. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/FRA/100 
14 May 2009 
 (09-2368) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   French 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  FRANCE
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible:  
Ministère de l'agriculture et de la pêche  (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries) 
Direction générale de l'alimentation  (Directorate-General of Food and Nutrition) 
Service de la prévention des risques sanitaires de la production primaire  
(Service for the Prevention of Health Risks in Primary Production) 
Sous-direction de la qualité et de la protection des végétaux  
(Department of Plant Protection and Quality) 
251 rue de Vaugirard 75732 PARIS cedex 15 Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers and E-mail and website 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):  Growing media: 
designations, specifications and labelling requirements 
5. Title, number of pages and lang uage(s) of the notified document:   Arrêté modifiant 
l'arrêté du 5 septembre 2003 portant mise en app lication obligatoire de normes (2 p);  la 
norme concernée est la NFU 44-551/A3 (Order amending the Order of 5 September 2003 
establishing the mandatory implementation of standa rds (2 pages, in Fren ch).  The Standard 
in question is French Standard NF U 44-551/A3) (12 pages, in French). 
6. Description of content:   The notified Order provides for the mandatory implementation of 
Amendment A3 to the basic Standard NF U 44-551 (May 2002), approved by the French Standards Association (AFNOR) in January 2 008.  This amendment, which concerns the 
designations, specifications and labelling re quirements for growing media, introduces 
technical corrections and specifies the c ontrol procedures for marketable products. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Standards dealing with fertilizing substan ces and growing media seek to facilitate the 
marketing of known products. Such Standard s are mandatory for public health reasons. G/TBT/N/FRA/100 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:  
French Standard NF U 44-551 (May 2002); 
French Standard NF U 44-551/A1:  Amendment 1 (February 2004); French Standard NF U 44-551/A3:  Am endment 3 (approved in January 2008). 
9. Proposed date of adoption: 
Proposed date of entry into force: } September 2009 
10. Final date for comments:   August 2009 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, E-mail and website addresses,  if available, of other body:  
National enquiry point 
CINORTECH AFNOR 11 avenue Francis de Pressensé 
93571 SAINT-DENIS-LA-PLAINE cedex 
Webpage: http://members.wto.org/crna ttachments/2009/tbt/fra/09_1726_00_f.pdf 
 http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2009/tbt/fra/09_1726_01_f.pdf