WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.98.145
23March 1998
ORGANIZATION
(98-1163)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: THE NETHERLANDS
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Ministry ofHousing, Spatial Planning andtheEnvironment.
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification shall be
indicated ifdifferent from above: National Enquiry Point -ECWTO-TBT 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):
Thetechnical requirements pertain ontheonehand tothedesignation of
flammable substances, substances which increase firehazard andsubstances
which constitute ariskintheevent offire,thestorage ofwhich inabuilding
renders such building orarelevant partthereof afirecompartment. Fire
compartments aresubject tofire-safety requirements issued byorpursuant tothe
Buildings Decree. Ontheother hand, thetechnical requirement pertains tothe
room aspect, which concerns themaximum formaldehyde content oftheroom in
question. Assuch, thisrequirement indirectly affects theapplication of
construction products which release formaldehyde.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Draft Regulation
under theBuildings Decree onMaterials 1998.
6. Description ofcontent: Thisrelates ontheonehand tothedesignation ofsubstances
which, ifstored inacertain quantity inabuilding, willrender thisbuilding orthe
relevant partthereof afirecompartment. Afirecompartment isamaximum fire
extension area. Theencasement ofafirecompartment issubject torequirements in
terms ofresistance topenetration byfireandthepassage offireissued byorpursuant to
theBuildings Decree. The requirement regarding themaximum permitted
formaldehyde concentration level inaroom ofabuilding aims tocreate ahealthy
interior environment. Thewayinwhich theformaldehyde concentration istobe
determined isalsospecified inthisRegulation.
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7. Objective andrationale, including thenature ofurgent problems where applicable: The
designation ofthesubstances stored inabuilding istiedinwiththesafety aspect, more
specifically firesafety, which underlies theregulations issued byorpursuant tothe
Buildings Decree. The requirements regarding maximum permitted formaldehyde
concentration levels inabuilding relate tothe"health" aspect which underlies the
regulations issued byorpursuant totheBuildings Decree.
8. Relevant documents: Housing Act;article 2ofthisActforms thebasis forhealth and
safety regulations issued byorpursuant totheBuildings Decree. Article 3ofthisAct
forms thebasis forreferences tostandards byorpursuant totheBuildings Decree;
Buildings Decree; Articles 33,127,204,232,257,325,341,377and416.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: 18May1998
10. Final dateforcomments: 11May1998.
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress, e-mail andtelefax number
ofother body: