative measures. Under Article 69-11, paragraph 2 of the Customs Act, the Director-General of Customs may confiscate and destroy goods listed in Items 1 through 6 and Items 9 and 10 that someone is attempting to import, or may order the would-be importer to re-ship them (send them back abroad)¹. Narcotics, firearms, counterfeit currency, and counterfeit brand goods fall under this. Items 7 and 8 are handled through the identification procedure described above. Either way, once goods are judged to be prohibited, they never see the light of day inside Japan.

Next, criminal penalties. The offense of importing prohibited goods under Items 1 through 6, that is, narcotics, firearms, explosives, gunpowder, specified substances for chemical weapons, and counterfeit currency, is punishable under Article 109, paragraph 1 of the Customs Act by imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 30 million yen, or both¹¹. For those who import IP-infringing goods (Items 9 and 10) such as counterfeit brand products as a business, the explanations by the Japan Patent Office and Customs indicate imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 10 million yen, or both¹¹⁸. That said, when it comes to which statutory penalty each paragraph of Article 109 assigns to which item of Article 69-11, paragraph 1, and especially the treatment of Items 7 and 8, the numbers sometimes diverge among secondary commentary. For the exact statutory penalty, always confirm the original text on e-Gov.

One more thing you must not forget: narcotics, stimulants, and cannabis are punished heavily under special laws such as the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Act and the Stimulants Control Act, separately from the import ban under the Customs Act. In other words, a single act draws liability from both the Customs Act and the special law. The idea that "you only need to watch the Customs Act penalties" does not hold. For some goods, a far heavier statutory penalty awaits than you might imagine.

A supplementary note: if you receive a notice from Customs that it has "started an identification procedure," do not ignore it. The importer can submit evidence and arguments within the deadline to contest it. If your imported goods are suspected of being IP-infringing goods or the like, preparing supporting materials early, such as contracts, licenses, and supplier information, and consulting a specialist as needed, is the shortest path to avoiding needless losses.

Building a Compliance Framework on Both the Import and Export Sides

As this article makes clear, the risks of goods crossing borders are not only about the outbound side. Exports involve classification and the permit system under the Foreign Exchange Act (the export framework also appears from Article 69-2 onward of the Customs Act), while imports face the absolute import ban of Article 69-11. These are separate regimes, and border compliance is complete only when you manage both. The assumption that "we only need to watch export classification" leaves the gaps on the inbound side unattended.

So what should a company do? I organize it into three points. First, build an operational flow that checks, at the procurement and purchasing entrance, whether the goods you handle fall under prohibited or regulated items. The most common accident is a sales or purchasing staffer placing an order while assuming that "we are just ordering from abroad, so export control has nothing to do with us." Second, share internally a set of criteria for distinguishing an import ban (Article 69-11) from other-law regulation that permits import with a license (Article 70). Third, keep tracking updates to governing laws, article numbers, and covered items with every amendment. As the October 2022 crackdown on counterfeits shows, the system grows thicker quietly but surely.

This work of "keeping up with changes on the regulatory side" is quite demanding to do by hand alone. Our export control AI agent TRAFEED, which streamlines export classification and counterparty screening, has a mechanism that reflects updates to each country's laws on the same day, and one of its aims is to lower the burden of tracking these shifts in the system. AI classification accuracy is 95% or higher (joint proof-of-concept with Okayama University, internal study); it visualizes the level of concern in five seconds and uses a knowledge graph of more than 200 million records, drawn from papers, patents, and researcher information, to back up its determinations. It holds Patent No. 7862062 and is already deployed at more than 20 organizations. That said, the final classification is made by your company's export control officer. AI is a tool that provides the material and the speed for judgment; it does not change where responsibility sits. I want to write that clearly to avoid any misunderstanding.

There is a legal net on both the entrance and the exit of the border. Start by sharing this obvious-seeming yet easily overlooked fact inside your organization. If you are unsure where to begin in your own case, reach out through our individual consultation. From export classification to organizing the risks on the inbound side, we will think it through with you, grounded in real practice.

References

Footnotes

1. Customs Act (Act No. 61 of 1954), Article 69-11, Article 109, and others — e-Gov Law Search (Digital Agency) — accessed July 19, 2026 (current effective edition) ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. 2001 What Are "Goods Prohibited from Import" (Customs Answer) — Japan Customs (Customs and Tariff Bureau, Ministry of Finance) — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Prohibited and Restricted Items for Import and Export — Japan Customs (Customs and Tariff Bureau, Ministry of Finance) — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩

4. Applying to Customs for Suspension of Import — Japan Patent Office, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩

5. Enforcement Against IP-Infringing Goods (Intellectual Property Homepage) — Japan Customs (Customs and Tariff Bureau, Ministry of Finance) — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩

6. Customs Act (Excerpt) — Japan Customs Intellectual Property Homepage — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩

7. Strengthened Border Enforcement Against Counterfeits! Effective October 1, 2022 — Japan Customs (Customs and Tariff Bureau, Ministry of Finance) — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩ ↩²

8. On Strengthened Regulation of Counterfeits Flowing In from Abroad — Japan Patent Office, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Commentary on the 2021 Legal Amendments, Chapter 10: Strengthening Regulation Against Counterfeits Flowing In from Abroad (PDF) — Japan Patent Office — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩

10. Beware of Trouble Involving Counterfeits! Border Enforcement Strengthened from October 2022 — National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩

11. Penal Provisions of the Customs Act — Japan Customs (Customs and Tariff Bureau, Ministry of Finance) — accessed July 19, 2026 ↩ ↩²