On March 13, the Japan Exhibition Association (JEA) revised its “Guidelines for Prevention of the Spread of Infection at Exhibitions”.
This was the 7th revision to date.
The JEA announced that the wearing of masks shall be left to the discretion of the individual, and hand washing and hand sanitizing will continue to be encouraged.
Specific regulations (relaxations) are as follows:
- Wearing of Masks: The wearing of masks by visitors shall be left to their own discretion. (However, visitors may be requested to wear masks depending on infection status or other factors.)
- In relation to the above, the same applies to mask-wearing at food tastings as well as lounges that serve food and beverage.
- The provision of masks by organizers for exhibition staff will no longer be required, taking into account that masks can now be easily obtained.
- While creating layouts to prevent congestion will still be required, the 2-story structure and 4-meter height regulations will be removed. (However, it is still recommended that these regulations remain in place during construction for safety reasons.)
- Checking Temperatures: This can still be used as a measure to prevent those with symptoms from entering venues, and using signage or other means to encourage those with symptoms to refrain from coming to the venue is also permitted.
The requirement for “all visitors to wear masks at all times (non-woven cloth masks recommended) during the entire event,” which was a continuous measure agreed upon by organizers, venue management, and exhibition support companies, has been removed.
Nevertheless, several regulations aimed at visitors, exhibitors, and vendors alike still remain. These include refraining from speaking in a loud voice, even during business negotiations, explanations, and demonstrations, as well as maintaining a distance of at least a 1-meter while eating or smoking, avoiding facing others, providing seating arrangements with fewer chairs, limiting room capacities, and staggering employee break times.
Within the guidelines the JEA states, “In a world where coexistence with Covid-19 will likely be inevitable for some time to come, it is necessary to keep the economy in motion while minimizing the risk of infection.”