By Yoko Kubota
TOKYO, April 24 (Reuters) - Japan voiced concern on Friday about a Chinese plan to order certification of high-tech information security products which could have wide-ranging effects on trade and on foreign manufacturers in China.
China has said it will unveil on May 1 the rules for certifying the products, which include smart card chip operating systems, secure routers, secure database systems, anti-spam products and firewall products.
The complex world of technical standards has become a flashpoint of trade friction between China and developed economies in past years, with critics accusing Beijing of threatening to use home-grown rules to deter foreign competition.
One case involving wireless computer security technology almost ended up at the World Trade Organisation.
The issue is likely to come up in trade talks during next week's visit to Beijing by Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.
"Japan is asking China at all levels to reconsider this," chief cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told a news conference.
"If a compulsory certification system of information-security products, which would be unprecedented internationally, is introduced, then this may have a negative impact on smooth trade ties between Japan and China."
Without the certification, the products or the appliances that contain them will not be allowed to be sold out of factories in China, shipped, imported or used commercially in China, according to an announcement last year by the quality watchdog.
Japan and the United States criticised the 2008 announcement, on the grounds of potential violation of intellectual property rights and leakage of technology.
In March, China said it would postpone implementation of the plan, a Japanese trade ministry official said.
Bejing would give manufacturers a grace period before the rules were implemented, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported. The trade ministry official could not confirm this.
In 2006, China backed off from issuing regulations that would have required a "hole" in encryption of chips used for wireless devices imported into China, after the United States contested the regulations.
(Additional reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dean Yates)