G/TBT/GEN/307  
 
9 November  2020 
(20-7986) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade    
 
THEMATIC SESSION ON  TECHNICAL REGULATIONS:  
MARKING AND LABELLING1 
27 OCTOBER  2020, 15:00  
Moderator's Report2 
The Moderator of the Thematic Session on technical regulations (mandatory marking and labelling) 
delivered this Report at the WTO TBT Committee's meeting of 2 8-29 October 2020.  
 
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At the Eighth Triennial Review, Members agreed to continue to hold thematic sessions in conjunction 
with its regular meetings during 2019 to 2021, with a view to further deepening the Committee's 
exchange of experiences on specific topics . In particular, w ith a view to furthering its work in the 
area of mandatory marking and labelling requirements , Member s agreed to hold a discussion of how 
to facilitate compliance with mandatory marking and labelling requirements on products .3 The 
programme for the thematic session is contained in the Annex of this report. The presentations 
summarized below are available  through the WTO website.4 
 
Panel  
1.1.  Mr. Christian Scharling5 (European Union)  addressed the background, role, and importance 
of the CE  Marking for the internal market of the European Union (EU) . The CE Marking is a symbol 
which visibly figures on many industrial products sold in the EU. It was introduced into EU legislation 
in orde r to provide information for national authorities on the compliance of a product and to 
guarantee its free movement within the European Union and the European Economic Area. In 
particular, the CE  Marking affixed on a product means that the manufacturer dec lares that the 
product has undergone an examination and it is in conformity with the applicable requirements set 
out in EU product harmonization legislation. It was clarified that the CE Marking is therefore not an 
origin indication "made in Europe"; it is  not a quality mark; and it is not affixed by a third party, but 
by the manufacturer itself following a successful completion of the required conformity assessment 
procedure.  
1.2.  Mr. Scharling  explained the criteria that must be met in order to affix the CE Ma rking. It was 
noted that the affixing of the CE Marking takes place before the product is placed on the market. It 
is the manufacturer who affixes the CE Marking and who is responsible for the compliance of a 
product. At the same time, economic operators f urther down the supply chain (e.g. distributors and 
importers) must ensure that only safe and compliant products are placed on the market. Moreover, 
the CE Marking shall be affixed visibly and legibly to the product or to its data plate. If that is not 
possible because of the nature of the product, it shall be affixed to the packaging and accompanying 
documents. Importantly, while other markings and labels may be affixed to the products, the 
visibility, legibility and meaning of the CE Marking cannot be com promised. Finally, in terms of 
enforcement, Mr. Scharling noted that the CE Marking provides the first indication of compliance of 
a product and that market surveillance authorities can nevertheless perform additional controls to 
 
1 The Annex of this document contains the  final programme for this thematic session.  
2 Mr. José Antonio Cury G. Braga (Brazil). This Report is provided on the Moderator's own responsibility.  
3 G/TBT/41 , para. 8.2.a.iv, footnote 303.  
4 https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/tbtthematcimarkinlabel27102020_e.htm  
5 DG GROW , European Commission.  G/TBT/GEN/307  
 
