WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.419
16September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3638)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: FRANCE
Ifapplicable, name oflocal government involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible:
Ministry ofEmployment andSolidarity
Directorate-General ofHealth
Subdirectorate ofHealth Monitoring
8,Avenue deSégur
75350 Paris
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbeindicated if
different 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): Amalgam separators
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Decree ontheElimination of
Amalgam Waste from Dental Surgeries
6. Description ofcontent: Theobjective ofthese Regulations istoallow theproper elimination of
amalgam waste from dental surgeries.
Waste water containing amalgam waste maynotbedischarged intothedrainage system
before being putthrough anamalgam separator. Irrespective oftherateofflow, theseparator
must retain atleast95percentbyweight oftheamalgam inthewaste water. Thisistheamount
tobefixed intheISOWD11143Standard shortly tobeadopted. Mercury waste from dental
surgeries iscurrently estimated tobearound tentonnes. Inaddition totheobligation torecover
thewaste, theDecree specifies themethods forcollecting andtreating amalgam waste, which are
setoutindetail inthevarious Annexes. Thetime-limit forinstalling theseparators hasbeen
fixed atthree years.
7. Objective andrationale:
Mercury isadangerous substance (Directive 67/6548/EC ontheapproximation of
legislative, regulatory andadministrative provisions ontheclassification, packaging andlabelling
ofdangerous substances), anditsrecovery, collection andtreatment aremade mandatory bythis
text. Inorder tomake thedental profession aware oftheproblem, theywere sentaninformation
brochure entitled "Mercury indental amalgam ...recovering itprotects health andthe
environment". Thebrochure summarizes themercury cycle, itseffects onhealth, solutions for
itsrecovery, theutilization ofamalgam waste, andnotifies future regulations. Thedental
profession inFrance iscommitted tothisprocedure. Similar measures arealready ineffect in
several countries (Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland ...).
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.419
Page2
8. Relevant documents:
(a) Listofbasic texts:
- Public Health Code, inparticular Articles R5152 andR5161;
- Law No.75-763 of15July1975 asamended ontheelimination ofwaste and
therecovery ofmaterials;
- LawNo.76-663 of19July1976 asamended onclassified installations forthe
protection oftheenvironment;
- LawNo.92-3 of3January 1992 onmodified water;
- Decree No.67-671 of22July 1967, amended byDecree No.94-500 of
15June 1994, onthecode ofethics fordental surgeons;
- Decree No.95-1000 of6September 1995 onthecode ofmedical ethics;
- Decree No.95-517 of15May 1997 ontheclassification ofhazardous wastes;
- Decree of20April 1994 onthedeclaration, classification, packaging and
labelling ofsubstances;
- Decree of5December 1996 onthetransport ofdangerous goods byroad.
(b)
(c) Brochure: "Mercury indental amalgam ...recovering itprotects health andthe
environment".
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:End1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 15October 1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: CINORTECH
Mrs. VAQUIER (AFNOR)
Tour Europe
92049 PARIS LADEFENSE