./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.98.627
23 December 1998
(98-5174)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  THE NETHERLANDS
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry of Justice
Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be
indicated if different from above:  National Enquiry Point - EC WTO-TBT enquiry point
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [    ], 5.6.2 [    ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Breath-analysis equipment,blood-taking equipment (syringes, sample tubes, packaging, phials), breath-test tubes,
breath-testing equipment
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Regulation of the
Minister for Justice of … Amending the Regulation on Breath Analysis and the Regulation
on Blood and Urine Analysis Following the Amendment to the Air Traffic Act (Alcohol
Testing within Aviation)
6. Description of content:  The present subject matter is identical to that of draft Decree –
notified simultaneously with this Regulation – amending the Decree on alcohol testingfollowing the amendment to the Air Traffic Act.
The Act of 26 March 1997 amending the Air Traffic Act (evidence of competence,
controlling alcohol and drug abuse), Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 255, contains a new
Regulation for the offence of "flying under the influence [of alcohol or drugs]", thus greatly
enhancing the possibility of tracing this type of offence and instituting criminal-law
proceedings in this respect.  Among other things, alcohol levels have been established in
blood and breath, whereby it is forbidden (in any case) to carry out activities on boardaircraft or within the framework of the air-traffic service (see Article 2.12, third paragraph,
and 5.17a, second paragraph).  At the same time, three types of alcohol testing have been
introduced:  breath analysis, blood analysis (see Article 11.6) and so-called provisional
breath testing, which can be carried out, without suspicion, by way of routine checking
(Article 11.4, second paragraph).G/TBT/Notif.98.627
Page 2
6. Description of content (cont'd):
The new regulation with regard to "flying under the influence [of alcohol or drugs]"
is completely identical to the existing Regulation with regard to "driving under the influence
[of alcohol or drugs]" for road traffic, as included in the Road Traffic Act 1994.  This also
means that the implementing regulations based on the Road Traffic Act which contain rulesfor the different types of alcohol testing can al so be declared applicable to "flying under the
influence [of alcohol or drugs]".  This applies, inter alia , to the Regulation on breath
analysis and the Regulation on blood and urine analysis.  These Regulations have all been
notified before (under G/TBT/Notif.97.340 and G/TBT/Notif.97.388).  The draft Regulation
referred to under point 5 thus declares the two above-mentioned Regulations to be
applicable to air traffic by making reference to the Air Traffic Act where reference is
currently made to the Road Traffic Act 1994.  In the opinion of the Dutch Government, thiswidening of the scope of technical regulations which are included in another regulation can
probably be deemed to be a technical regulation which has to be notified in its own right.
The present Regulation concerns the widening of the scope of the technical
regulations in the Regulation on breath analysis (Article 2 to 7) and the Regulation on blood
and urine analysis (Article 3, 4 and 6).  These articles prescribe requirements which must bemet by appliances and other aids used for testing alcohol levels in blood and/or breath.  For
the sake of clarity, it is noted that the present Regulation does not introduce any changes to
these requirements in terms of content.  Finally, it is noted that a virtually identical
amendment to the above-mentioned regulations took place recently in terms of shipping and
the offence "sailing under the influence [of alcohol or drugs]".  This amendment has alsobeen notified (G/TBT/Notif.97.688).  Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, this
amendment did not include the present amendment.
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  The
draft Regulation has been drafted in the interest of maintaining public order and safety.  The
technical regulations listed under point 8 apply to national and imported products alike.
Regarding foreign products which meet the requirements laid down in the country of origin,
a clause of mutual recognition has already been included in the existing regulations(Article 24 of the Decree on alcohol testing, Article 15 of the Regulation on blood and urine
analysis, Article 10 on the Regulation on breath analysis).
8. Relevant documents:  Air Traffic Act, Articles 2.12, 5.17(a), 11.4 and 11.6, the Regulation
on breath analysis and the Regulation on blood and urine analysis (see also notification
G/TBT/Notif.97.340 and G/TBT/Notif.97.338).
9. Proposed date of adoption:  1 March 1999
Proposed date of entry into force:  June/July 1999
10. Final date for comments:  15 February 1999
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ X ] or address, e-mail and telefax number of
the other body: