RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/422
29 November 2000
(00-5154)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
PROBLEMS FACED BY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
Discussions of the TBT Committee in the context of the
Second Triennial Review of the TBT Agreement
Report by the Chairman
I. INTRODUCTION
1. At its special Session on 18 October 2000, the General Council referred to the relevant
WTO bodies a number of implementation-related issues.  Among these, the General Council
requested the TBT Committee
"to examine the problems faced by developing countries in both international standards and
conformity assessment, and to explore possible solutions in the context of the ongoing
Triennial Review."
As Chairman of the Committee, I was requested to report on the outcome of that Review to the
General Council before its special Session in December.
II. OUTCOME OF THE TRIENNIAL REVIEW (G/L/412)
2. The TBT Committee concluded its Second Trie nnial Review of the Implementation and
Operation of the Agreement on 10 November (G/TBT/9).  In this context, the Committee took note of
the discussions in the General Council on implementation concerns, and recognized that the issue of
implementation was linked to a number of elements of the Second Triennial Review, such as technicalassistance, international standards and conformity assessment.  A number of elements considered and
decisions taken by the Committee under the Review dealt with the problems faced by developing
countries in both international standards and conformity assessment, and possible solutions were
explored and suggested.  I set out below the main conclusions reached by the Committee in these
areas.
A. I
NTERNATIONAL STANDARDS (Paragraphs 17 to 25 and Annex 4 of G/L/412)
3. At the Second Triennial Review, the Committee noted that international standards, guides and
recommendations were important elements of the Agreement and played a significant role in its
implementation.  In order for international standards to make a maximum contribution to the
achievement of the trade facilitating objectives of the Agreement, it was important that all Membershad the opportunity to participate in the elaboration and adoption of international standards.  In order
to improve the quality of international standards and to ensure the effective application of the
Agreement, the Committee agreed that there was a need to develop principles concerning
transparency, openness, impartiality and consensus, relevance and effectiveness, coherence and
developing country interests that would clarify and strengthen the concept of international standardsunder the Agreement and contribute to the advancement of its objectives. In this regard, the
Committee adopted a decision containing a set of principles it considered important for internationalG/L/422
Page 2
standards development under the TBT Agreement (Annex 4 of G/TBT/9).  These principles were seen
by the Committee to be equally relevant to the preparation of international standards, guides and
recommendations relating to conformity assessment procedures.  The Committee agreed that the
dissemination of such principles by Members and standardizing bodies in their territories would
encourage the various international bodies to clarify and strengthen their rules and procedures onstandards development, including those relating to effective participation, thus further contributing to
the advancement of the objectives of the Agreement.
4. With particular reference to the mandate that  the General Council charged me with, I would
draw attention, in particular, to the principle concerning the “development dimension”.  The
Committee decided in Paragraph 13 of the “Principles” document, as follows:
"Constraints on developing countries, in particular, to effectively participate in standards
development, should be taken into consideration in the standards development process.
Tangible ways of facilitating developing coun tries participation in international standards
development should be sought.  The impartiality and openness of any international
standardization process requires that developing countries are not excluded de facto  from the
process.  With respect to improving participation by developing countries, it may be
appropriate to use technical assistance, in line with Article 11 of the TBT Agreement.
Provisions for capacity building and technical assistance within international standardizing
bodies are important in this context."
5. The Committee noted that international standardization was an area where developing country
participation was still limited and constrained.  Some of the reasons identified for this situation were
the lack of technical capacity, the location of secretariats and meetings, as well as other constraints in
the areas of financial and human resources which impeded participation in meetings.  This was
recognized as an area for ongoing attention with in international and regional bodies.  The Committee
also noted that certain Members encountered problems relating to the translation of international
standards into their national languages.
