WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.633
7October 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-4263)
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 forHome 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): Thesemi-automatic pistol
ofthemake Walther, typeP5,calibre 9x19mm., thesemi-automatic fire-arm ofthe
make Heckler &Koch, types MP5A2, MP5A3, MP5, calibre 9x19mm.Ammunition
ofthemake Dynamit Nobel, typeAction, type3,calibre 9x19mm.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Regulation ofthe
Ministers forHome Affairs andforJustice No.EA97, Containing Rules forthe
Enactment ofArming thePolice (Police Arming Regulation)
6. Description ofcontent: According totheDutch Government, thedraft Regulation
included inpoint 5probably contains technical regulations within themeaning ofthe
Agreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade. TheRegulation setsoutthetypes ofweapon
andammunition made available totheDutch police andthecategories ofofficials which
canusethevarious types ofweapon. TheRegulation applies twomethods forthis
purpose:
(a) ThisRegulation explicitly states themake andtypeofacertain weapon. An
indicative summary shows theArticles inquestion: Article 1,(c)(thesemi-automatic
pistol Walther P5;Article 7,(c)(semi-automatic fire-arm Heckler Koch MP5A2);
Article 8,(b)and(c)semi-automatic fire-arm Heckler &Koch MP5A2 andMP5A3);
Article 9,(d)and(e)(semi-automatic fire-arm Heckler &Koch MP5A2 andtype
MP5K; Article 11,(c)(semi-automatic fire-arm Heckler &Koch MP5A2); Article 14,
paragraphs 1and2(ammunition Dynamit Nobel, Action, 3).
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.633
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6. Description ofcontent: (cont'd)
(b) Itisstipulated thatacertain weapon must beofamake andtypeasapproved by
theMinisters. (Article 2,(a);Article 2,paragraph 2;Article 4,paragraph 1;Article 5;
Article 6;Article 7,(a)and(b); Article 8,(a);Article 9,(a)and(b); Article 10;
Article 11,(a)and(b);Article 12;Article 18,paragraph 2.Theentire Regulation is
submitted fornotification. The(original) Regulation, including thetechnical regulations
specified under Category A,came intoforce on1April 1994. Sofar,theMinisters
havefailed todesignate theweapons specified under Category B.Forthiscategory of
weapons, aformulation intheform oftechnical regulations isprobably likely.
Preparation ofsucharegulation isnowunder way. These technical regulations willbe
submitted fornotification atalater stage. IntheRegulation, theformulation, as
described under (b),hasbeen maintained because itisnotyetknown whether a
formulation intheform oftechnical regulations would bepossible without prejudice to
theguarantees outlined under point 7.
7. Objective andrationale: Byenacting thearming andammunition requirements, itis
hoped thatmaximum guarantees areachieved toensure thattheuseofviolence during
theexercise ofdutymeets therequirements ofsubsidiarity andproportionality. Forthis
reason, itisnecessary thattheeffects andlevel ofviolence ofweapons isaspredictable
aspossible. Aformulation intheform oftechnical regulations inthiscontext istoo
broad. Insofar asthedraft Regulation contains quantitative import restrictions or
measures ofequal effect within themeaning oftheWTO Agreement onTechnical
Barriers toTrade (Marrakesh, 15April 1994), these measures arejustified toprotect the
enforcement ofthepublic andlegalorder.
8. Relevant documents: Article 49,paragraph 1ofthe1993 Police Act.
Police Arming Regulation (Government Gazette 1994, 64)withexplanatory note,
(draft) Police Arming Regulation.
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 fromother
Members within thattime.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: