SPring-8 celebrates the 10th anniversary of its inauguration in October 2007. Constructed jointly by RIKEN and JAERI (presently JAEA), it has been operated by JASRI which was approved by the Government as the unique designated organization based on a law for SPring-8. JAERI withdrew from the administration of SPring-8 in 2005 along with a new national policy. The above law was revised so that RIKEN is fully responsible for the total operation of SPring-8 except the selection of the users' proposals and the support for the users, which the Government entrusts to JASRI directly. RIKEN entrusts the operation of the system and the machine to JASRI through a bid. The contracts of JASRI with both the Government and RIKEN are of yearly base: thus, from the point of legal view, JASRI cannot be responsible for long-term continuous business of SPring-8, e.g. construction or planning, to which JASRI's potential is most demanded. Practically, JASRI cooperates tightly with RIKEN. Thus, SPring-8 appears to be operated almost unchanged and planning for the future of the facility is in progress in fact. The Government has started the reorganization of public common facilities for reserch. The above-mentioned revision of the law is regarded as one of transient procedures or attempts. Another target of the Government is the collection of the beam fee, which they have tried for a few years, although we repeatedly explained that the free of charge for non-proprietary use fits a global standard. In near future, SPring-8 will have new beamlines. In response to our call, six proposals for contract beamlines have been submitted and five of them were approved by the review committee. The construction of XFEL has started and is to be completed in 2010. We have begun the discussion of the total development plan of a new SPring-8 campus which accommodates both the storage ring and XFEL. 7 Akira Kira Director General SPring-8 / JASRI
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