. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/ITA/24 
13 January 2012  
 (12-0177) 
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:  ITALY  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Ministero dello sviluppo economico  
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 for economic development  
Department for Enterprise and Internationalization  General Directorate for Market, Competiti on, Consumer, Vigilance and Technical 
Standardization Division XVIII - Technical standardization    
00187 Rome I - Via Sallustiana, 53   
Tel.:  +39 06 4705.5430 Fax:  +39 06 48.21.702 
tbt.Italia@sviluppoeconomico.gov.it   
vincenzo.correggia@sviluppoeconomico.gov.it     
European Commission TBT Enquiry Point  mailto:ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
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):  Gemmological materials 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Proposed act on: 
"Regulation of the gemmologica l materials market". (Consolidated text AC 225 - AC 2274) 
(11 pages in Italian) 
6. Description of content:  The proposed act comprises 17 Articl es divided into five Chapters. 
Chapter I - "Definitions" identifies the area of application of the act, as well as the definitions and terms used, prescriptions, prohibitions and fo rms of use of names. Chapter II - "General 
provisions" lays down the prohibi tion of importing, exporting, holding for sale, selling or 
distributing gratuitously the materials and produc ts listed in Chapter I under a different name 
than those prescribed. Chapter III - "Operator responsibility, disputes , testing laboratories" 
imposes an obligation on sellers to issue a statement, at the purchaser's request, regarding the 
materials sold, the content of which is to be established in the act's implementing regulation; to describe the procedures fo r resolving disputes, including r ecourse to registered test 
laboratories included on a  list held by the Chambe r of  Commerce with  jurisdiction.  Chapter G/TBT/N/ITA/24 
Page 2  
 
  IV identifies offences punishable by a fine a nd the amount of such fines, which are multiplied 
by ten in the case of remote sales or sale s outside commercial businesses, as well as 
suspension from operation of the business for fi fteen days to six months in the event of 
repeated violations. Chapter V contains a mutual recognition clause, describes the nature and terms for adopting the act's implementing regulati on and states that the act shall take effect 
sixty days from its publication in the Of ficial Gazette of the Italian Republic.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Adoption of the notified measures  is deemed necessary to guarantee a framework of reference 
to protect the industry's economic operators a nd consumers. The provisions of the proposed 
act are intended to provide a de facto  guarantee for both operators an d consumers. In short, on 
the one hand there is a manifest need to prev ent improper or illicit conduct which, to the 
detriment of operato rs, causes severe damage to the i ndustry as a whole (which among other 
things is an important item in our balance of pa yments). On the other hand, there is a need to 
build an effective form of protection for e nd users, which is guaranteed by giving the 
purchaser the opportunity to request a statemen t from the seller describing the gemmological 
materials sold, whether loose or in a packag e; a statement which,  moreover, would be 
compulsory in the case of remote sales or sales outside commercial businesses.  
8. Relevant documents:   There is no base text.   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    February 2012   
April 2012  
10. Final date for comments:  20 February 2012 
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:    
Ministry for economic development  
Department for Enterprise and Internationalization  General Directorate for Market, Competit ion, Consumer, Vigilance and Technical 
Standardization 
Division XVIII - Technica l standardization    
00187 Rome I - Via Sallustiana, 53   Tel.:  +39 06 4705.5430 Fax:  +39 06 48.21.702 tbt.Italia@sviluppoeconomico.gov.it   
vincenzo.correggia@sv iluppoeconomico.gov.it     
European Commission TBT Enquiry Point  mailto:ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
Text on line at:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tris/index_it.htm  
http://members.wto.org/crna ttachments/2011/tbt/ITA/11_4471_00_x.pdf