JAPANReciprocal Access Agreement • December 3rd, 2020
Contract Type FiledDecember 3rd, 2020Following six years of negotiation, Japan and Australia have agreed in principle on the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) during Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit to Tokyo. The objective is to facilitate deeper cooperation and improving interoperability between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) and Australian Defence Force during joint exercises and disaster relief operations, by way of establishing procedures and legal status for each other’s visiting force in their territory. The RAA encompasses rationalization procedures to ease deployment and joint activities, together with entry and departure of the visiting force, custom duties and taxes, and criminal jurisdiction. The RAA needs ratification by the Japanese Diet. Japan-Australia RAA is only the second such arrangement that Tokyo has agreed to besides the US. Japan has signed Status of Forces Agreement with the US.