WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/205
19 May 2003
(03-2657)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
THIRD TRIENNIAL REVIEW OF THE TBT AGREEMENT
Submission by the People's Republic of China
I. TRANSPARENCY
1. China would like to further enhance the implementation of the TBT provisions n transparency
and regard this as one of the means of carrying out technical coordination among Members of the
WTO and a means of avoiding unnecessary obstacles to trade.  To this end China proposes that the
TBT Committee gives full attention to the implementation of TBT rules and the Doha Ministerial
Declaration on notification of technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.  For thepurpose of getting an overall picture, we carried out a study and made an analysis on
TBT notifications issued in 2002, statistics shows that:
- In 2002, 50 Members issued TBT notifications, occupying 34.7 per cent of the 144 Members
of the WTO, it means that two-thirds of the WTO Members had no draft technical regulation
or conformity assessment procedure document to notify, most of them are developingcountries.
- In 2002, the total number of TBT notifications was 577, of which 288 notifications indicated
less than 60 days for other Members to make comments, occupying 49.9 per cent of the total.
Of the 288 notifications, 15 (by six Members) were issued after the commenting deadline
date;  62 notifications gave 1-15 days for comments;  80 notifications gave 16-30 days for
comments;  55 notifications gave 31-45 days for comments and 76 notifications gave
46-59 days for comments.  Study shows that such cases cover both developed and developingcountries.  Therefore, it is a common problem.
- In 2002, 15 urgent notifications were issued by eight Members, occupying 2.3 per cent of the
total number.
- According to the Doha Ministerial Declaration, there should be no less than six months
between the date of approval and the date of entering into force of notified regulatorydocuments.  In 2002 it appeared that 298 TBT notifications i.e. 51.6 per cent of the total, did
not indicate the six months or more definitely  of which 242 with no indication or stated as
non-applicable.  Such cases cover both developed and developing countries.  Therefore, it is
also a common problem.
2. Technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures as well as other technical
requirements under the TBT Agreement are generating more and more impact to international trade.
Therefore, we propose to further study the question of notification and the subsequent comments and
replies.  China would like to make its due contribution in this regard.
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