WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.430
22September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3849)
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
pricing agame ofchance, suchasalottery.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Betting andGaming
Decree (Available inEnglish)
6. Description ofcontent: Article 1oftheBetting andGaming Actbanstheorganising of
games ofchance, unless alicence tothateffect hasbeen granted. Article 6oftheAct
stipulates thatbyOrder inCouncil, further rules maybelaiddown forstipulations
which mayunderlie alicence foragame ofchance. These rules havebeenlaiddown in
thisBetting andGaming Decree. According totheDutch government, thisDecree
probably includes technical regulations within theAgreement onTechnical Barriers to
Trade. Anindicative summary ofthetechnical regulations canbefound below.
Article 5,Paragraph 1oftheBetting andGaming Decree stipulates thatthepricing fora
game ofchange should besuchthatthecharacter ofchance isguaranteed. Thethird
paragraph ofArticle 5stipulates thatifmechanical, electrical orelectronic processes are
involved inthepricing andifthesumofprizes andpremiums isgreater thanone
hundred thousand Guilders, thepricing method issubject toprior approval byan
independent expert orinspection institute appointed byOurMinister. Ifequipment is
usedforpricing, suchequipment shallbeinspected prior touseinorder toguarantee the
character ofchance. Inspection requirements arenotspecified. Thetypeofequipment
used isirrelevant, aslong asthecharacter ofchance isguaranteed during theuse
thereof.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.430
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Insofar astheDecree contains technical barriers totrade, these
arejustified toprotect theplayers against fraud andabuse (lawandorder andconsumer
protection). Since thetechnical regulations donotrestrict thetrading ofaproduct but
restrict theusethereof, aclause ofmutual recognition isdeemed unnecessary. Indeed,
thetrading ofequipment isnotsubject torequirements butonlyatthetimewhen the
equipment isusedforpricing isitexamined whether thecharacter ofchance ofsuch
pricing isguaranteed.
8. Relevant documents: Thefollowing documents areimportant forevaluating thisdraft:
- Articles 1-6oftheBetting andGaming Act; and
- theexplanatory notetotheoriginal Betting andGaming Decree.
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: