WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.465
22September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3855)
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): Placards, facade signs,
signboards, flagsandstickers
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Regulation ofthe
Minister ofJustice Establishing theUseofthePolice Logo bytheNational Police
Agency (NPA)
6. Description ofcontent: TheRegulation ofpoint 5stipulates rules withregard tothe
application oftheDutch Police logotovehicles, uniforms andsuchlikewhich areused
bytheDutch Police andwithregard tothehouse style oftheDutch Police relating to
stationery, forms andthelike. TheRegulation only applies totheNational Police
Agency (NPA) -national police departments which fallwithin thejurisdiction ofthe
Minister ofJustice (Article 38.3ofthe1993 Police Act). TheRegulation itself doesnot
contain anyprovisions interms ofcontent butclarifies theRegulation governing the
police logowhich correspondingly applies totheNPA. Thelatter Regulation isissued
bytheMinister forDomestic Affairs andconcerns regional police forces. The
Regulation governing thepolice logospecifies howthepolice logoshould appear and
those items towhich itmust inallcases beapplied (Articles 2and3)aswellashowthe
police house styleshould appear (Article 4).ThisRegulation therefore refers topictures
anddescriptions intheso-called house style andpolice logohandbook which forms an
appended section totheRegulation governing thepolice logoaswellastheRegulation
ofpoint 5.TheRegulation governing thepolice logoisindependently notified withthe
present Regulation. According totheDutch Government, theRegulation ofpoint 5
probably contains technical regulations within themeaning oftheAgreement of
Technical Barriers toTrade. Anindicative summary ofthese Regulations appears
below:
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.465
Page2
6. Description ofcontent (cont'd):
-Thepolice logoandother distinguishing marks (e.g. various colour stripes) which
areapplied topolice vehicles andaircraft areformed using so-called placards.
Certain brand types areprescribed foragiven mark (e.g. "3M Scotchcal"): see
page 03.06 ofthehandbook (seeparticularly pages 09.01, 09.03, 09.05, 09.07,
09.08, 09.09, 09.10, 09.11, 09.12, 09.14, 09.16);
-Chapter 8issues regulations indicating "POLICE" onpolice buildings. Itcontains
regulations forboards anddetachable letters (shape, material, lighting);
-page10.01: requirements relating tothepolice flag(material, size);
-page10.03: the"06-11- sticker" (thisrelates tothepolice alarm number).
7. Objective andrationale: Ifthedraft Regulation contains technical barriers totrade then
suchmeasures arejustified, within theframework ofupholding public order, toensure a
recognizable, permanent anduniform appearance ofitems (vehicles, buildings, uniforms
andsuchlike)usedbythepolice intheexercise oftheir duties. Above all,ensuring
uniformity inthewayinwhich police areseen toactisthefocal point forthe
Regulations onthismatter. Thetechnical Regulations ofpoint 8apply without
distinction tonational andimported products.
8. Relevant documents: Article 38.3 ofthe1993 Police Act,Regulation governing the
police logo, house-style andpolice logohandbook, police clothing Regulation; there is
noexplanatory notetotheoriginal Regulation.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:26October 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 26October 1997
TheNetherlands willproceed toimplement theproposed measure after 45daysifno
comments orrequests forextension ofthetime-limit have been received from other
Members within thattime.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: