. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/BHR/269 
10 January 2012  
 (12-0098) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Standards & Metrology Directorate (BSMD) 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :   
Ministry of  Industry and Commerce 
P.O. Box:  5479, Kingdom of Bahrain  Tel.:  +973 17574880 Fax:  +973 17530730 E-mail:  bsmd@moic.gov.bh.  
Website:  http://www.moic.gov.bh  
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):  Standard For Fat Spreads 
And Blended Spreads, ICS: 67.000 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Standard For Fat 
Spreads And Blended Spreads (9 pages in English, 9 pages in Arabic).     
6. Description of content:  This draft technical regulation spec ifies the requirements stated in 
the Gulf standard GSO  " Standard For Fat Spreads A nd Blended Spreads " under 8 
(labelling) as mandatory require ments, It specifies the follo wing labelling requirements such 
as: 
- Labelling and adjoining explanatory statements shall be in Arabic and, where another 
 language is used, it shall be alongside th e Arabic. All the information provided in 
 another language shall be identical with those written in Arabic.  
- Name of the Food  
 The name of the food to be declared on the label shall be as specified in Sections   
a. In accordance with requirements acceptable in the country of retail sale, fat 
spreads with a fat content of less than 80% may incorporate the term 
“margarine” in the name of the food, provided that the terms qualified to 
make clear the lower fat content.  Fat sp reads with a fat content of 39 to 41% 
may be designated as "Minarine" or "Halvarine".  G/TBT/N/BHR/269 
Page 2  
 
  - Declaration of Fat Content 
 a. The product shall be labelled to i ndicate fat content in a manner found  
  acceptable in the country of sale.   b. The milk fat content, when present sh all be indicated in a manner that is clear 
  and not misleading to the consumer.  
- Declaration of Salt Content 
 The product should be labelled to indicate  salt content in a manner found acceptable 
 in the country of retail sale.  
- Labelling of Non-Retail Containers  
 Information on the above labelling requi rements shall be given either on the  
 container or in accompanying documents, except that the name of the food, lot 
 identification and the name and address of the manufacturer or packer shall appear on 
 the container. However, lot identifica tion, and the name and address of the 
 manufacturer or packer may be replaced by an identification mark, provided that such 
 a mark is clearly identifiable with th e accompanying documents. Country of origin 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  To 
maintain consumer protection and food safety.  
8. Relevant documents:    
• GSO  "Standard For Fat Spr eads And Blended Spreads".  
• CODEX STAN 256-2007 Amendment in 2009 : Standard for fat sp reads and blended 
 spreads  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    To be determined. 
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from the notification date 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addres ses, if available of the other body: