. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.98.579
26 November 1998
(98-4746)
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 Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment
Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be
indicated if different from above:  National Enquiry Point - EC WTO-TBT 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):  The bill relates to waste and
may therefore have indirect reference to products (see point no. 6).
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Bill amending the Act on
the Environment.
6. Description of content:  The bill provides for a new structure for the disposal of waste in the
Netherlands. The new structure involves the control of waste disposal being transferred to
national level. This shall find expression, in particular, in the introduction of a nationalwaste management plan and the transferring to  national level, to a great extent, of the
competence for laying down rules which could hitherto be laid down by the provinces.
Furthermore, the bill provides for a registration regulation for intermediaries and traders. A
large number of the existing legal provisions on the disposal of waste shall remain the same,
such as the ban on dumping outside establishments, the principle of care and the rules onpreventative measures, and the rules on the disposal of household, business and hazardous
waste. The bill does not contain any direct pr oduct requirements. It is possible that the
purport of some provisions could well be such that they are tantamount to indirect product
requirements. The requirements in these provisions may lead to a situation in which the
manufacture of the products which give rise to the waste concerned has to be discontinued
or carried out differently.  Reference can be made to the following draft articles in this
regard:  Article 8.36c, second para. letter a (certain waste products named in the Decreemay not be disposed of without separate permission); article 10.14 (in accordance with this
article, a wide variety of product regulati ons may be laid down with a view to the
prevention or restriction of waste); article 10.15 (in accordance with this article, a
manufacturer may be obliged to provide a product or packaging thereof with a particular
designation.
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  The
main aim of the legislative amendment is to improve the structure of waste disposal bymeans of transferring competencies to national level. As a result, the implementation of theG/TBT/Notif.98.579
Page 2
provisions of Council Directive 75/442/EEC  on waste and Council Directive 91/689/EEC
on hazardous waste will also take a different form from that in current use (see point no. 6).
Furthermore, the chapter entitled "Waste" of the Act on the Environment lays down, for the
purposes of protection of the environment, a separate, stricter regime for hazardous waste.
8. Relevant documents:  Act on the Environment
9. Proposed date of adoption:
Proposed date of entry into force: } 1 January 2001
10. Final date for comments:  31 January 1999
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [X] or address, e-mail and telefax number of
the other body:           