WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.586
2October 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-4146)
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 forSocial Affairs andEmployment
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): Suspended ladders;
temporary suspended ladders; standing ladders; bosun 'schairs; suspended scaffolds;
manual tackles; so-called safesit';working platforms; improved, temporary
suspended ladders.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Covenant onWorking
Conditions within theWindow-Cleaning Sector
6. Description ofcontent: Arrangements havebeenmade withthewindow-cleaning sector
regarding thewayinwhich andperiod within which thestatutory requirement on
minimum working condition levels, laiddown intheWorking Conditions Decree andthe
Machinery Decree, willbeachieved.
Inorder toflesh outthegeneral regulations which implement theDirectives on
Working Equipment (89/655/EEC), Personal Protective Equipment (89/656/EEC),
Manual Handling ofLoads (90/269/EEC), Personal Protective Equipment (89/686/EEC)
andMachinery (89/392/EEC), theOutside-Wall Maintenance Document andSupplement
thereto contain further, state-of-the-art specifications. They contain provisions regarding
theuseofthework equipment listed under point 4.Theuseofthetraditional bosun 's
chair andtemporary suspended ladder isprohibited. Instead, theso-called safe-sit 'and
improved ',temporary suspended ladder may beused asanalternative. This
elaboration ofcurrent legislation isapplied bytheLabour Inspectorate during its
monitoring activities regarding compliance withlegislation andtheenforcement thereof.
Itisexpected thatthestatutory requirements aremetiftheprovisions intheOutside-
Wall Maintenance Document areobserved. Ifasimilar safety level were tobe
achieved inadifferent way, thenthiswould alsobepermitted. According tothe
Dutch Government, thedraftCovenant described inpoint 5probably contains technical
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.586
Page2
6. Description ofcontent: (cont'd)
regulations within themeaning oftheAgreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade. There
arenotechnical regulations which arealready notified orwhich were enacted before (a
relevant amendment to)theDirective entered intoeffect. Anindicative summary ofthe
technical regulations canbefound below: Covenant: Article 8contains requirements for
standing ladders which apply upto1January 2002; Document: Articles 3.1.2 to3.1.7
contain requirements forsuspended ladders; Article 3.1.9. regulates themoving of
suspended ladders; Article 3.1.12 stipulates rules fortemporary suspended ladders;
Articles 3.2.2. and3.2.3 contain rules forstanding ladders; Article 3.3.4 regulates the
bosuns 'schair; Article 3.4.3.7 bans manual tackles when working with suspended
scaffolds; Supplement: Article 3.2contains rules regarding thesafe-sit; Article 3.3,
Sections k,m,p,qandrgovern moveable working platforms; Article 3.4,Sections a,
b,c,e,f,andicontain rules regarding improved, temporary suspended ladders;
Article 4regulates standing ladders; Articles 6.1to6.4contain technical descriptions
anddrawings ofthesafe-sit andsimilar facilities, thelowering device, thesuspension
device andtheimproved, temporary suspended ladder, respectively.
7. Objective andrationale: Insofar astheproposal fortheCovenant contains technical
barriers totrade, these measures arejustified toprotect theinterest ofimproving
working conditions/the working environment. Asforforeign products which meet the
requirements prescribed inthecountry oforigin, Articles 9and10oftheCovenant
contain aclause ofmutual recognition.
8. Relevant documents: -
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 19November 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 20November 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 18November 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: