WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.96.105
23April 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-1501)
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 ofHousing, Spatial Planning andtheEnvironment
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):
-Amalgam separators;
-Shredding equipment.
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Order Governing
Rules forDental Practices, Amendment oftheEstablishment andLicensing Order in
Respect ofEnvironmental Management andWithdrawal oftheDumping Order -Surface
Water Pollution Act-Dental Practices (Order Governing Dental Practices inTerms of
Environmental Management), aswellasTwoAssociated Ministerial Regulations:
-Regulation onTesting Methods forAmalgam Separators; and
-Regulation Governing Amalgam Separators Within Dental Practices inTerms
ofEnvironmental Management.
6. Description ofcontent: Industrial water from adental practice which contains amalgam
shallpassthrough anamalgam separator before being carried away insewers. Amalgam
separators shall beaccompanied bytestcertificates which show thattheir separating
efficiency isatleast 95percent. Thetestinquestion shall becarried outusing a
method laiddown inMinisterial regulations. Asecond regulation contains alistoftypes
ofapproved separators which meet therequired separating efficiency. Industrial waste
water from adental practice containing industrial waste which hasbeen shredded by
shredding orgrinding equipment shallnotbeallowed toflowintosewers.
./.G/TBT/Notif.96.105
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Amalgam isaharmful waste material andmayonlybecollected
byanauthorized party. Inorder toreduce thepollution levels ofsewer sludge,
purification sludge andsurface water, itisnecessary toinstall oneormore amalgam
separators. Therequirement toinstall anamalgam separator willcutdown themercury
content indumped waste. Inthisway, amanageable amount ofamalgam waste becomes
available forcollection, processing andpossible re-use. Ageneral principle in
environmental policy isthatwaste which canbeorremain separated shallnotbemixed
with(industrial) waste water which ends upinthesewers. This iswhytheOrder
stipulates thatindustrial waste water containing industrial waste which hasbeenshredded
orground byshredding orgrinding equipment orwhich contains industrial waste which
could beprevented from ending upinindustrial water, shall notbeintroduced into
sewers.
8. Relevant documents:
(a) Dumping Order -Surface Water Pollution Actconcerning Dental Practices
(Order tobewithdrawn);
(b) theEnvironmental Management ActandtheSurface Water Pollution Act;
(c) theWaste Water Act(inwhich bothActswere amended).
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 1July1996
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:
10. Final dateforcomments: 27June1996
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: