WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.98
26March 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-1235)
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 ofEconomic Affairs
Quality andSafety Administration
Metrology Division
StLievenshaven 25
9000 GENT -BELGIUM
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): Petroleum products,
reservoirs, measuring instruments.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Draft Royal Order
Amending theRoyal Order of3November Concerning Reservoirs
6. Description ofcontent:
Article 1ofthedraft ofthesame Order changes thename ofthepublic service
responsible fortheapplication oftheRoyal Order ofNovember 1993 concerning
reservoirs. This change results from therestructuring oftheMinistry ofEconomic
Affairs.
Article 2ofthedraftofthesame Order makes adistinction inregard tocontent
andrelated administrative costs. Inaddition topetroleum products, thestorage of
alcohol, wine andsimilar products iseconomically important. Nevertheless, such
liquids arestored inmuch smaller quantities thanpetroleum products.
Article 3ofthedraft ofthesame Order amends thetextsothatitisnowalso
possible toestablish scales forthecontent ofreservoirs based onempty space. In
practice, automatic altimeters forliquids actually measure empty space. Thelevelofthe
liquid isthendeduced from thatreading.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.98
Page2
6. Description ofcontent: (cont'd)
Article 4ofthedraftofthesame Order makes itpossible toestablish scales for
thecontent ofreservoirs atareference temperature other than15C. Inpractice,
alcohol forexample isstored atatemperature of20Candother petroleum products at
atemperature between 60Cand150C.Inorder tohaveavailable atalltimes scales
thatcanbeusedimmediately showing thecontent ofreservoirs, werequire onlymention
ofthereference temperature.
Article 5ofthedraft ofthesame Order takes intoaccount theprovisions of
Article 3.Two models ofscales forthecontent ofreservoirs areapproved, i.e.,
"ascale showing thecontent ofreservoirs based onthelevel oftheliquid" and"ascale
showing thecontent ofreservoirs based onempty space".
7. Objective andrationale: Theobjective oftheRoyal Order of3November 1993
Concerning Reservoirs, effective 1January 1994, istoregulate theamounts of
petroleum products stored inreservoirs. Thereadings ofthese amounts areused,
interalia,toassess thelevelofexcise taxes.
8. Relevant documents:
-TheLawof16June1970, amended bytheLawof21February 1986
-Royal Order of3November 1993
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:60days
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: CIBELNOR