WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.98.30
19January 1998
ORGANIZATION
(98-0179)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: BELGIUM
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Ministry ofFinance
RuedelaLoi12,
B-1000 Brussels
Tel: +3222103334
Fax: +3222103447
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification shall be
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Eco-taxes
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Draft LawAmending
Book IIIoftheOrdinary lawof16July1993 Aimed atCompleting theFederal Structure
oftheState
6. Description ofcontent: Thepurpose ofthisdraft lawistointroduce technical
improvements withrespect topackaging volume units forrecipients containing certain
industrial products.
7. Objective andrationale, including thenature ofurgent problems where applicable: Eco-
taxes were introduced intoBelgian legislation asanimportant toolinapolicy of
prevention inthefieldoftheenvironment. They havetwoessential features:
- They haveanincentive effect;
- they aretheonly taxes thatcanbeavoided perfectly legally, provided the
consumer caneasily findasubstitute thatisnotsubject toeco-tax.
8. Relevant documents:
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:60days
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress, e-mail andtelefax number
ofother body: CIBELNOR