WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.493
23September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3916)
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 ofFinance
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): Reserve motor vehicles
andremoval vans; motor vehicles which belong toacompany vehicle fleet; police cars
andfireengines
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Amendment tothe
1994 Decree Implementing Motor Vehicle Tax
6. Description ofcontent: Theimplementing Decree contains afurther description of
various categories ofcarsothateachcategory maybeassigned agiven level ofmotor
vehicle tax.According totheDutch Government, thedraft Regulation referred toin
point 5probably contains technical regulations within themeaning oftheAgreement on
Technical Barriers toTrade.
Anindicative summary ofthetechnical regulations appears below. Article 6.1(a)
specifies thatthequarterly taxforacompany motor vehicle which isusedasareserve
motor vehicle, incases where thecompany isnotavehicle hireorleasing agency, is
applicable ifthemotor vehicle hasamaximum permissible mass notexceeding
11,000 kg.orifDirective 93/89 doesnotapply tothevehicle andtheuseofthemotor
vehicle satisfies afewprescribed conditions. These conditions relating toamaximum
permissible mass notexceeding 11,000 kg.,forapplication ofthequarterly taxfor
removal vans, areregulated inarticle 6.1(e). Article 7a,(b)contains conditions for
obtaining acompany vehicle fleetlicence andforobtaining apartial taxrebate uptothe
EUminimum fortrucks. Oneofthese conditions stipulates thattrailers within the
company vehicle fleetmustbefitted withanumber platewhich isdesigned andfitted in
accordance withtherules laiddown bytheMinisterial Regulation, or,thatatrailer
registration number isquoted pursuant tothe1994 Road Traffic Act.Article 14.1(b)
laysdown therequirements which apply topolice cars: two-tone horn, bluestrobe or
flashing lightandpolice logoonbothsides ofthevehicle. Article 14.2(b) laysdown the
requirements which apply tofireengines: atwo-tone horn, bluestrobe orflashing light
andfiredepartment emblem ormunicipal coatofarms covering aminimum surface area
of314cm2onbothsides ofthevehicle.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.493
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: TheDutch Government considers thatthese measures are
justified toensure those duties which arecarried outintheinterests ofgeneral safety
(policing, fire-fighting). With regard tothedemarcation ofthegroups ofvehicles to
which thisRegulation applies, thisisinlinewithexisting legislation relating topolice
carsandfireengines. Theweight thresholds inArticle 6aredependent upon thescope
ofapplication ofDirective 93/89/EEC of25October 1993 concerning interaliathelevy
ofmotor vehicle taxforheavy trucks.
8. Relevant documents:
-1994 Actrelating tomotor vehicle tax;
-1994 Decree implementing motor vehicle tax.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 28October 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 29October 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 27October 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: