WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.403
2September 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3524)
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): Belgium
2. Agency responsible:
Ministry ofSmall Firms andTraders andAgriculture
Department ofAnimal Health andAnimal Product Quality
(DG5-service 523)
Boulevard S.Bolivar 30
WTC 3,4thFloor
B-1000 Brussels
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): Butter
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Regulations onthe
Official Classification ofButter Quality
1.Royal Decree Establishing Official Classification ofButter Quality (Annex 1)
2.Regulations ontheOfficial Classification ofButter Quality (Annex 2)
6. Description ofcontent: Theaimofthedraft istoestablish official classification for
butter quality atthelegislative level (Royal Decree) andattheadministrative level (the
Regulations).
Butter approved ashigh-quality butter isclassified as"(dairy) butter: high-
quality" andthepackaging maybeartheinspection mark.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.403
Page2
6. Description ofcontent (cont'd):
Thefollowing arethemain changes incomparison withthecurrent Regulations
(see10):
- Twoquality categories instead ofthree;
- access forbutter from other member States;
- abolition oftheobligation toshow aninspection mark;
- reorganization ofsensory assessment, based onStandard FIL99B:
1995;
- addition ofsome chemical criteria (based onCommission Regulation
(EC) No.454/95 of28February 1995 laying down detailed rules for
intervention onthemarket inbutter andcream, OJNo.L46of
1March 1995) andsupplementary bacteriological criteria.
Thedraft doesnotcontain anyelement likely torestrict thefreemovement of
butter intheEC.
7. Objective andrationale: Thesector andtheadministration wishtomodernize theofficial
classification system forbutter quality taking intoaccount thetrends inregulation
(Regulations 299/94 and454/95, andStandard FIL99B: 1995 mentioned above).
8. Relevant documents:
Annex 3-A.R. of22October 1976 onbutter andmixtures ofbutter, establishing
official inspection ofbutter, amended bythedraft;
A.M. of13April 1977 defining themodel fortheinspection mark forbutter (annulled
bythedraft);
Annex 5-butter expertise Regulations of27December 1994 (annulled bythedraft);
Annex 6-Standard FIL99B: 1995;
Annex 7-R.(EC) No.454/95;
Annex 8-R.(EC) No.2991/94.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:60days
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: CIBELNOR