WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.486
23September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3910)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: NETHERLANDS
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Ministry ofEconomic Affairs
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent 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 (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Gaming machines, both
gambling machines andgames-of-skill machines
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Decree Governing
Rules Implementing TitleVaoftheBetting andGaming Act(Gaming Machines Decree)
6. Description ofcontent: Gaming machines shall, inaccordance withtheBetting and
Gaming Act(Title Va), beofanapproved model. Theregulations which amodel
gaming machine shall fulfil inorder tobeapproved areincluded inthisGaming
Machines Decree. These regulations areelaborated upon intheGaming Machines
Decree. TheAct,Decree andRegulation willbenotified simultaneously. Theprincipal
requirements forgambling machines are(Article 15):
- Thecharacter ofchance ofthegame shallbeguaranteed atalltimes;
- maximum stake ofNLG 0.25pergame, aminimum game duration ofthree
seconds;
- average pay-out percentage ofminimum 60percent;
- average hourly lossofmaximum NLG 50;
- maximum prize ofNLG 50pergame.
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6. Description ofcontent (cont'd):
Amuch lessstringent regime applies totheso-called games-of-skill machines
(Article 17):
- They must notcontain pay-out mechanisms;
- theplayer must beabletolargely influence thegame result.
Inaddition, theGaming Machines Decree contains provisions regarding the
licence forhaving gaming machines onthepremises (Articles 4and5)andthefees
payable inthisrespect (Article 7),aswellasregarding theoperating licence (Articles 9
and10)andthefeespayable inthisrespect (Article 12).
7. Objective andrationale: Intheinterests ofproducts manufactured abroad, aclause of
mutual recognition hasbeen added toArticle 17aoftheGaming Machines Decree in
relation tomutual recognition ofinspection institutes within theEuropean Economic
Area.
8. Relevant documents: Fortheevaluation ofthisDecree, thefollowing documents are
important:
- Betting andGaming Act(Title Va);
- theGaming Machines Regulation;
- theexplanatory notetotheoriginal Gaming Machines Decree.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 30October 1997
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 31October 1997
10. Final dateforcomments: 29October 1997
TheNetherlands willproceed toimplement theproposed measure after45days
ifnocomments orrequests forextension ofthetime-limit havebeenreceived fromother
Members within thattime.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: