WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.694
17October 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-4523)
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): Breath testing equipment
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Decree Amending the
Alcohol TestDecree inconnection withtheAmendment totheShipping Traffic Act
(Alcohol TestonSailing Under theInfluence ofAlcohol)
6. Description ofcontent: Thepresent subject isidentical tothesubject ofthedraft
Regulation oftheMinister ofJustice amending theBreath TestRegulation, theBlood
andUrine Sampling Regulation, theprovisional Breath Test Regulation andthe
Regulation ontheType Designation ofBreath Testing Equipment inconnection withthe
amendment totheShipping Traffic Act,which wasnotified atthesame timeasthis
Decree. TheShipping Traffic Acthaslong since stipulated thatitisanoffence to
operate ashipunder theinfluence ofacertain amount ofalcohol. Pursuant totheActof
10April 1997, Bulletin ofActsandDecrees 200,theProvisions on"sailing under the
influence ofalcohol" have been amended inafewplaces tofacilitate thetracing and
prosecution ofthisoffence. Inthislightlevels for,thealcohol content oftheblood and
breath areestablished whereby (ineachcase) itisforbidden tooperate orbeincontrol
ofaship(seeArticle 27,paragraph 2oftheShipping Traffic Act). Inaddition tothe
existing breath test,twonewtypes ofalcohol testwere alsointroduced inthisregard:
theblood test(Article 28a,paragraphs 5to10inclusive) andtheso-called provisional
breath test,which regardless ofduesuspicion, maybecarried outbywayofroutine
check (Article 28). ThenewProvisions on"sailing under theinfluence ofalcohol" are
identical totheProvisions on"driving under theinfluence ofalcohol" forroadtraffic,
asperthe1994 Road Traffic Act. Thisalsomeans thattheimplementing regulations,
based ontheRoad Traffic Act,which regulate thedifferent types ofalcohol test,may
alsobedeemed applicable to"sailing under theinfluence ofalcohol". This applies inter
aliatotheAlcohol TestDecree. ThisDecree hasalready beennotified.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.694
Page2
6. Description ofcontent: (cont'd)
ThedraftDecree stated under point 5declares thattheAlcohol TestDecree also
applies toshipping traffic byreferring totheShipping Traffic Actwhenever itstillrefers
tothe"Act" (i.e.theRoad Traffic Act1994). According totheDutch Government,
such abroadening ofthesphere ofapplication oftechnical regulations which are
included inanother Regulation isalsoprobably deemed tobeatechnical regulation
which must benotified.
Thepresent Regulation extends thesphere ofapplication ofthetechnical
regulations inArticles 3and4oftheAlcohol TestDecree. These Articles establish
requirements forbreath testing equipment. Forthesakeofclarity, itisindicated that
thepresent Regulation does notamend these requirements interms ofcontent. Itis
further indicated thatthepresent Regulation replaces theDecree onBreath Testing for
Inland Navigation.
7. Objective andrationale: ThedraftDecree wasestablished intheinterests ofmaintaining
public order andsafety. Thetechnical regulations stated inpoint 6apply without
distinction tonational andimported products. With regard toforeign products which
conform totherequirements established inthecountry oforigin, Article 24ofthe
Alcohol TestDecree contains aprovision relating tomutual recognition.
8. Relevant documents: Actof10April 1997, Bulletin ofActsandDecrees 200,withnew
Articles 27,28and28aoftheShipping Traffic Act,theAlcohol TestDecree andthe
Decree onBreath Testing forInland Navigation
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 18December 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 19December 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 17December 1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point []oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: