. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.00/297
30 June 2000
(00-2701)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   THE NETHERLANDS
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment
Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be
indicated if different from above:   National Enquiry Point – EC WTO TBT Enquiry Point
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X], 2.10.1 [    ], 5.6.2 [    ], 5.7.1 [    ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   The draft regulation
contains permitted measuring methods necessary for enabling the cadmium content of
products to be determined.
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Regulation
containing New Rules for Determining the Cadmium Content of Products (Regulation on
Methods for Determining the Cadmium Cont ent of Products (Act on Environmentally
Harmful Substances 2000)
6. Description of content:   The regulation forms an integral revision of the Regulation on
Methods for Determining the Cadmium Content of Products and stipulates that
three analytical techniques are permitted for determining the cadmium content in products.The permitted techniques are: instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), atomic
absorption or atomic emission spectrometry (AAS or ICP-MS [sic]), or inductively coupled
plasma mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS) and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF).  Thelatter technique is new with regard to the measurement methods used up until now.  In
addition to these techniques, other equally reliable methods may also be used.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
The Regulation on Methods for Determining the Cadmium Content of Products requires to
be adapted to the current state of technology. Moreover, it has been shown that there are
reasons for adding a new, practical method to the two detection methods cited in this
regulation.
If another technique is used for the analysis, the measuring inaccuracy of this
method compared to that of the INAA me thod must be determined. The measuring
inaccuracy value gives the margin of possible deviations. The maximum permissible
measuring inaccuracy is 50 per cent.
To be able to indicate with a reliability of at least 99 per cent that the critical value has
indeed been exceeded, the measured value obtained using the other method must be greaterthan or equal to the critical value plus the measuring inaccuracy.G/TBT/Notif.00/297
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Similarly, to show that the measured value falls below the critical value, the measured value
must be less than or equal to the critical va lue less the measuring inaccuracy.  This means
that other methods may also be permitted on the condition that the measuring inaccuracythereof falls within the prescribed margins.
It is also therefore not necessary to initiate a mutual recognition procedure, since if the
measuring inaccuracy of the applied measuring methods falls within the
prescribed margins, it shall be permitted.
In the absence of a relevant European standard, national legislation may be passed within
the limits laid down in the EC Treaty. Having been tested in the light of the relevantly
applicable criteria, it can be confirmed that the present regulation, which serves to protectthe environment and public health, contains no banned measure equivalent to a quantitative
import restriction and is aimed merely at objectively determining the cadmium content of
products.
8. Relevant documents:
(a) Act on Environmentally Harmful Substances (Article 24);
(b) Cadmium Decree (Act on Environmentally Harmful Substances) 1999
(c) Regulation on Methods for Determining the Cadmium Content of Products, Official
Gazette, 1991, 60.
9. Proposed date of adoption:
Proposed date of entry into force: }1 October 2000
10. Final date for comments:   23 August 2000
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ X] or address, e-mail and telefax
number of the other body: