. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/ISR/574 
28 February 2012  
 (12-1137) 
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:  ISRAEL  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Israel WTO-TBT Enquiry Point 
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 :   
Israel WTO-TBT Enquiry Point  
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Tel:  + (972) 3 7347502 Fax: + (972) 3 7347626 E-mail:  Yael.Friedgut@moital.gov.il  
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):  Wood chipboards 
(ICS: 79.060.10; HS: 4410 and 9403). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Wood chipboards: 
Boards covered with decorative layers on basis of amino plastic resins (4 pages in Hebrew). 
6. Description of content:  Fourth amendment to the Mandatory Standard SI 887.3. This 
amendment adopts the European requirements for formaldehyde content and amends the 
following:  
- The acclimation requirement appearing in the European Standard was not adopted, as 
 this requirement is intended for plywood manufacturers who do no t exist in Israel. 
 All plywood in Israel is imported. Therefor e such tests, which have heavy financial 
 implications, are not applicable.  
- Requires performance of a repeat test according to the European requirements 
 appearing in EN 712-2 only in case s of marginal or non-compliance. 
- Changes paragraph 220 dealing with the amount of released formaldehyde. This 
 paragraph instructs as follows:  
- To calculate the amount of re leased formaldehyde as an average of all samples taken 
 of a board, if the difference between the highest and the lowest samples is greater 
 than 20%, then the average should be calculated only from the 2 or more highest  results and the lowest results should be ignored. G/TBT/N/ISR/574 
Page 2  
 
  - The amount of released formaldehyde in this type of board shall not exceed 3.5mg 
 per m
2 per hour. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human health.  
8. Relevant documents:    
- Mandatory Standard SI 887.3 (April 1989)  and its Amendment 1 (March 1990) and 
 Amendment 3 (August 1995). 
- European Standard EN 717-2: November 1994 + AC: July 2002. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    To be determined 
Generally 60 days after publication in the Official Gazette, Se ction of Government 
Notices. 
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from date of notification 
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:     
http://www2.moital.gov.il/cmstama t/rsrc/tkina/SI887Part3Amd4.pdf