. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/ITA/19 
24 September 2010  
 (10-4868) 
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:  ITALY
  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible:  Ministero della salute 
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, Compe tition, 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 Email:  tbt.Italia@sviluppoeconomico.gov.it
;   
vincenzo.correggia@sviluppoeconomico.gov.it  
European Commission TBT Enquiry Point:  ec-tbt@cec.eu.int  
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):  Aliphatic alkyl nitrites and 
their isomers (poppers) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Draft technical rule 
stipulating:  "Prohibition of manufacture, import, re lease on the market and use of aliphatic 
alkyl nitrites, cyclic or heterocyclic and their isomers, as such or as components of mixtures 
or articles (poppers)" (4 pages, in Italian). 
6. Description of content:  The draft decree made up of five articles introduces into Italian 
legislation "prohibition of manufacture, import , release on the market and use of aliphatic 
alkyl nitrites, cyclic or heterocyclic and their isomers, as such or as components of mixtures 
or articles intended for consumers".  It further s tipulates that substances , mixtures and articles 
released on the market not in conformity w ith the notified provisions be withdrawn and 
identifies in the Heal th and control authorities and judi cial and postal bodies the parties 
proposed for monitoring and observing the decree.  G/TBT/N/ITA/19 
Page 2  
 
  It refers to the relevant legislation in force protecting consumers and pe nalising violations of 
the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2007 to penalise violations of the newly 
introduced measures and stipulates a repeal exclusively regarding the use for therapeutic ends in structures recognised by th e national health service, under the responsibility of the doctor 
appointed to the administration.  The notified measures will come  into force from the date of 
publication of the decree in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Many substances of the family of aliphatic alkyl nitrites, cyclic or heterocyclic and their 
isomers, commonly called "poppers" are used as  inhalable substances  with stupefacient 
effects and are sold w ithout supervision, especially on the Internet. 
Poppers are sold with many commercial names and intende d uses (e.g., cleaners, air 
fresheners, sex aids).  Followi ng inhalation of poppers, short-term  effects are observed lasting 
30/40 seconds, which may be harmfu l to health.  The main short- term effects observed are: 
strong euphoria, vasodilatation,  increase of cardiac frequency and a sharp drop in blood 
pressure, intense headache and serious arrhythm ias, loss of conscious ness, damage to the 
nasal mucous membrane. Among the long-term effects, the sc ientific literature reports the association with habitual use 
of alkyl nitrites with an increased risk of se xually transmitted viral in fections and Kaposi’s 
sarcoma.  These observations have been c onfirmed by experimental  studies which have 
characterised alkyl nitrites a nd immunosuppressors and promot ers of viral replication and 
tumour cells.  This has induced the Italian Hea lth Ministry to consider  it necessary to adopt, 
for public health reasons, specif ic provisions to limit the irregu lar use of these substances in 
the hope that the Community draft a harmonised standard. 
8. Relevant documents:   There is no basic text 
9. Proposed date of adoption: 
Proposed date of entry into force:  }November 2010 
10. Final date for comments:  5 November 2010 
11. Text available from: National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:  
Text on line at:  http://www.ec.europa.eu/ente rprise/tris/index_it.htm  
And can be downloaded at: 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2010/tbt/ITA/10_3506_00_x.pdf