WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.433
22September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3853)
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): Equipment used for
managing theparticipation, drawing theprizes anddeterming thewinners oftheinstant
lottery. Tickets usedintheinstant lottery.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Decision Governing
theGranting ofaLicence toOrganise anInstant Lottery (Instant Lottery Decision 1996).
(Available inEnglish)
6. Description ofcontent: Article 1oftheBetting andGaming Actprohibits theorganising
ofgambling untilalicence forthishasbeengranted. Article 14boftheActstates thata
licence canbegranted toorganise aninstant lottery. Article 14coftheActstates that
provisions canbeattached tothelicence. These provisions arelaiddown intheInstant
Lottery Decision 1996. Decision governing thegranting ofalicence toorganise an
instant lottery regulates thenumber ofinstant lotteries which maybeheldannually, the
number ofsales outlets andthenumber oftickets which maybeissued perinstant
lottery.
Intheopinion oftheDutch Government, thedraft Order mentioned under
point 5seems tocontain technical provisions within themeaning oftheAgreement on
technical Barriers toTrade. Anindicative listofthetechnical provisions isgiven below:
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.433
Page2
6. Description ofcontent: (cont'd)
Article 11oftheInstant Lottery Decision 1996 states thatthemechanical,
electrical andelectronic processes which areused formanaging theparticipation,
drawing theprizes anddetermining thewinners oftheinstant lottery must besubject to
theafore-mentioned licensing procedure andperiodic inspection byaministerially
appointed independent expert ororganisation. Nolicensing requirements arespecified.
Itisirrelevant which typeofequipment isused, solongasitisguaranteed thatthe
equipment operates inacoincidental fashion. Ofimportance withregard tothetickets to
beusedistheprovision contained inArticle 11thatalicence must beobtained from an
independent expert orapproval organisation before production canbecommisioned.
7. Objective andrationale: Totheextent thattheDecision contains technical barriers to
trade, these measures arejustified inorder toprotect theinterests ofgamblers against
fraud andabuse (public order andconsumer protection) andexcessive andproblematic
gambling behaviour (public health). Given thattechnical provisions donothinder trade
inaproduct butlimit itsuse, amutual recognition provision isnotconsidered
worthwile. After all,norequirements arelaiddown with regard totrade inthe
equipment; rather, itisonlywhen theequipment isusedfordrawing theprizes thata
check iscarried outtoensure thatthedrawing ofprizes iscoincidental.
8. Relevant documents: Thefollowing textsareimportant forjudging thepresent Draft:
- Article 14boftheBetting andGaming Act;
- Article 14coftheBetting andGaming Act; and
- Article 34oftheBetting andGaming Act.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 1November 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 2November 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 31October 1997
TheNetherlands willproceed toimplement theproposed measure after45days
ifnocomments orrequests forextension ofthetimelimithavebeenreceived from other
Members within thattime.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: