Once，aids to navigation are constructed, they are required to operate constantly without a moment’s stop，as vessels from countries all over the world depend on the facilities.
The facilities must be of uniform characteristics and performance．
Therefore, in most countries，the government organ or similar national agencies are responsible for the eishment and operation of aids to navigation.
In Japan，from the Meiji era，the government has solely been responsible for the establishment and operation of aids to navigation.
Private organs must receive permission from the government to establish aids to navigation，and the facilities must receive in spection from the government．
In Japan，January 1868，under the Foreign Affairs Secretariat，a lighthouse officer was appointed．
Hence the Lighthouse Department has been transferred to the Foreign Affairs Department，the Ministry of Finance，the Home Affairs Department，the Engineering Department, the Ministry of posts and Telecommunications，the Ministry of Transport and Communication，and the Ministry of Transport.
　With the establishment of the Maritime Safety Agency as an outer department of the Ministry of Transport，the Aids to Navigation Service has been under the jurisdiction of the Maritime Safety Agency．