. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.00/385
1 September 2000
(00-3428)
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 Economic Affairs
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):   Electricity
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Rules with Regard to
the Termination of the Agreement on Mutual Assistance within the Electricity Production
Sector and with Regard to the Share Ownership of the Transmission System Operator(TSO) of the National Grid (the Electricity Production Sector Transition Act)
6. Description of content:   The legislative proposal regulates the distribution of the
commitments that the electricity production sector has entered into in the past.  These
involve non-commercial costs that were incurred as a result of concluding contracts and
making investments.  The legislative proposal compensates for certain costs in the form ofan extra allowance.
It cannot be ruled out that the proposed Article 12 contains technical regulations within the
meaning of the WTO-Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. Article 12 assignstransport capacity in order to implement existing import contracts.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
The distribution of non-commercial costs is significant in order to guarantee a smooth
transition of the electricity production sector towards a liberalised market.
The regulation with regard to assigning transport capacity across the cross-border
network (Art. 12) is necessary in order to implement the import contracts which wereconcluded in the past.
Booking transport capacity on the network limits the scope for new contracts. It would,
however, be an unacceptable infringement of the legal certainty of production companies if
the implementation of existing contracts were to be discontinued.
8. Relevant documents:   The Electricity Act 1998G/TBT/Notif.00/385
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9. Proposed date of adoption:  15 December 2000
Proposed date of entry into force:  1 January 2001
10. Final date for comments:   31 October 2000
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ X] or address, e-mail and telefax
number of the other body:           