WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.391
20August 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3428)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: SWITZERLAND
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Federal Office forCommunications
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
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): Telecommunications
facilities: wireandradio communication facilities, including terminal equipment within
themeaning ofdirective 91/263/EEC of29April 1991 ontheapproximation oflawsof
member States concerning telecommunications terminal equipment, including themutual
recognition oftheirconformity (OJNo.L128/1 of23May1991).
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document:
Telecommunications Facilities Order (OIT)
6. Description ofcontent: Following general provisions (scope anddefinition), theOIT
deals briefly withtheinstallation andoperation oftelecommunications facilities.
Thefollowing provisions, which aretheOIT'smain objective, relate tothe
supply, marketing andputting intoservice oftelecommunications facilities. TheOIT
provides that only telecommunications facilities that comply with theessential
requirements laiddown inDirective 91/263/EEC canbesupplied, marketed orputinto
service. The Federal Office forCommunications hasdefined these essential
requirements intwopossible ways: either theOffice setstechnical standards which, if
respected, make itpossible toassume thattheessential requirements aremet,oritmakes
certain technical standards mandatory (theso-called "new approach" system). There are
several conformity assessment procedures: approval, internal manufacturing controls,
typeexamination, conformity totype, production quality assurance andfullquality
assurance. Forsome telecommunications facilities, there isalarge choice of
procedures, butforothers, thechoice islimited. Approval isalways achosen
procedure.
Theregulations ondescriptions, thecontrol oftelecommunications facilities and
thefinalprovisions aregiven below.
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7. Objective andrationale: Thereplacement ofthecurrent Order onUser Facilities (OIU)
bytheOITbecame necessary following thecomprehensive review on30April 1997 of
theTelecommunications Lawof21January 1991. Asthesecurity ofusers, third party
uses, rational useofthefrequency spectrum, andcommunications facilities capacity, in
particular, must beassured, therelevant regulations were necessary. These have,
however, beenadapted totheregulations inforce intheEuropean Union withaviewto
facilitating themarketing oftelecommunications facilities, inparticular byrelaxing the
supply andmarketing conditions.
8. Relevant documents:
(a) Telecommunications Law of30April 1997 (LTC, RS784.10):
Articles 11.2, 31.1and31.2, 33.2, 62,and64.2;
(b) Radio andTelevision Law of21June 1991 (LRTV, RS784.40):
Article 51
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:1January 1998
10. Final dateforcomments: 17October 1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: