On March 25, 2022, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) announced setting up the “Working Group for Barrier-Free Assessment Indicators from the Perspective of the Concerned Parties” at the 7th Evaluation Conference for Facilitating Smooth Transportation.

The MLIT hosted the Conference in response to the Revised Barrier-Free Act of 2018, which stipulates that a conference be established with the participation of the elderly and persons with disabilities to monitor and evaluate the progress of barrier-free environments regularly. Since the first evaluation meeting held in February 2019, there were seven meetings that have been held so far, and "regional breakout sessions" in 10 blocks across the country.

With the participation of concerned parties, the working group will:

(1) conduct on-site surveys, assess the proposed assessment indicators at actual facilities and interview those responsible for establishing facilities, and

(2) examine carefully and review items of the assessment indicators and evaluation perspectives based on the on-site surveys as part of the indicators’ scrutiny.

The working group will report its study results at the Conference.

For more information, please visit the website below (Japanese only):　　https://www.mlit.go.jp/sogoseisaku/barrierfree/sosei_barrierfree_tk_000308.html