WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.52
21February 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-0713)
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: Explosives Service, Quality andSafety Administration, Ministry of
Economic Affairs
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): Fireworks forsaletothe
general public
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Ministerial Order
Establishing Safety Measures Relating totheSaleandPossession ofFireworks forSale
totheGeneral Public
6. Description ofcontent:
- Definition ofsimple andcomplex pyrotechnic devices (Art.1);
- definition, byreference tothelistofrecognized explosives, ofsimple and
complex pyrotechnic devices considered asfireworks (Arts. 2to4). The
weights ofthepyrotechnic compounds contained inthedevices arelimited in
linewithwhatisprovided forintheregulations ofneighbouring countries;
- provisions toensure thatthedevices donotcause projection ofdangerous
(Art. 5)andincandescent (Art. 7)debris;
- definition ofthereliability ofthedelay provided byfiring devices (Art. 6);
- firework labelling requirements, withsupplementary information required for
safety reasons, aswellasanindication ofthecategory ofthedevice andthe
weight ofpyrotechnical substances itcontains, foreasier control ofthequantities
stored andsold(Arts. 8and9);
- prohibitions established onusebyindividuals inorder toavoid certain dangerous
practices (Arts. 10and11);
- entry intoforce withareasonable period.
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.52
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Fireworks forsaletothegeneral public arenotdefined bythe
current General Regulations onExplosives. They areonlydefined onacase-by-case
basis inthestorage authorizations granted tosales outlets whosorequest under the
system ofauthorization ofexplosives stores.
Furthermore, theexisting provisions have tobesupplemented andadapted to
takeintoaccount newfireworks thathave appeared onthemarket inthelasttwoor
three years.
8. Relevant documents:
(a) (1) Royal Order of23September 1958 establishing general regulations forthe
manufacture, storage, possession, sale,transport anduseofexplosives.
(2) Ministerial Order of3November 1958 ontheofficial recognition and
classification ofexplosives -Class C-Indents C-1toC-24.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:60days
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: CIBELNOR