Can I sell a phone without shutter sound?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently living in Japan and recently upgraded my phone. I bought my previous phone in Slovakia, and it doesn’t have the mandatory camera shutter sound that phones sold in Japan are required to have. I’m considering selling it on Mercari, but I’m concerned about whether this might cause any legal issues, since it’s not a Japanese model.

Does the regulation apply only to big companies or to all phones sold within Japan, including second-hand ones? Would it be okay if I disclose that the phone doesn’t have a shutter sound?

Thanks in advance!

My phone, which I bought in Japan, makes a shutter sound while I am in Japan, and doesn't make one when I am outside of Japan and set the phone to silent mode. It seems to be location-controlled.

@Uji, I think it’s only location controlled for phones bought in Japan. At least that’s my memory when I changed from an European bought phone to a Japanese,
OP can easily test this.

all phones must satisfy the regulation, 技術基準適合証明, 技適.
all phones sold in foreign countries don't satisfy it.
theoretically, it is illegal to use such phones in Japan. but, trades are not inhibited.
you can sell your phone with clarifying this point.

Gosh! I'd never heard of this. Am I right to understand that phones in Japan HAVE TO make a shutter noise when they take pictures, and that this is a legal requirement?

Does this apply to tourists as well, please? (If I remember correctly, my phone can make a shutter sound but I turned it off because the noise was distracting).

Is this some kind of law that it MUST make the shutter sound?There are many people who use different phones and from my understanding, it's mostly Apple who implements that shutter sound on their phones compared to Android phones. I've never heard of this as being an issue before.

Just as example
https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/why-you-can...

To the OP of the post. In short, you can sell whatever you want. As long as the person buying it understands there is no silent shutter on the phone. There is this misconception that it's "Against the law" to not have a shutter sound when taking a photo on a phone in Japan.

There is literally no such law. I looked it up myself and the reason why there is this misconception in media articles is because the cell phone companies in Japan don't want any legal issues with the government, so they just make it mandatory for phones to have the shutter sound. I've read things like this before and it seems there is a lot of fake information in the internet that scares people about what's legal and what's not.

Gosh, thank you for the info LikeBike.
I’d never come across that before. Must remember not to disable the shutter noise on our next trip.
Thanks.

FWIW, I don't think the shutter sound on my iPhone has been on for at least a decade, including during any of my multiple Japan trips. I've never had a problem, a polite request to turn on the sound or even noticed any sense of silent disapproval. Then again I try to fit in and be extra careful not to inconvenience anyone so don't point the camera deliberately at strangers faces, let alone anything more suspect.

So, while I generally support the intention of the measure, despite being flawed (I don't think if you take video the phone shouts "Ohio, video desu!"), I wouldn't worry about it.