WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.635
7October 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-4265)
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): Coffins orother
coverings forcorpses
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Decree onRegulations
Implementing theActontheDisposal ofCorpses (Decree ontheDisposal ofCorpses)
6. Description ofcontent: TheDecree contains further development, refining anddetailing
oftheActonthedisposal ofcorpses onanumber ofpoints considered necessary bythe
legislator. Thepoints concerned areasfollows: thedeclaration ofdeath, themanner of
burying, thelayout ofagrave, thewayofcremation andthedestination oftheashes, the
transport ofcorpses intoandoutoftheNetherlands, themeans ofhandling corpses
which arebrought intotheNetherlands, themeans ofhandling corpses andstillborn
children onboard ofDutch ships atsea,means ofhandling corpses oninstallations at
seaandthemeans ofhandling corpses ofmembers oftheDutch armed forces in
countries outside theNetherlands. Intheopinion oftheDutch Government, thedraft
Regulation mentioned inpoint No.5contains technical regulations. Anindicative
summary ofthetechnical regulations isincluded below. Articles 4and12,second
paragraph, give(make reference to)atechnical specification onthewayinwhich coffins
orother coverings aretobemanufactured fortheuseintheNetherlands. Article 4,first
paragraph, stipulates thatthemanufacture ofcoffins orother coverings from synthetic
material ormetal isprohibited. Thesecond paragraph stipulates thatthisprohibition does
notapply tothesynthetic materials ormetals andapplications included intheDecree on
Coverings forCorpses. InArticle 12,second paragraph, itisstipulated that,inthecase
oftransporting acorpse outoftheNetherlands toBelgium orLuxembourg ortoStates
which arenotparty totheStrasbourg Agreement, thecoffin must bewatertight.
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7. Objective andrationale: Insofar astheDecree contains quantitative import restrictions
ormeasures ofequivalent effect, these arejustified ongrounds oftheprotection of
health andtheenvironment. Inview ofthefactthatthemost optimum corpse
decomposition when burying takes place ifasfewmaterials andnatural materials as
possible areusedinburying, Article 4laysdown aprohibition ontheuseofsynthetics
prohibition ontheuseofsynthetics andmetal. Anexception ismade forsynthetic and
applications materials andmetals which areincluded intheDecree onCoverings for
Corpses. Inview ofthefactthatthetransportation ofcorpses abroad from the
Netherlands must beprovided withcertain guarantees, reference ismade, inArticle 12,
firstparagraph, totheStrasbourg Agreement, which laysdown requirements forcoffins
forthetransportation ofcorpses. Article 12,second paragraph laysdown atechnical
specification regarding coffins inwhich corpses aretransported outoftheNetherlands to
Belgium orLuxembourg ortoastatewhich isnotaparty totheStrasbourg Agreement.
8. Relevant documents: Thedraft Decree isbased onArticles 9,15,32,57,66,70,78,
79and81,subsection 7,oftheActontheDisposal ofCorpses.
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: