WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.98.101
10March 1998
ORGANIZATION
(98-0954)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: BELGIUM
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Ministry ofFinance
Central Customs andExcise Administration
Excise Procedures Division
CAE -Tour Finances -Bte37
Boulevard duJardin Botanique 50
1010 Brussels
Tel: 2103334
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Eco-taxes
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Ministerial Decree on
theTaxation Regime ofProducts Subject toEco-Tax
6. Description ofcontent: Thepurpose ofthisdraft Decree istoreplace theMinisterial
Decree of2May1996 onthetaxation regime ofproducts subject toeco-tax, asamended
bytheMinisterial Decree of4October 1996.
7. Objective andrationale, including thenature ofurgent problems where applicable:
Eco-taxes were introduced intoBelgium legislation asanimportant toolinthe
policy ofprevention inthefieldoftheenvironment. They havetwoessential features:
- They haveanincentive effect;
- theyaretheonlytaxes thatcanbeavoided perfectly legally, provided the
consumer caneasily findasubstitute thatisnotsubject toeco-tax.
8. Relevant documents:
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:60days
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress, e-mail andtelefax number
ofother body: CIBELNOR