WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.487
23September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3911)
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 ofEconomic Affairs
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): Ethyl alcohol from
agricultural products asdescribed inArticle 1,paragraph 3(h)andAppendix Ito(EEC)
Council Regulation No.1576/89 of29May 1989; anddistillates from agricultural
products asdescribed inArticle 1,paragraph 3(i)of(EEC) Council Regulation
No.1576/89 of29May1989. Applies tobothproducts insofar asthese contain more
than81percentvolume pureethyl alcohol.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Ordinance Banning
theSaleofEthyl Alcohol
6. Description ofcontent: According totheDutch Government, thedraft Regulation of
point 5probably contains technical regulations within themeaning oftheAgreement on
Technical Barriers toTrade. TheRegulation bansthesaleviaoff-licences ofalcoholic
drinks suitable forconsumption containing more than 81percent volume. The
Ordinance dates backto1993 initsoriginal form.
7. Objective andrationale: Insofar asthedraft Ordinance contains quantitative import
restrictions ormeasures ofequal effect within themeaning oftheAgreement on
Technical Barriers toTrade, these measures arejustified toprotect public health. The
nature oftheRegulation, acomplete banwithout alternatives, contravenes aclause of
mutual recognition.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.487
Page2
8. Relevant documents:
- Article 18oftheCommodities Actof28December 1935, Bulletin ofActsand
Decrees 793regulating thequality anddesignation ofcommodities asmost
recently amended and/or supplemented bytheActof21April 1988 Bulletin of
ActsandDecrees 358.
- Original explanatory note.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 30October 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 31October 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 29October 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: