WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/2/Suppl.1
21 June 2001
(01-3095)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT ON
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Communication from the Czech Republic
Supplement
The following statement under Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
has been received from the Czech Republic.
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I. INTRODUCTION
1. Pursuant to Article 15.2 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and
the former statement by the delegation of the Czech Republic (G/TBT/2 of 8 November 1995), the
Czech Republic reports upon other measures adopted to meet obligations of this Agreement in the
area of technical regulations, standardizati on and conformity assessment procedures.
II. REGULATORY MEASURES
2. The Czech Republic has adopted regulatory measures to protect a justified concern
(endangering the public health and/or safety of persons, property and environment), with respect to
the fact that as a candidate country for the EU membership it has been developing a legal system fully
compatible with the EC system according to the provisions of Article 75 of the Europe Agreement
establishing an Association between the CR and EC and their Member States. The Czech Republic as
a Member of the WTO Agreement has fulfilled its obligations by removing technical barriers to tradeand facilitation of the trade conditions.
3. The adoption of Act No 22/1997 Coll., on technical requirements for products and on
amendments to some Acts, which came into force on 1 September 1997, has been one of the major
steps concerning placing on the market of industrial products.  Its subsequent amendment by
Act No  71/2000 Coll., has been a further step towards the full compatibility with relevant EC law(hereinafter Act No 22/1997 Coll.).
4. Act No 22/1997 Coll. lays down the method of establishing technical requirements relating
to industrial products which are likely to pose danger to justified concern, rights and obligations of the
persons who place on the market or distribute products, and the rights and obligations of persons
designated to carry out activities relating to the preparation and application of Czech standards andtesting in the regulated sphere.
5. Act No 22/1997 Coll., lays down unequivocally that Czech standards are not mandatory.
Standards, however, can be used as a tool for pres umption of conformity w ith requirements laid down
in relevant law.  This Act also lays down procedures for conformity assessment by a third party
participation and for designation of a legal entity (authorized body) for activities concerningG/TBT/2/Suppl.1
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conformity assessment of products.  Thus, the Act creates a legal framework for adopting the EC New
Approach Directives in the form of a set of Govern ment Orders to implement this Act.  So far, the
following Government Orders have been adopte d, which lay down technical requirements for low
voltage electrical devices, for products with respect to their electromagnetic compatibility, for
machinery, toys, personal protective equipment, simple pressure vessels, for equipment and protectivesystems intended for use in potentially explosive atmosphere, gas appliances, construction products,
medical devices, lifts, effectiveness of hot water boilers, pressure equipment, active implantable
medical devices, radio and telecommunication terminal equipment, and for non-automatic weighing
instruments.  A fundamental reduction of the products subjected to mandatory conformity assessment
by a third party has taken place, and the principle of conformity assessment by manufacturers or
importers under determined conditions ("self-assessment") has been widely introduced.
6. Act No 258/2000 Coll., on public health protection for the area of specific health protection
concerns has been adopted.  It regulates placing on the market of product within competencies of the
Ministry of Health including articles used by children under three years of age, cosmetics or materials
and articles intended to come into contact with  foodstuffs.  The aforementioned commodities are
consequently regulated by relevant implementing decrees to this Act.
7. Some product sectors are regulated by specific legislation.  For foodstuffs, Act No 110/1997
Coll., on foodstuffs and tobacco products was adopted and later amended by Act No 306/2000 Coll.
To implement the above Act, the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health adopted a number of
decrees, covering both the horizontal aspects of the Act (e.g. labelling) as well as the requirements for
individual products, which require regulation (i.e. tea, coffee, milk, dairy products, etc.).  After the
said amendment to the Act the whole sector is, at the moment, under the regime of voluntary testingexcept for infant formula and novel foods where the Ministry of Health shall approve the product
prior to their placing on the market (pre-market approval).
8. In the area of motor vehicles the Czech Republic follows the rules as agreed on
intergovernmental level for technical conditions relating to vehicles.  Construction of motor vehicles
is generally covered by the application of the Agreement of 1958 adopted in the frame of theUN Economic Commission for Europe and amended by Revision 2 coming into force on 16 October
1995.  The Czech Republic has actively participated in the Working Group for Vehicle Construction
(WP 29), recently re-named the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations.  New Act
No 56/2001 Coll., on the conditions of vehicle operation on roads will come into force on 1 July 2001.
In order to implement this Act the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been preparing a decree, which
is also based on the aforementioned rules and appropriate EC legislation. Thus, the remaining national
specifics for the vehicle approvals will be suppressed.
9. The sector of telecommunications is regulated by Act No 151/2000 Coll., on
telecommunications and by two implementing decrees.  Technical requirements for radio and
telecommunication terminal equipment lays down Government Order No 426/2000 Coll. to
Act No 22/1997 Coll.  The Government Order has transposed EC Directive 99/5/EC.  The placing of
products in this area on the market has been also made fully compatible with EC legislation.
10. For other sectors there are e.g. Act No 157/1998 Coll., on chemical substances and chemical
preparations as amended by Acts Nos 352/ 1999 Coll., 132/2000 Coll., and 258/2000 Coll., Act
No 156/1998 Coll., on fertilizers as amended by Act No 308/2000 Coll., Act No 79/1997 Coll., on
pharmaceuticals as amended by Act No 149/2000 Coll., Act No 153/2000 Coll., on genetically
modified organisms and products, Act No 123/2 000 Coll., on medical devices, which are fully
compatible with EC law.G/TBT/2/Suppl.1
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III. METROLOGY
11. Many changes in the legislation and infrastructure have been taken in the area of metrology at
the national level. Act No 505/1990 Coll., on metrology was amended by Act No 119/2000 Coll., in
order to make possible the transposition of the relevant EC law into the national legislation.  The
implementing decrees of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to this Act have been issued in order toimplement the Act, e.g. decrees on uniformity and accuracy of measuring instruments and
measurements, on specified measuring instruments for the mandatory type verification and approval,
on basic measuring units and their marking, and on the method of manufacturing of some types of the
pre-packaged goods marked by the "e" symbol.  12Many decrees are related to particular types of
measuring instruments.  The preparation of the last 7 decrees is being completed in order to
incorporate all metrology EC Directives into Czech law by the end of 2001.
12. The Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing (hereinafter the COSMT) is a
governmental body responsible for the area of metrology. The Czech Metrology Institute (CMI),
which is also the main specialized authority of the state metrology, is an executive body.
13. The Czech Republic has been a member of the Metric Convention and International
Organization of Legal Metrology.  In 1999, the Czech  Republic has signed, as a member of the Metric
Convention, the Mutual Recognition of National Measurement Standards and of Calibration and
Measurement Certificates issued by national metrology institutes which is one of the tools for
removing the barriers to trade between the Member States of this Convention. CMI experts have
participated in technical committees and/or working groups of international metrological
organizations (OIML, EUROMET, WELMEC). CMI laboratories have taken part in inter-laboratory
comparative tests organized in various measuring disciplines by the International Bureau of Weightsand Measures  (BIPM), and also in regional comparative tests organized by the international
organizations EUROMET and EA. COSMT is a me mber of the international non-governmental
organization WELMEC, dealing with harmonization of the legislation in the area of metrology.
IV. TECHNICAL STANDARDIZATION
14. According to Act No 22/1997 Coll., the Government guarantees the development and
publication of standards.  The expenses incurred in the course of the development of standards
developed at the request of a ministry or a central administration authority as well as the costs
connected to the membership in international and European standardization organizations  are  met
by the state.  The Ministry of Industry and Trade has designated the Czech Standards Institute (CSNI)
to carry out the development and publication of Czech standards.
15. Thus, a Czech standard, marked with a protecte d symbol ”CSN”, is not mandatory.  However,
the relevant ministries are responsible for the use of any international standard as a basis for a drafttechnical regulation according to Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement.  The Czech Republic’s
notification of the acceptance the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and
Application of Standards has been published under G/TBT/CS/N/8 of 26 July 1995.  A draft standard
is discussed with every person who will report at a place and within the period determined in the
public announcement on the beginning of elaboration of the draft, or who will submit his opinion onthe published draft standard within the time limit set down in the announcement.
16. Act No 22/1997 Coll. defines a new concept of a harmonized Czech standard.  This standard
becomes a harmonized standard when it has fully transposed a harmonized European standard
adopted by European standardization organizations, i.e. CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.  Where it
appears necessary in order to meet technical requirements for products specified in a GovernmentOrder issued under this Act, the COSMT may speci fy, for the purposes of conformity assessment,
other standards or technical documents from international organizations whose issuing has been
published in the Official Journal of the COSMT (ISO, IEC, ISO/IEC, UN/ECE, codex Alimentarius)G/TBT/2/Suppl.1
Page 4
or national standards.  Such standards are referred  to as specified standards.  Compliance with a
harmonized or specified standard and in cases resulting from an international agreement also
compliance with a foreign standard is recognized as compliance with the requirements laid down by
the Government Order to which such standard is related.  European and international standards are
implemented continuously. Timely publication of information on drafts of all standards underpreparation, and on issued standards, as well as their amendments or withdrawals are announced in
the Official Journal of the COSMT. Uniformity and mutual coherency of standards and their
accordance with legal regulations have been ensured, and a justified concern has been protected. In
the Czech Republic, a major share - more than 90 per cent items of the annual standard increase  - is
represented by the implementation of European and international standards into the CSN system.
17. The Czech national standardization body, which is CSNI, has represented the Czech Republic
in ISO, IEC and ETSI since 1993, receiving a full membership in CEN in April 1997, and a fullmembership in CENELEC in October 1997.
V. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT OF PRODUCTS
18. Conformity assessment of products, in cases when the legislation requires a mandatory
participation of a third party, is carried out by authorized persons designated by the COSMT
according to Act No 22/1997 Coll., as amended by Act No 71/2000 Coll.  Authorization of subjects isperformed on the same basis as for the notified bodies in the EU.  At the moment, there are 31
authorized bodies for conformity assessment in the Czech Republic, at least one for each sector.
Conformity assessment procedures in these areas are compatible with procedures used by notified
bodies of the EU Member States.
19. Participation of the Czech conformity assessmen t bodies in European structures is a major
precondition for integration of the Czech Republic’s testing into the European system.  It means, in
particular, the participation of authorized bodies at the meetings of co-ordinating groups notified
bodies and representation of the Czech Association of Measurement, Testing and Analytical
Laboratories (CZECHOLAB), in the European organization EUROLAB.  Full membership of the
Czech Committee for Conformity Assessment in the European Organization for ConformityAssessment (EOTC) is also important for the integration of the Czech Republic into European
structures.
20. Participation in European and international certification systems has contributed to the
systematic verification of competency of individual institutions with respect to their staff qualification
and equipment.
21. The most important authorized bodies participate in the activities of international certification
systems.  For instance, the Electrotechnical Testing Institute is a regular member of many certificationsystems of electrotechnical products such as IECEE-CB, CCA, CCA-EMC, ENEC, EMEDCA,
KEYMARK, EEPCA and ECE/UN for the homologation of motor vehicle accessories according to
the UN/ECE rules.  The Technical and Test Institut e for Constructions, Prague, is a member of the
European Union for Technical Approvals in Constr uction (UEAtc), and an observer of the European
Organization for Technical Approvals (EOTA). Then, there is the Government Laboratory ofAgricultural, Food Industry and Forestry Machines, which is responsible for standardization codes for
official testing of agricultural and forest tractors in terms of the OECD.  The area of testing packages
intended for packaging and transportation of dangerous goods according to international
transportation rules by rail, road, air and sea transport (ADR, RID, IATA-DGR and IMDG Code) is
covered by the Packaging Information and Mechanical Testing Centre, and Engineering Test Institute.G/TBT/2/Suppl.1
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VI. ACCREDITATION
22. Based on the decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade the Czech Accreditation Institute,
Public Service Company (CAI)) has been designated to perform accreditation pursuant to
Act No 22/1997 Coll. Within the framework of the accreditation system of the Czech Republic, it is
the executive body which ensures the accreditation of testing laboratories, calibration laboratories,certification bodies for certification of products, quality systems, EMS and personnel, inspection
bodies, environmental auditors for the EMAS programme and providers of proficiency testing
schemes.
