. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CZE/126 
10 March 2008 
 (08-1030) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   CZECH REPUBLIC
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of Agriculture 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:         
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):   Alcohol and alcohol 
contained in products. 
5. Title, number of pages and langu age(s) of the notified document:   Draft Decree 
amending Decree No 141/1997 Coll., on technical requirements for the production, storage 
and processing of alcohol, subsequently  amended. (7 pages, in Czech). 
6. Description of content:   As regards the obligation as of 1.1.2008 to add biofuels to motor 
fuels, conditions had to be laid down for the continuous denaturing of alcohol in order to 
prevent tax evasion. The draft proposal pr ovides for the use of modern, accessible 
technologies for denaturing carried out in batches or continuously.  The draft Decree responds to the current need s of alcohol manufacturers and processors. It 
was necessary to expand the amount of packag ing and provide for the authorisation of 
higher losses for this packaging. The standard on loss for transporting alcohol in tankers has 
also been amended. Quality parameters of absolute alcohol for motor fuels and for the 
production of ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) have been incorporated into the proposed Decree. It was also necessary to amend the va lues of the quality labels of neutral superfine 
refined fermented alcohol pursuant to current Eu ropean law. This is used for the production 
of spirits. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
The proposed amendment to the Decree forms pa rt of a system of monitoring the placing of 
biofuels on the market, which is intended to ensure that biocomponents are not used for any other purpose and are not misused for the purpose of tax evasion. The draft provides for the implementation of Directive 2003/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
8 May 2003 on the promotion of the use of biofue ls or other renewable fuels for transport, 
which brings into Czech law the obligation to introduce into the tax territory of the Czech 
Republic established minimum amounts of biofuels. G/TBT/N/CZE/126 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:   Act No 61/1997 Coll., on alcohol and on amendments and 
supplements to Act No 455/1991 Coll., on sk illed trades (Trades Act), subsequently 
amended, and Czech national government Act No 587/1992 Coll., on excise duties, 
subsequently amended (Alcohol Act) , powers of execution Section 21(1). 
The Alcohol Act was referred for technical notification under the number 2007/612/CZ. The 
three-month standstill period laid down in Article 9(1) of Directive 98/34/EC elapses on 
1 February 2008. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }1 June 2008    
10. Final date for comments:   12 May 2008 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:  
http://www.unmz.cz/ , wto.tbt@unmz.cz