Sale of older electronics in Japan about to become illegal

That's a somewhat sensationalist title, as there are caveats. But I was surprised to see a news article reporting that beginning in April, it will become illegal to sell any appliances made before 2001 which do not sport a "PSE" logo stating that they are safe.

In the past, the Japanese government has apparently been in charge of certifying the safety of used electronics under the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law (warning: Japanese link), which was originally passed in 1959 1961. Amendments in the past few years, though, transferred that responsibility to used electronics dealers. The mark is on almost if not all new electronics sold in Japan, so the mark being there doesn't prove anything except that it was made after 2001, but I guess the Japanese government has insisted on making them required to sell used electronics so that a citizen can't sue the government after an old TV malfunctions and burns down his house, etc.

This is bad news for us because we bought a lot of used electronics that we were intending to sell in July before we head back to the US. Much of what we bought is older than 2001, and hence doesn't have the necessary seal. However, we may be able to get a seal for some of these appliances by taking them to a certified used electronics dealer who happens to have a $12,000 current analyzer that ensures that there is little or no current leakage when 10,000V are sent through the appliance. That's fine and dandy for our speakers, but what about our 200-lb refrigerator?

Evidently a poll conducted by the news showed that 65% of used electronics dealers were unaware of the law, which will be enacted just three weeks. As a foreigner who wasn't in Japan when this law was passed and publicized, I certainly didn't know either, and I may have chosen to buy slightly newer but slightly more expensive appliances had I known that the older ones would not be resellable.

This is what the marks look like, for those of you living in Japan:


The mark on the left is for "designated electrical appliances," and the mark on the right is for "all other electrical appliances." I'm not yet sure what the "designated" refers to.

I couldn't help but wonder about what this means about the used video game market. While software for video games (i.e. cartridges) would probably escape the law, I imagine vintage game machines could meet the axe, at least through legal channels. Does that mean I will have to go underground to procure a replacement SNES or NES console?