23. The CAI is full member of international organiza tions EA, ILAC and IAF. It is a signatory of
the EA Multilateral agreement (MLA EA) on mutual recognition of accreditation results in the field of
testing, calibration and certification (1998), including EMS (2000), signatory of the IAF MLA on
mutual recognition of accreditation results in the field of certification of quality systems according toISO 9000 series (1999), and a signat ory of  MRA ILAC on mutual recognition of results in the field
of testing and calibration (2000).
VII. MARKET SURVEILLANCE
24. The responsibility to inspect whether a standard referred in a technical regulation or the
compliance with what is marked on a product is carried out by a market surveillance body.  Accordingto Act No 22/1997 Coll, the Czech Trade Inspection (or a body designated by a special act) performs
surveillance of whether a declaration of conformity has been issued for specified products placed on
the market or whether a product has been marked according to the given method or a prescribed
document has been issued or attached to it, as well as whether properties of the specified products
placed on the market satisfy specified technical requirements.  The Czech Trade Inspection has beenestablished and operates under Act No 64/1986 Coll., on the Czech Trade Inspection, as amended.
Pursuant to other acts, there are the following mark et surveillance bodies: the Czech Agricultural and
Food Inspection, Hygiene Service, State Veterinary Administration, State Institute for Drug Control,
Institute for State Control of Veterinary Immunologicals and Medicaments, and the Czech
Environmental Inspection.
VIII.  MUTUAL RECOGNITION AGREEMENTS
25. The purpose of the agreements concluded is to remove technical barriers to trade by
simplifying administrative procedures for products placed on the market, which are laid down for
conformity assessment or certification in the territory of contracting parties.  It applies to industrial
products which originate in the contracting parties, which are subjects of trade between the
manufacturing and trading subjects of the Czech Republic and the other contracting party, and are laid
down for conformity assessment at least in one of th e contracting parties ("justified concern").  The
authorized body can recognize results of tests and findings carried out abroad, when the relationship
between the parties has no contractual basis, and if the same level of protection of the justified
concern, corresponding with the requirements of the relevant technical regulations, is ensured.
26. The Protocol to the Europe Agreement establishing an Association between the European
Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Czech Republic, of the other part, onthe Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (PECA) is one of the important
international agreements contributing to the removing of technical barriers to trade at the regional
level.
27. Compared to “classical” agreements on mutual recognition, the PECA is special tool because
of the fact that this Agreement is thoroughly based on the principle of harmonization of the nationallegislation of the Czech Republic with the EC law in accordance with the Europe Agreement.  This
principle shall lead to the removing of duplicate procedures before placing a product of oneG/TBT/2/Suppl.1
Page 6
contracting party on the market in the territory of th e other contracting party.  PECA comes into force
on 1 July 2001.  At the moment, parallel agreements to the PECA with the EEA-EFTA countries,
Switzerland and Hungary are being prepared.  They should come into force at the beginning of 2002.
INDICATIVE LIST OF THE CURRENT MRA INITIATIVES
Party Party Sectors Concluded Valid from Type of
recognition
Czech
Republic(COSMT)Slovak
Republic(COSMT)except for foodstuffs and
tobacco products, cosmetics,and construction productsyes 1997-09-01
(1993-03-31)CERT
ACC
CzechRepublic
(Ministry
of
Industry
andTrade)Slovak
Republic
(MVRR)construction products yes 1999-05-25 CERT
ACC
Czech
Republic
(COSMT)Republic of
Slovenia
(SMIS)electric equipment,
machinery, medical devices,
toys, personal protectiveequipment, construction
productsyes 1996-02-23 ACC
Czech
Republic
(COSMT)Republic of
Poland
(PCBC)electromagnetic
compatibility, machinery,
toys, personal protective
equipment, selected
products, simple pressurevessels, equipment and
protective systems intended
for use in potentially
explosive atmosphere, gas
appliances, construction
productsyes 1997-01-27 to
2001-03-10 –
a new
agreement
underpreparationACC
Czech
Republic
(COSMT)Russian
Federation
(GOS-STANDART)without specification yes 1999-04-15
(1994-12-04)ACC
Czech
Republic
(COSMT)Ukraine
(DĚRŽ-
STANDART)without  specification yes 1996-12-04 ACC
Czech
RepublicEU machinery, low voltage
equipment,  electromagneticcompatibility,  equipment
and protective systems
intended for use in
potentially explosive
atmosphere, gas appliances,personal protective
equipment, lifts, simple
pressure vessels, pressure
equipment, hot water boilers,
good manufacturing practiceno 2001-07-01 PECA:
mutualrecognition of
conformity
assessment
resultsG/TBT/2/Suppl.1
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Party Party Sectors Concluded Valid from Type of
recognition
for medicinal products
CzechRepublicEEA-EFTA machinery, low voltage
equipment,  electromagnetic
compatibility, equipment andprotective systems intended
for use in potentially
explosive  atmosphere, gas
appliances, personal
protective equipment, lifts,simple pressure vessels,
pressure equipment, hot
water boilers, good
manufacturing practice for
medicinal productsno shall be
signed by the
end of 2001parallel
agreement to
the PECAmutual
recognition of
conformity
assessment
results
CzechRepublicSwiss
Confederationmachinery, personal
protective equipment, low
voltage equipment,
electromagneticcompatibility, equipment and
protective systems intended
for use in potentially
explosive atmosphere, gas
appliancesno shall be
signed by the
end of 2001parallel
agreement to
the PECA
mutualrecognition of
conformity
assessment
results
Czech
RepublicRepublic of
Hungarymachinery, low voltage
equipment, electromagneticcompatibility, hot water
boilers, gas appliancesno shall be
signed by theend of 2001parallel
agreement tothe PECA
mutual
recognition of
conformity
assessment
results
Note: ACC – test result acceptance
CERT – certificate recognition
IX. MISCELLANEOUS
28. As published in the G/TBT/2 the COSMT has been authorized to carry out the
implementation of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and to establish a
WTO/TBT Enquiry Point. Act No 22/1997 also incl udes a provision stating that the COSMT as an
information centre shall provide, within the scope defined by international agreements, notification of
drafts of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures to foreign countries,and information about similar foreign drafts.  The Enquiry Point meets provisions of Article 10.1.  At
the national level, it ensures dissemination of notifications and information provided by the
Secretariat of the Committee for Technical Barriers to Trade to the relevant government authorities
and NGOs.  It provides information and draft technical regulations to other Members to the
Agreement upon their request. All notifications (notifying Member, responsible agency, products
covered, title, number of pages and language of the notified document) both in the English and Czech
language are published monthly in the Official Journal of the COSMT. Information on the COSMT
operation, notifications and draft technical regulations can be found on the Web page:  www.unmz.cz .G/TBT/2/Suppl.1
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29. The address, telephone number, and fax number of the WTO/TBT Enquiry Point of the Czech
Republic are:
Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing
Gorazdova 24
P.O. Box 49128 01 Praha 2
E-mail: wto.tbt@unmz.cz
Tel.: + 420 2 24907 135
Fax: + 420 2 24907 131
Contact Person:  Libuše Romanovská, PhD
30. The regulatory reform in the Czech Republic was presented at the OECD meeting.  The area
of technical regulations and standards has been evaluated in terms of Chapter 4 Enhancing Market
Openness through Regulatory Reform.  The meeting of the Working Group of the OECD Trade
Committee taking place in January 2001 in Paris stated that the Czech Republic has met therequirements of the OECD in this area, and made considerable progress in the adoption of
international standards. This fact is confirmed by the final OECD draft report on the regulatory
environment in the Czech Republic.
31. This year, the WTO has been performing a Trade policy review 2001 of the Czech Republic,
which also includes an evaluation of standards and technical regulations with respect to technicalbarriers to trade.
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