./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.98.471
23 September 1998
(98-3670)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  THE NETHERLANDS          
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:  Commodity Board for Soft Drinks and Waters
Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be
indicated if different from above:  National en quiry point – EC WTO-TBT enquiry point     
    
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [    ], 5.6.2 [    ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Soft drinks and waters
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Exemption of PET
Bottles from the Grey Channel 1998          
6. Description of content:  The exemption from the Deposit Regulation is intended for
single-use plastic bottles, made of PET (polyethylene terephtalate), with a maximumcapacity of 0.5 litre.  Exemption can only be obta ined if the sale takes place in the so-called
"grey sales channel", being petrol stations, sports and company canteens, kiosks, caravan
sites and snack bars.  The present Regulation follows on from the "exemption of trial PET
bottles from the grey channel", which has been notified previously under
G/TBT/Notif.97.234.          
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  The
Netherlands environmental policy does not allow the sale of soft drinks and waters insingle-use, one-way plastic packaging because there is no efficient collection system for
plastic packaging waste.  Particularly in the so-called "grey channel", soft drinks and waters
have suffered a competitive disadvantage compared to drinks sold by the competition.  The
tests with PET bottles (see Notification G/TBT/Notif.97.234.) have shown that the
introduction of these bottles in the "grey channel" has hardly - if at all - caused an increasein the quantity of waste since the PET bottles with soft drinks or waters have replaced
similar products in single-use, non-returnable packaging.  For this reason, the trial is now
transposed into a definitive regulation.  In respect of the trial, the conditions underlying the
exemption, have not changed a great deal.  A pplications are not necessary for exemptions:
the Regulation provides for a generic exemption possibility, provided that the prescribedconditions are met.          G/TBT/Notif.98.471
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8. Relevant documents:
- Deposit Regulation by the Soft Drinks and Waters Commodity Board;
- Industrial Organization Act;
- Exemption of trial PET bottles from the grey channel 1997
          
9. Proposed date of adoption:  18 November 1998
Proposed date of entry into force:  1 January 1999
10. Final date for comments:  15 November 1998
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ X ] or address, e-mail and telefax number of
the other body:           