RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/W/48
3July1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2773)
Original: English Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
FIRST TRIENNIAL REVIEW OFTHE OPERATION AND IMPLEMENTATION
OFTHE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION AGREEMENT ON
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TOTRADE (TBT)
Communication from Brazil
Thefollowing communication, dated 19June1997, concerning theTriennial Review ofthe
Agreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade hasbeenreceived from thePermanent Mission ofBrazil
withtherequest thatitbecirculated toMembers oftheCommittee.
_______________
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Brazil considers thattheWTO Agreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade, afteritsfirstthree
years ofexistence, hasyielded remarkably positive effects. Certain countries, however, continue to
haveserious difficulties incomplying withspecific obligations. These difficulties, inmany cases, are
aresult oftechnical, organizational andstructural problems. However, evenwhen thenecessary tehnical
andorganizational conditions exist, thefullimplementation oftheAgreement often demands along
period ofadaptation. Naturally, developing countries facethegreatest difficulties inthisrespect.
2. Brazil proposes thattheCommittee onTechnical Barriers toTrade consider itspriority objective
tofacilitate thepursuit ofconditions thatwillpermit theimplementation oftheAgreement. Therefore,
Brazil considers thatanyamendments orformal changes totheAgreement would beinopportune at
thisstage.
3. Brazil, however, considers thatitwould beuseful toinitiate discussions based onkeyissues
inorder tofurther develop andimprove theAgreement. Asetoftopics thatcould serve asabasis
forthediscussions forthenextthreeyears (aiming thenexttriennial review in2000) ispresented below.
II. THE IMPORTANCE OFUSING INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
4. TheAgreement acknowledges theimportance oftheuseofinternational standards tofacilitate
international trade. Therefore, itwould beimportant tofindwaystoencourage andtostrengthen their
use,aswellastoensure ahigher participation byMembers intheirelaboration orrevision processes.
5. Brazil recommends thatmore Members should beencouraged toaccept andcomply withthe
Code ofGood Practice forthePreparation, Adoption andApplication ofStandards. Thiswould help
strengthening theprocess ofinternational standardization.G/TBT/W/48
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6. Theprinciple ofequivalency referred toinArticle 2.7oftheTBTAgreement, aswellasthe
provisions forconformity assessment procedures inArticle 6.1areanimportant means ofovercoming
technical barriers totrade. Inthecaseoftechnical regulations, equivalency isanadequate form of
harmonization. Inthecaseofstandards, compliance withinternational standards should always be
pursued. Thisisthereason fortheexistence ofinternational standardization bodies. Particularly in
thecaseofeco-labelling programmes/schemes, however, theTBTCommittee could explore ways to
address theissue ofequivalency asawayofpreventing theuseofthose practices astrade barriers.
7. Based ontheprogress andclarifications oftheconceptual aspects, more emphasis should be
given toexploring thesynergy between standards andtechnical regulations.
III. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
8. Brazil considers theprinciple of“onestandard, onetest,onetime”asanobjective which should
bepursued. Thisprinciple, however, implies complex conditions concerning mutual reliance between
Members. Anecessary condition forthisisconfidence -theability totrustandbetrusted -which,
inmost cases, demands highlevels oftechnical competence.
9. Theuseofcommon procedures (ISO Guides andcompliance withArticles 5and6ofthe
Agreement) isanecessary requirement toachieve progress inthisarea.
10. Brazil considers thatdifferent forms ofConformity Assessment canbeused. Mutual recognition
among twoormore Members, inthisarea, shalltakeintoconsideration thecapacity ofeachparty
toestablish arelationship ofconfidence. From thisperspective, thedeclaration ofconformity can
beoneoftheforms tobeagreed bytheparties. Theuseofthispractice, however, demands ahigh
levelofdevelopmentofconformityassessmentsystems,whichresults,consequently,inseriousdifficulties
fordeveloping countries. Theuseofdeclaration ofconformity alsodepends critically onthemeans
available toensure effective andadequate liability ofsuppliers. Thisliability isdifficult toensure at
theinternational level. Forthisreason, thirdparty certification isparticularly important infacilitating
mutual recognition agreements.
11. Article 6.1.1 oftheTBTAgreement, anditsAnnex I,particularly refer toaccreditation of
certifying bodies andlaboratories aspartofconformity assessment procedures. Brazil considers that
theCommittee could initiate adeeper analysis ofthisissue, taking intoaccount theincreasing importance
ofaccreditation bodies inseveral Members conformity assessment systems andintheinternational
scene. TheGuide thatisbeing prepared byISO,concerning multilateral recognition, should bealso
considered. Theuseofaccreditation tofacilitate mutual andmultilateral recognition agreements and
initiatives should bepursued.
IV. TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE
12. Brazil considers thattheachievements ontechnical cooperation andassistance according to
TBT Article 11hasbeen insufficient tomeet theneeds ofdeveloping countries, especially the
least-developed among them. Inthisrespect, itwould beimportant tocreate instruments toensure
andfurther implement theprovisions ofArticle 11,possibly withthesupport ofotherintergovernmental
institutions.
13. Inthisregard,improvedandstrengthenedtechnicalcooperationactivitieswouldhelptoaccelerate
implementation oftheAgreement bydeveloping countries andwould constitute anecessary steptowards
thefulfillment oftheirobligations under theAgreement. Brazil considers thatassistance should beG/TBT/W/48
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primarily designed toensure thatdeveloping countries canreach minimum conditions tofulfill the
obligations resulting from TBT.
14. Inthiscontext ofextending technical assistance, special attention should begiven tothe
development andtraining human resources.
V. THE NECESSITY OFCLARIFYING TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
15. Annex 1oftheTBTAgreement presents asetofterms anddefinitions thatdonotappear to
besufficienttopreventdifferencesinunderstandingsandinterpretationsbetweenMembers.Forexample,
Article 2.2oftheTBTAgreement has,inpractice, different interpretations, particularly concerning
thelegitimate objectives oftechnical regulations.
16. Notwithstanding thefactthattheTBTAgreement hasadifferent scope tothatofISOGuide 2
(nowavailable inits1996version), Brazil would consider useful toundertake efforts topursue abetter
harmonization oftheconcepts inthem included.
VI. ISOGUIDES
17. Brazil considers thattherecommendations adopted bytheTBTCommittee during theTokyo
Round, concerning theuseofISO/IEC Guides 25and43should bereaffirmed (except Guide 39,which
wasalsorecommended bytheTBTCommittee atthattime, butisnowobsolete) andbroadened to
include other relevant ISOGuides onconformity assessment.
VII. ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS /ISO9000
18. Inaddition, Brazil considers thattheanalysis oftherealandpotential impact oftheuseof
systems management standards -suchasISO9000and14000 -asabarrier tointernational tradeshould
beconsidered bytheTBTCommittee inorder todetermine howtodealwiththeissues involved.