. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/2/Add.60
14 July 2000
(00-2897)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Communication from the Government of South Africa
Addendum
The following statement under Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
has been received from the Government of South Africa.
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1. The TBT Agreement was never published in any official Government Gazette, but the
Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization and the Final Act of the Uruguay Round
including the TBT Agreement, were approved and ratified by the South African Parliament on
6 April 1995.  This agreement is not directly enforceable through South African law.  However, the
Department of Trade and Industry and the South African Bureau of Standards oversee that the
obligations under the TBT Agreement are adhered to.
2. The Standards Information Centre at the South African Bureau of Standards has been
appointed as the WTO TBT Enquiry point in South Africa by the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Enquiry Point serves as the focal point for di sseminating information to concerned departments
and authorities on South Africa's obligations under the Agreement.  Its address is as follows:
STANDARDS INFORMATION CENTRE
South African Bureau of Standards (SABS)1 Dr Lategan Rd., Groenkloof
Private Bag X191
Pretoria 0001
Tel: +27 12 428 6835
Fax: +27 12 344 1568
Telex: +32 13 08 sa
Email: info@sabs.co.za
X.400 c=za;  a=telekom 400;  o=south african bureau of standards;  s=sabs
3. Notices of technical regulations or rules of certification made by South African Government
are published in the South African Government Gazette .  Notices on standards are published monthly
in the SABS Official Information,  supplement to the SABS Bulletin , and the WTO is notified in
accordance with Article 10.6.
4. As recommend by the TBT Committee, a period of 60 days is generally allowed for
comments on the adoption of technical regulations, with exception for certain cases (depending on
urgency consideration) where this period could be extended or reduced.G/TBT/2/Add.60
Page 2
5. In principle and where available, ISO, IEC, ETSI, EN, Codex Alimentarius and
ECE Regulations are used as a basis for the preparation of SA national standards and where possible
these standards are adopted as SA national standards.  All standards prepared are non-mandatory
except those which are incorporated into technical regulations of the regulatory authorities for public
health and safety.  The SABS has accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoptionand Application of Standards and publishes the status of its standardization programme at intervals of
six months (April, October) as required under the Code, free of charge.
6. In respect of the mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures in the voluntary
sphere, South Africa can inform the TBT Committee that the South African National Accreditation
System (SANAS) has a mutual recognition agreement i.r.o. testing and calibration with the European
Accreditation of Laboratories Cooperation (EAL).  SANAS is also active within the International
Laboratory Accreditation Cooperati on (ILAC) as well as the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
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