  We discuss polarization characteristics of the deuteron disintegration near
the threshold energy. Due to the small relative energy of the outgoing $np$
pair, the dominant amplitude for this process is a 1+ -> 0^+ transition.
Relativistic covariance requires only one electromagnetic transition form
factor for this amplitude. Subsequently this leads to substantial
simplifications in the formulas of the polarization observables and allows to
draw conclusions independent of the details of the interaction.

Nuclear Theory