WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.661
10October 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-4333)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: NETHERLANDS
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Ministry ofHousing, Spatial Planning andtheEnvironment
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above: National enquiry point
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): Thedraft Decree lays
down general environmental provisions withwhich certain catering, sport andrecreation
establishments must comply, which alsohaveabearing oninstallations.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Draft Decree on
Catering, Sport andRecreation Establishments Environment
6. Description ofcontent: Thedraft Decree isbased onArticle 8.40oftheEnvironment
Actandcontains general rules forcatering, sport andrecreation establishments. These
rules willleadtotheabolition ofthelicensing obligation laiddown inArticle 8.1ofthe
Environment Actinrespect ofthese establishments. Thegeneral rules relate tonuisance
caused bynoise andvibrations, energy consumption, waste materials andwaste water,
emissions intotheair,nuisance duetoartificial lighting, safety, water consumption and
soiltesting.
7. Objective andrationale: TheDecree aimstolaydown rules withaviewtoproviding as
great aprotection oftheenvironment aspossible against anyharmful effects of
establishments. TheDecree isaresult ofthepoint ofviewoftheCabinet onthesubject
oflegislation onestablishments. Forming thebasis forthispoint ofview isastudy
which reveals thatenvironmental licensing isjudged tobetoosevere aninstrument for
certain economic activities which generate amore restricted, generally localized form of
environmental pollution. The burdens onboth businesses and authorities are
disproportionate inthese cases. Ithasbeenestablished thatgeneral environmental rules
onthebasis ofArticle 8.40oftheEnvironment Actareanefficient instrument andthat
many more kinds ofestablishments maybebrought under thescope ofthese rules than
isnowthecase. Apart from that, thisDecree meets theurgent pleafrom thetarget
group forprovision ingeneral rules.
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8. Relevant documents: Chapter 8,Heading 8.2,oftheEnvironment Act
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 20November 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 21November 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 19November 1997
TheNetherlands willproceed toimplement theproposed measure after45days
ifnocomments orrequests forextension ofthetime-limit havebeenreceived from other
Members within thattime.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: