   
  
G/TBT/GEN/329  
 
21 July 2022  
(22-5555) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
AGENDA ITEM 3: TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES  
UPDATE BY ANSI ON ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE TBT COMMITTEE   
This document contains the statement  provided by  the United States  at the TBT Committee meeting  
of 13-15 June 2022  under Agenda Item 3.  
 
_______________  
 
1.  The United States takes our commitment to capacity building seriously. As such, we would call 
member attention to our continued  efforts to support  the understanding and implementation of the 
TBT Agreement through th e Standards Alliance  program . The Standards Alliance is a public -private 
partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the American 
National Standards Institute ( ANSI), which coordinates with developing and least developed 
countries to identify and prioritize areas for technical assistance.  
2.  The Standards Alliance was established in 2012 with a focus on the implementation of the TBT 
Agreement in 10 country/regions and was expanded in 2016 to include West and Southern Africa . 
The first phase of the Standards Alliance ended in September 2021; however, the program was 
renewed for a second phase in 2019 . Phase 2 of the S tandards Alliance  remains active and builds 
upon the successes and measured imp acts of first phase to provide targeted technical assistance to 
developing countries . The second phase focuses on support related to the development and 
implementation of National Quality Infrastructure and Good Regulatory Practices that are rooted in 
the principles of the TBT Agreement.  
3.  Altogether , the Standards  Alliance Phase 1 completed 107  trainings, workshops, and delegation 
visits. Under Phase 2, the Standards Alliance has so far delivered 31 events, reaching 5021 
participants. These activities have advanced partner countries’ understanding and application of the 
TBT principles and transparency mechanisms . All Standards Alliance Phase 2 activities have begun 
work, and in particular between April to June 2022 have included the following:  
• In response to  the COVID -19 pandemic, the Standards Alliance continues to support technical 
capacity in the medical devices sector , while also helping participating nations identify 
technical and regulatory barriers to trade. This activity , the " Medical Device Regulator y 
Convergence (MDRC) project ", builds the capacity of partner countries to effectively 
implement standards and conformity assessment procedures related to medical devices; remove 
technical barriers to trade for medical devices; increase patients’ access to  needed high -quality 
Personal Protective Equipment ( PPE) and other medical technologies in response to COVID -19 
and future global health crises; and foster private sector engagement in the (medtech) 
regulatory space. The project countries of focus include Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, 
Indonesia, Vietnam, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.  
• The MDRC has hosted 22 trainings and workshops to advance objectives for global, regional, 
and local stakeholders in the public and private sectors. These workshops convened  an estimated 
4,650 participants, of which about 2,860 were from the private sector and about 2,880 were 
women (61.9%). This group includes experts and professionals from academia, the private 
sector, Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs), national reg ulatory authorities (NRAs), 
international organizations, and numerous other vital stakeholders.   
• The MDRC has packaged the findings of its Phase One, Tier One gap analyses and literature 
reviews from all project countries in a unified Tier One report. This  report includes assessments G/TBT/GEN/329  
 
- 2 - 
 
  of GRP implementation by country as well as an overarching chart to allow for comparison across 
project countries. In April, the MDRC published a Tier One GRP review that is intended to be a 
live document to keep track of the p rogress made in the different member countries towards 
regulatory convergence around medical devices. While this is the final draft, it remains a live 
document. As more input and feedback from governments and relevant stakeholders are 
received, this report  may be updated throughout the project.  
• In Latin America, the project further strengthened its online module development and virtual 
resource library, which can be accessed here: Standards Alliance Phase 2 COVID -19 Medical 
Device Regulatory Convergence Project (MDRC) – Regulatory Convergence . Finally related  to 
this region representatives of the MDRC participated in the 9th Summit of the Americas as well 
as outside meetings on Ju ne 5–8, 2022, in Los Angeles. The Summit brought together 
public - and private -sector representatives from across the Americas for presentations and 
discussions on national quality infrastructure (NQI), good regulatory practices (GRP), national 
policy reform, and the importance of global partnerships. Leveraging the first meeting of the 
Summit of the Americas on U.S. soil in a generation, the event saw the official launch of the 
Inter-American Coalition for Business Ethics and Regulatory Convergence in Medical Technology 
to promote regional and bilateral cooperation, knowledge exchange, and medical device 
regulatory convergence and GRP across the Western Hemisphere. A comprehensive readout of 
the Coalitions Sessions as well as key Summit outcomes, includ ing links to the presentations 
and recordings of each session, including a printable version of the report can be accessed  here. 
• An ongoing web series on international best practices for cosmetics standards with the 
African Organization for Standardization (ARSO ). ANSI, ARSO and the Personal Care 
Product Council (PCPC) hosted a sixth webinar  on May 9, 2022  in coordin ation with members of 
the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) on international cosmetics frameworks. This 
webinar, as well as the past f ive events were developed to support the harmonization of African 
personal care and cosmetics standards. With guidanc e from PCPC and ARSO Technical 
Committee 40 (TC40) on cosmetics, ANSI and ARSO have launched a virtual series including ten 
90-minute webinars on international best practice for cosmetics standards as well as a thematic 
session for TC40 members during the ARSO GA.  
• ANSI is continuing to support a multi -year "Harmonization of Petroleum Standards in West 
Africa"  project, targeting four of the largest petroleum producing/ extraction and refining 
economies: Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. The project aims to encourage testing 
laboratories to use harmonized testing protocols that are up to date and fit for purpose in the 
ECOWAS region. During April to June the efforts were focused on preparing a petroleum 
standards workshops that would take place in con junction with the Nigeria Oil and Gas 
Conference and Exhibition in early July 2022.  
• In coordination with the  Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Centre 
for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) , the Standards Alliance continues 
its work in the region on clean renewable fuel (for transport and household use). After organizing 
workshops in Togo and the Gambia in March 2022  ANSI and Pivot have developed with ARSO a 
webinars series on  Bioethanol  as well . The parties have agreed to host five sessions , scheduled 
to occur as monthly events  from May through September 2022. Therefore, two session have 
occurred  already on May 12 and June 16, 2022.  
• Utility Management Standards Training for Water Sector Utilities . Effective management 
of water sector utilities is crucial to providing reliable and water supply and sanitation services, 
and a well -managed utility can be a driver to promote economic development. The use of 
standards, such as AWWA’s Utility Management St andards, assists water sector entities in 
addressing these challenges by improving utility management and performance over time, 
increasing utility efficiency, reliability, consistency, and providing safer water to the general 
public. This project is takin g place in India and Africa (Malawi, Lesotho, and Zambia). AWWA 
Utility Management Standards will be introduced to water sector utilities though a series of in -
person and virtual workshops. AWWA has finalized and circulated the needs assessment survey 
for the African countries and is coordinating dates for African workshops. In India, AWWA 
completed its needs assessment, set dates for workshops, and conducted follow -up monthly 
user group calls for India participants. Introducing these standards and providin g instruction on 
how to implement them at utilities in India will provide social, economic, and public health 
benefits to the local communities . G/TBT/GEN/329  
 
- 3 - 
 
   
• Plumbing the Legal Depths — Creating a Pipeline Between Legal Enabling and NQI . 
This project performs diagnost ics of the existing legal, policy and institutional frameworks 
governing NQI related to the WASH sector in Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. These diagnostics 
assess the enabling environment to increase access to drinking water and sanitation, support 
the adoptio n and application of international WASH standards, and enable the removal of 
WASH NQI barriers to trade in WASH products. Legal gaps and shortcomings will be 
identified, and recommendations made on how these gaps can be addressed by aligning 
them to intern ational standards and best practices. Further, the findings and 
recommendations will be validated with stakeholders and completed reports will be 
disseminated widely with government agencies, creating opportunities for reform. Deskwork 
and interviews in ea ch of the target countries have been conducted to support 
comprehensive diagnostic reports for each country.   
• Increase the Flow of Wash Services . This project will work with foreign ministries, local 
industry and manufacturers to develop a roadmap focused  on improving countries’ access 
to safe and efficient WASH products, removing technical barriers to trade, standardizing 
conformity assessment practices and helping to develop much -needed supply chains of safe 
products. In Indonesia, IAPMO is assisting the  National Standardization Agency of Indonesia 
(BSN) to develop and adopt a new national standard related to faucets and to provide 
technical assistance to relevant ministries on its adoption and enforcement. As the final 
endpoint of water delivery systems,  this new standard will ensure that these products meet 
basic levels of safety and efficiency. Standardization and enforcement in this area is critical 
to protecting the performance and health of drinking water systems for Indonesian’s citizens. 
To date IA PMO continues to coordinate BSN Technical Committee 77 -02 meetings to support 
national adoption of this new standard. The draft standard has been finalized and the draft 
has been put on BSN’s website for public comment.  
• Community Water Systems – Standards For Safety And Risk Management . Quality 
of life can be reduced as a result of the burden of disease from chemical and microbiological 
contaminants in community and household drinking water systems. NSF Drinking Water 
standards establishes minimum health ef fects and requirements for chemical contaminants 
and impurities that are directly imparted to drinking water from components used in drinking 
water systems and chemicals used to treat drinking water. In this project, NSF Drinking 
Water standards on drinkin g water treatment chemicals and drinking water system 
components will be introduced to stakeholders by NSF International to build consensus for 
standards that validate the safety and efficacy of materials, chemicals and water treatment 
devices that come in to contact with drinking water systems. NSF Drinking Water standards 
will inform and strengthen existing in -country efforts to better provide safe drinking water 
in Morocco and Brazil. Training events will be held to inform regulators, operators, 
manufactu rers, NGOs, and other stakeholders about NSF Drinking Water standards. In 
Brazil, the needs assessment work was completed and NSF conducted stakeholder outreach 
for its first online workshop. In Morocco, NSF has conducted initial outreach to in -country 
stakeholders and has been developing the needs assessment.  
4.  Additionally, the Standards Alliance has a robust pipeline of activities in implementation. These 
include activities focused on best practices for water and sanitation in Latin America, Africa, 
and th e Middle East ; as well as awareness building trainings on reinforced concrete standards 
and building code adoption in Kenya . This initiative continues to emphasize transparency and to 
promote the foundational principles of the TBT Agreement. The MDRC also plans to have regional 
forums with public and private stakeholders in Africa and the Indo Pacific region later in 2022.  
5.  More information regarding the overall Standards Alliance Phase 2 (2019 -2024) can be found 
here. 
__________  