6. To assist in resolving the problem of partic ipation, the Committee noted that it was important
to prioritize the international standardization activities related to products or subject-matter of
particular interest to developing countries.  It was critical for developing country Members, as part of
their national consultation, to assess products/sectors of priority interest to them for internationalstandardization, so that resources could be appropriately targeted.  It was suggested that international
standardizing bodies should seek to secure greater developing country participation as chairpersons or
secretariats in various technical committees, including, where appropriate, rotation of chairs and
secretariats.  Another solution was to facilitate effective participation by means of information
technologies, such as using email and video conferencing as alternatives to traditional meetings.  Suchan approach could also provide solutions to the financial constraints faced by developing countries
regarding their participation in international standa rdization.  Increasing awareness and co-ordination
at the national level among stakeholders with respect to the importance of international standards
related to trade interests could help to strengthen the financial and human resources of national
standardization bodies, thus enhancing their effectiveness in the international standardization process.Regional cooperation could also contribute to the efficient and effective use of resources and act as a
useful way to influence the international standardization process.
7. The Committee agreed that regular information-exchange between the Committee and
relevant bodies involved in the development of international standards was useful.  The Committeeagreed that its observers should be invited to provide regular updates on their activities at Committee
meetings, and the Committee would invite these bodies to inform it on the ways in which they were
seeking to ensure effective participation of Members, and particularly of developing country Members
in their activities.G/L/422
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B. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES (Paragraphs 26-36 and Annex 5 of G/L/412)
8. In the area of conformity assessment, the Committee noted a number of problems expressed
by developing country Members.  Developing coun try exporters, in particular SMEs, in some cases
found themselves faced with conformity assessment requirements in export markets that were difficult
to meet.  This could be due to the limited physical and technical resources for national conformityassessment;  insufficient number of accredited laboratories at the national or regional level;  high costs
as well as legal difficulties in obtaining foreign accreditation;  difficulties in establishing
internationally recognized accreditation bodies;  difficulties in participating in international
conformity assessment systems;  as well as difficulties related to the implementation of
ISO/IEC guides on conformity assessment procedures.
9. The Committee noted the technical and financial assistance already being provided by a
number of national and international bodies to developing countries, such as the training of
conformity assessment practitioners;  training packages focussed on establishment of accreditation
and certification bodies;  the design of quality strategies targeting policy-makers, conformity
assessment practitioners and industry;  as well as the funding of developing country participation in
regional and international meetings of conformity assessment systems.  The Committee also noted thework that was being conducted at the regional level to address the various common concerns relating
to conformity assessment, such as the pooling of re sources to facilitate accreditation at the regional
level, and eventually at the international level.
10. The Committee noted that it took a long period of time for a country to develop a national
conformity assessment system.  Different infrastructure might be needed at different stages of
development and for different sectoral needs.  Priorities needed to be identified by developing
countries concerning certain basic elements of a domestic conformity assessment infrastructure.
Technical assistance in this area was an evolving process, given the need to nurture skills and
institutional development over a long time-frame.  In order to build a structure for domesticconformity assessment which could ultimately facilitate the recognition of conformity assessment
results, it was important to raise awareness and develop a national strategy for quality management.
Assistance to implement the relevant international guides and standards could be useful to obtain the
confidence of the competence of conformity assessment bodies by import markets, to facilitate
entering into negotiations of MRAs and participating in international systems.  Technical assistance of
this kind could be enhanced through regional and international cooperation.
C. O
THER RELATED TRIENNIAL REVIEW OUTCOMES : T ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
(Paragraphs 39-47 of G/L/412)
11 In addition to the conclusions and decisions reached by the Committee in relation to
international standards and conformity assessment, the Committee also addressed the issue of
technical assistance which was recognized as a priority to address difficulties encountered bydeveloping countries in the implementation of the Agreement.  In particular, the Committee agreed to
develop a demand-driven technical cooperation programme related to the Agreement.
12 The Committee also noted that in accordance with the mandate provided by the General
Council, the Director-General had been requested through his good offices to contact relevantinternational standardizing bodies and intergovernmental organizations to explore financial and
technical mechanisms to assist the participation of developing countries in international standard-
setting activities and to identify TBT-related technical assistance needs and how best to address these.
In pursuing its further work, the Committee emphasized the importance of ensuring that its efforts
complemented, and did not duplicate, the work by the Director-General and other WTO bodies in thisfield.
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