. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.99.515
13 October 1999
(99-4311)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   THE NETHERLANDS
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports
Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be
indicated if different from above:   National Enquiry Point
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):
Textile products:
1. Clothing and
2. Non-clothing textiles which, in the light of their intended purpose, can reasonably 
be expected to come into contact with the human skin.
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commodities
Act Regulation on Formaldehyde in Textiles
6. Description of content:   The regulation aims to ban the trade in products listed under
point 6 if they contain more than 120 ppm formaldehyde before they are washed once andare not provided with the designation "wash be fore wash".  The regulation also bans the
trade in the aforementioned products if these contain more than 120 ppm formaldehyde after
they have been washed once.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
Synthetic resins based on formaldehyde are applied to various textile products in order to
prevent creasing and shrinking.  International research has shown that if the skin is exposed
to textile products with an excessive formaldehyde content, this may affect human healthand result in skin allergies and over-sensitivity for this material.  Research carried out by the
RIVM1 (translation) has shown that in the event that the said textile products contain no
more than 120 ppm formaldehyde, the above-mentioned conditions do not occur, even if the
consumer appears to be over-sensitive to formaldehyde.
From the same research, it appears that, in practice, excess amounts over and above the said
limit value, as established in practice, almost always disappear by washing the textile
product once as per the washing instructions.  The prescribed designation is based on thisevidence.
8. Relevant documents:   RIVM reportG/TBT/Notif.99.515
Page 2
9. Proposed date of adoption:  21 December 1999
Proposed date of entry into force:  20 June 2000          
10. Final date for comments:   20 December 1999
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ X] or address, e-mail and telefax
number of the other body:           