WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.431
22September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3851)
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 ofJustice
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): Equipment used for
managing theparticipation, drawing theprizes anddetermining thewinners ofthebank
andgirobank lottery.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Decision Governing
theGranting ofaLicence toOrganise aBank andGirobank Lottery (Bank andGirobank
Lottery Decision). (Available inEnglish)
6. Description ofcontent: Article 1oftheBetting andGaming Actprohibits theorganising
ofgambling untilalicence forthishasbeengranted. Article 3oftheActstates thata
licence canbegranted ifthetakings areusedinthegeneral interest. Article 6ofthe
Actstates thatmore detailed regulations canbelaiddown byanimplementing regulation
withregard totheprovisions which canbeattached toagambling licence onthebasis of
Article 3oftheAct. These regulations arelaiddown intheBetting andGaming
Decree. Decision governing thegranting ofalicence toorganise abank andgirobank
lottery regulates theassigning ofresponsibilities forholding abankandgirobank lottery,
theassociated game andtheusing ofthetakings inthegeneral interest.
Intheopinion oftheDutch Government, thedraft Order mentioned under
point 5seems tocontain technical provisions within themeaning oftheAgreement on
Technical Barriers toTrade. Anindicative listofthetechnical provisions isgiven below:
Article 11oftheBank andGirobank Lottery Decision states thatthemechanical,
electrical andelectronic processes which areused formanaging theparticipation,
drawing theprizes anddetermining thewinners oftheinstant lottery must besubject to
theabove-mentioned licensing procedure andperiodic inspection byaministerially
appointed independent expert ororganisation. Nolicensing requirements arespecified.
Itisirrelevant which typeofequipment isused, solongasitisguaranteed thatthe
equipment operates inacoincidental fashion.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.431
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Totheextent thattheDecision contains technical barriers to
trade, these measures arejustified inorder toprotect theinterests ofgamblers against
fraud andabuse (public order andconsumer protection) andexcessive andproblematic
gambling behaviour (public health).
Given thattechnical provisions donothinder trade inaproduct butlimititsuse,
amutual recognition provision isnotconsidered worthwhile. After all,norequirements
arelaiddown with regard totrade intheequipment; rather, itisonly when the
equipment isusedfordrawing theprizes thatacheck iscarried outtoensure thatthe
drawing ofprizes iscoincidental.
8. Relevant documents: Thefollowing textsareimportant forjudging thepresent Draft:
- Art.1 t/m6oftheBetting andGaming Act; and
- Art.2 and+5oftheBetting andGaming Decree
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 1November 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 2November 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 31October 1997
TheNetherlands willproceed toimplement theproposed measure after45days
ifnocomments orrequests forextension ofthetimelimithavebeenreceived fromother
Members within thattime.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: