WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.483
23September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3907)
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 ofHousing, Spatial Planning andtheEnvironment
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): TheDecree pertains toall
products orcomponents thereof inwhich mercury oramercury compound isapplied or
towhich mercury oramercury compound isadded, withtheexception ofanumber of
products containing mercury, specified assuch, andforwhich noviable alternative is
available: pycno- orporosimeters, equipment tocalibrate platinum-resistance
thermometers bymeans ofmercury 'striple point, mercury thermometers for
standardized analytical tests, certain gas-discharge lamps, heating thermostats (upto
2001) andproducts usedbythearmed forces andinaviation. Thescope oftheDecree
doesnotinclude mercury asapuresubstance, mercury compounds andmercury alloys,
such asamalgams applied indentistry, pharmaceutical products andbatteries. Fora
more extensive explanation, wewould refertotheExplanatory Note totheDecree.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Decree onProducts
Containing Mercury Under theActonSubstances Harmful totheEnvironment
6. Description ofcontent: Thedraft Decree prohibits theimport andmanufacture of
products containing mercury from 1January 1999. Thetrade inandtheuseofproducts
containing mercury willbeprohibited asfrom 1July1999. Products usedbefore the
latter dateareexempt from thisprohibition. TheDecree alsocontains alistofproducts
containing mercury which areexempt from theban. These areproducts forwhich no
viable alternative isavailable andare,assuch, indicated asessential.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.483
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7. Objective andrationale: Thebanonproducts containing mercury willhelpdecrease the
emission from products intotheenvironment. Theuseofmercury intheNetherlands
willdropby4.3tonnes or35percentannually. Inthelongrun,thisDecree willresult
inareduction ofemissions of30percentintostatewater purification installation sludge,
20percentintoagricultural soiland15percentintosurface water. Inthiswaywecan
meet thenational reduction objective of70percentintowater andtheatmosphere
specified intheNational Environmental Policy Plan(NMP-2) andtheNorth SeaAction
Campaign (NAP). Moreover, anumber ofDirectives havealready taken effect atEC
level regarding mercury emissions, including theAquatic Environment Directive
(76/464/EEC), theIPPC Directive (96/61/EC) andtheDirective onbatteries and
accumulators containing certain dangerous substances (91/157/EEC).
8. Relevant documents:
1. Reference document onmercury, W.Slooff etal,RIVM June1994;
2. Duststream analysis ofsixheavy metals, Chapter 8,J.A.Annema etal
RIVM/CML April 1995;
3. Mercury inproducts -Atechnical inventory andassessment J.vanDijk
etal,DHV 17May1994;
Re1.Contains relevant data onmercury andariskanalysis forman andthe
environment;
Re2.Provides aninsight intotheeffect oftheDecree inquestion;
Re3.Contains asummary ofproducts containing mercury andtheavailability
ofequivalent, mercury-free alternatives.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 16December 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 1July1998
10. Final dateforcomments: 15December 1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: