WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.466
22September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3845)
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): Breathalyser equipment
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Provisions Relating to
Breathalyser Equipment andtheTesting Thereof (available inEnglish)
6. Description ofcontent: Equipment indicated bytheMinister ofJustice (Article 2ofthe
Decree onalcohol testing) shallbeusedforpreliminary breath testing. TheMinister has
described thisequipment indetail inArticle 2oftheRegulation onpreliminary breath
testing, which stipulates thattheequipment tobeusedmust beofatypeindicated bythe
Forensic Laboratory oftheMinistry ofJustice. Intheprovisions relating tobreathalyser
equipment andthetesting thereof theForensic Laboratory states therequirements which
theequipment must fulfil forpreliminary breath testing. Theprovisions relate to
equipment asspecified inArticle 2,firstparagraph, subsection b,oftheRegulation on
Preliminary Breath Testing. TheDutch Government considers thattheprovisions
relating tobreathalysers andthetesting thereof probably contain technical regulations in
thesense oftheAgreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade. Anindicative summary of
these technical regulations isgiven below: theprovisions inparagraph 2to4inclusive
oftheRegulation (these paragraphs concern design, metrological accuracies andthe
method ofinspection oftheequipment).
7. Objective andrationale: Thedraft Decree hasbeen drawn upintheinterests of
maintaining lawandorder, inparticular intheinterests ofadequate detection ofdrink
drivers, with sufficient guarantees ofappropriate andreliable gathering ofevidence.
Thetechnical regulations referred toinpoint 8apply without distinction tonational and
imported products. Aclause ofmutual recognition ofequivalent foreign products isnot
regarded asnecessary asthisisalready included inthebasic Regulation: Article 2,
second paragraph, Regulation onpreliminary breath testing.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.466
Page2
8. Relevant documents: Thefollowing textsareimportant inassessing thisdraft:
-Article 160Road Traffic Act1994;
-Decree of5July1997, containing detailed rules concerning themethod ofexecution
ofArticles 160,fifthparagraph, and163oftheRoad Traffic Act1994 (Decree on
alcohol testing);
-Regulation onpreliminary breath testing;
-Communications from theForensic Laboratory concerning theindication of
breathalyser equipment.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:26October 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 25October 1997
TheNetherlands willproceed toimplement theproposed measure after 45daysifno
comments orrequests forextension ofthetime-limit have been received from other
Members within thattime.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: