US presses for more details on Japan Post reform

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) The United States pressed Japan on Wednesday to provide further details of it plans to privatize Japan Post, the country's huge public postal and financial services provider.

With the 10-year privatization process set to begin in October, foreign banking, insurance and express delivery companies still lack complete details of how Japan Post will operate in the future, U.S.

trade officials said.

''Japan needs to ensure equal conditions of competition in the markets where Japan Post competes with the private sector,'' U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement accompanying an annual report on a six-year-old U.S.-Japan regulatory reform initiative.

''As Japan readies related reforms to implement this fall, a high degree of transparency must be secured so market participants can judge whether this standard will be met,'' Schwab said.

Japan Post, the country's largest employer, has large banking and insurance businesses in addition to its mail and parcel delivery operations.

The U.S. government has long called on Japan to eliminate tax, regulatory and other advantages Japan Post has over U.S.

and other private companies.

The United States welcomed legislation passed by Japan's Diet in October 2005 to privatize Japan Post, but is watching closely to ensure U.S. companies are able to compete against the reformed enterprise on a level playing field.

Schwab also pressed Japan to move quickly to fully reopen its market to U.S. beef ''consistent with international standards and science.'' U.S. beef exports to Japan remain limited following the first discovery of mad cow disease in the United States over three years ago.

Release of the annual report coincided with a meeting between President George W. Bush and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Heiligendamm, Germany as part of the annual Group of Eight summit.

Schwab praised Abe for his ''clear commitment to economic reform in Japan'' and noted Japan had made progress in a number of areas, including streamlining its import procedures for certain agricultural products and further opening its market to foreign investment.

REUTERS JK BST0231