WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.98.59
3February 1998
ORGANIZATION
(98-0376)
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 ofAgriculture, Nature Management andFisheries
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification shallbe
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): Milk powder
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Agricultural Quality
Regulation onMilk Powder
6. Description ofcontent: TheAgricultural Quality Regulation onMilk Powder contains
conditions under which producers (from theNetherlands, from EC-Member States and
thirdcountries) mayutilise abrand name established bythisRegulation formilkpowder
described inthisRegulation. Theconditions foruseofthebrand name pertain totheraw
materials usedandthequality thereof. There arealsorestrictions ontheuseofadditives.
Lastly, afewrequirements aretobemetbythefinalproduct andthepackaging thereof.
7. Objective andrationale, including thenature ofurgent problems where applicable:
Based ontheAgricultural Quality Act,anextensive system wassetupin1982 (soprior
tothenotification obligation) regarding thequality ofmilkpowder. The keyaimof
thissystem wastopromote thesaleofmilkpowder byprescribing acompulsory quality
levelofmilkpowder which applies toallDutch producers. TheDutch government has
decided toconsiderably simplify thissystem, partly because asystem asdescribed above
nolonger fitsinwiththecurrent views onthesharing ofresponsibility between the
government andindustry. Itis,however, notdesirable toabolish thisquality system for
milk powder completely. Inorder toprovide foraquality system under public law
which tiesinmore withcurrent views onthesharing ofresponsibility between the
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government andindustry, thepresent Regulation hasbeen drawn up. Themain
differences compared totheprevious Regulation arethatthequality system iscompletely
optional, whilst theprevious Regulation wascompulsory. Also, thequality system for
milkpowder islimited tomilkpowder intended forexport tothird countries. Another
difference isthattheproposed Regulation contains onlyonequality system withone
milk powder quality level, whilst theprevious Regulation contained various quality
levels. Also, theproposed Regulation contains fewer quality requirements regarding milk
powder.
8. Relevant documents: (a)Agricultural Quality Act
(b)Agricultural Quality Decree onDairy Products
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 13March 1998
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 16March 1998
10. Final dateforcomments: 12March 1998
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress, e-mail andtelefax number
ofother body: