WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.638
7October 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-4268)
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 forDomestic 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 may beprovided inaddition, where applicable): Equipment forthe
personalization ofDutch travel documents (passport printer +printer ribbon, optical
reading equipment, laminator, passport pen).
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Draft Regulation of
theSecretary ofState forDomestic Affairs Relating totheProvision ofTravel
Documents bytheMayors (1995 Regulation Governing thePreparation ofPassports in
theNetherlands); including:
- Appendix 1:Document Concerning Printer Specifications (RDB97/U613-RD);
- Appendix 2:Circular Concerning Printers tothose Authorities Issuing Passports
(RDB97/U14-RD).
6. Description ofcontent: Pursuant toArticle 2.3andArticle 59ofthePassport Act,rules
maybeestablished forthepreparation oftravel documents. Three rules have been
drafted forthispurpose (*PUN, PUB andPUKMAR) dependent upon thebody issuing
thedocument. These documents bear astrong resemblance tooneanother andare
notified simultaneously.
TheRegulation governing thepreparation ofpassports intheNetherlands (PUN)
1995 relates todocuments issued bythemunicipalities. According totheDutch
Government, thePUN probably contains technical regulations within themeaning ofthe
WTO Agreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade (Marrakesh, 15April 1994). An
indicative summary oftheremaining technical regulations isstated below:
- Thedocument printer must satisfy thespecifications asprescribed bythe
Minister forDomestic Affairs (Article 38.2PUN). Thespecifications relate to
theprint result andaredescribed indraft document RDB97/U613-RD
(Appendix 1).Theprocedure forallowing other printers islaiddown indraft
circular RDB97/U614-RD (Appendix 2);
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.638
Page2
6. Description ofcontent: (cont'd)
- themachine-readable strip isscanned viaoptical reading equipment andis
approved forthispurpose bytheMinister forDomestic Affairs (Article 39.5
PUN);
- thetravel document islaminated (Article 38.4, PUN);
- ifdatamust beincorporated inthetravel document andaprinting facility is
unavailable thenallthedataisentered using apassport penwhich must be
ordered byaninstitution appointed bytheMinister forDomestic Affairs
(Article 38.2and88.1PUN);
- document printer ribbons maybeordered byaninstitution appointed bythe
Minister forDomestic Affairs (Article 88.1PUN).
7. Objective andrationale: IfPUN contains quantitative import restrictions ormeasures of
similar effect thenthese arejustified fortheprotection ofpublic safety andnational
security. ThePUN regulations arenecessary inorder toguarantee thattravel documents
arevalid interms ofcontent, areuniformly prepared from atechnical point ofviewand
areprotected tothehighest degree against forgery orfalsification. Furthermore, the
machine-readable strip which isapplied tothedocuments must becompatible with
optical reading equipment atallborder controls throughout theworld. Thismeans that
equipment used forthepersonalization oftravel documents must satisfy given
specifications which areinlinewiththose specifications relating tothedocument itself.
Failure tocomply with these requirements will jeopardize acceptance ofthese
documents, either astravel oridentity documents, bothinthiscountry andabroad.
8. Relevant documents:
- Article 2.3and59ofthePassport Actrelate totheevaluation.
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: