WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.96.223
19July1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-2843)
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): Belgium
2. Agency responsible: Ministry ofJustice
Criminal Legislation andHuman Rights
Weapons Service
Boulevard Waterloo 115
1000 Brussels
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
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): Alarm guns
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Royal Order forthe
Classification ofCertain Alarm Guns asWeapons ofDefence
6. Description ofcontent: Alarm gunscapable offiring projectiles ofanykind, orcapable
ofbeing converted tothatpurpose, areclassified asweapons ofdefence, onthesame
basis asunder theearlier order of1959. Prior authorization isrequired forthe
acquisition ofsuchweapons. Alarm gunsnotsuited totheabove-mentioned purpose and
incapable ofbeing converted thereto continue tobesaleable onthefreemarket.
Non-suitability mustbedetermined foreachmodel bymeans ofanofficial type-approval
procedure. Thetechnical procedure hadnotbeenlaiddown in1959.
Type-approval inBelgium must becarried outbytheFirearms TestFacility.
Equivalent foreign type-approval certificates arealsovalid.
Models currently onthemarket mustbesubmitted fortype-approval purposes by
themanufacturers orimporters within aperiod ofsixmonths.
Existing cases ofprivate possession willbesubject toregularization.
./.G/TBT/Notif.96.223
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Optimum safeguards forpublic order andsafety, more precise
definition ofalong-established principle andimplementation ofaprovision onthe
subject contained inDirective 91/477/EEC of18June1991 oncontrol oftheacquisition
andpossession ofweapons.
Replacement oftheOrder dated 11January 1995, theprovisions ofwhich are
invalid onaccount ofnon-compliance withDirective 83/189/EEC.
8. Relevant documents: TheWeapons Actandthemost recent implementing decision
pursuant thereto, adopted on20September 1991, were recently communicated, on
29May 1996, inconnection with thenotification oftheRoyal Order Defining the
Security Requirements Applicable totheStocking, Storing andCollection ofFirearms
andAmmunition (thenotification number isnotyetknown). Thecontent oftheOrder
dated 11January 1995 differs innorespect from thecontent ofthecurrent text;onlythe
"Community provisions" arenew.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:60days
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: CIBELNOR