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  protect the public interes t. Therefore, EU Member States ensure the proper enforcement by pursuing 
violations and abuse of the CE  Marking.  
1.3.  Ms. Beatriz Menéndez Aller6 (European Union) said that marking and labelling requirements 
affect many goods and are of growing complexity and therefore they have an important impact on 
trade. Indeed, a large proportion of specific trade concerns (STCs) raised in the TBT Committee are 
about these types of measure – and it is, she stressed, a particularly important area for regulators. 
The EU's co ntribution was mainly about the practical compliance issues related to marking and 
labelling requirements on imported products  and it focused on mandatory  measures .7  
1.4.  Ms. Menéndez Aller said that marking and labelling requirements could include informatio n 
about product characteristics  and production methods and processes. Marking and labelling 
provisions can have different purposes: they can indicate product  conformity with mandatory 
technical requirements ; assert the identity of manufacturers , state the origin of the products for 
traceability purposes;  and, inform consumers about safety, health and environmental matters , 
among others . The presentation aimed to  cover practical aspects of compliance  – the objective is to 
promote measures and practices that enable producers to fulfil the legitimate objectives pursued  by 
regulations  in the least costly and burdensome way possible. There is, however, Ms . Menéndez Aller 
stressed, no one -size-fits-all way to do this. There is always a need to balan ce the legitimate need 
to ensure products are safe (as well as other objectives) without creating excessive cost and 
administrative burden for producers who need to market their products.  
1.5.  Ms. Menéndez Aller observed that s everal i ssues need to be considered. These include, for 
instance: what to require  (on the label) ; what to allow; the procedural aspects and, and the timing 
of labelling. With respect to the information required by the regulator, the scope of the information 
to be affixed on the label  should be limited to information relevant for consumers or users of the 
product , or needed to indicate the product's conformity with mandatory technical requirements. The 
regulator also need s to allow additional information unless it is misleading, contradictory or 
confusing. This could include, for example, information in other languages; internationally accepted 
nomenclatures, pictograms, symbols or graphics. Regarding the labels themselves, it was noted that 
there should be no prior approval, registration or certification required, nor any fee (this would 
otherwise be cumbersome for producers – although there could be some exceptions with respect to 
risk (human, animal or plant health or life, the environment, national security ). On m ethod and 
timing, it is important that corrections be allowed  in the territory of the importing party, as well as 
non-permanent or detachable labels . Also, sufficient time need s to be given to adapt the labels of 
products in case of new labelling requireme nt, and there needs to be t ransitional provisions (products 
already on the market would not need to comply with new requirements).  
1.6.  The EU proposed that the Committee discuss and share experiences from Members in the area 
of marking and labelling and devel op recommendations or other guidance documents to support 
Members in the implementation of the TBT Agreement.  
1.7.  Dr. Douglas Balentine8 (United States)  presented some considerations about labelling and 
its relation to consumers, marketing, and public health. With respect to labelling and the consumer, 
it was explained how labelling is a tool to provide relevant information to consumer s, so that they 
can make informed choices. The provision of certain i nformation on a label could be mandatory or 
volunta ry. Mandatory information may refer to, among others, product identity (name or statement 
of identity), net contents and lot identity, ingredients, nutrition facts, and manufacturer. In turn, 
voluntary information may refer to, among others, health -related  information (i.e. gluten free ), shelf 
life or date marking, production type (e.g. organic, fair trade, sustainability), and other types of 
claims (e.g. health, comparative, marketing).  
1.8.  Dr. Balentine also addressed  the relevance of labelling for marketing and promotion purposes. 
It was noted that labelling is often used for branding and may refer to a series of aspects related to 
a product, such as name s, logo s, mascots or region s. Labelling also plays an important role when 
making claims about a product . Moreover , front  of pack labelling, which can be mandatory or 
voluntary, is commonly used to convey information to consumers regarding the nutrition of a 
 
6 DG TRADE, European Commission.  
7 The EU had previously made a submission on the topic , in G/TBT/W/534 , dated 6 June 2018.  
8 Senior Science Advisor, International Nutrition Policy, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 
Food and Drug Administration (CFSAN FDA).  G/TBT/GEN/307  
 
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  product, the production methods used or any social aspects that want to be highlighted.  Turning to 
the role of labelling in the area of public health, it was noted that it can be a useful tool to convey 
information to consumers regarding important information, such as nutrition facts, allergen 
information, health and function claims, dietary guidance stateme nts, and front of pack nutrition 
labelling . In addition, Dr. Balentine explained the Nutrition Innovation Strategy of the United States' 
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which seeks to help consumers make informed choices and to 
stimulate innovation and  reformulation of products to offers consumers more healthful and nutritious 
options.  In particular, the FDA's Nutrition and Innovation Strategy seeks to empower consumers by 
providing education and information to make healthy food choices and to facilitat e innovation by 
encouraging industry innovation toward healthier foods.  
COMMENT BY MODERATOR  
1.9.  On a personal note, the Moderator  makes the following remarks. I would like to make a few 
personal remarks. I think that  the presentations and discussions shed lig ht on some interesting 
practical considerations and case studies related to mandatory marking and labelling.  The 
experiences shared by presenters illustrated the type of considerations that regulators frequently 
take into account when designing and impleme nting marking and labelling requirements. We heard  
about  the example of the CE Marking as a valuable tool used by the European Union to ensure the 
proper functioning of its internal market.  Other examples, including in the area s of marketing and 
public health,  illustrated the type of challenges  that Members  face in relation to the provision of 
information to consumers through labelling . In my view, the  discussions suggest that, in the future, 
the Committee may wish to consider develo ping recommendations or other guidance to support 
Members in the implementation of the TBT  Agreement  in the area of marking and labelling , specially  
when new developments in applying digital technologies will need to be taken into account.  I look 
forward to further fruitful discussion in the Committee on these matters.  
 
_______________  G/TBT/GEN/307  
 
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  ANNEX 
 
THEMATIC SESSION ON  TECHNICAL REGULATIONS:  
MARKING AND LABELLING  
27 OCTOBER  2020, STARTING AT 3PM  
Final Programme1 
At the Eighth Triennial Review, Members agreed to continue to hold thematic sessions in conjunction 
with its regular meetings during 2019 to 2021, with a view to further deepening the Committee's 
exchange of experiences on specific topics . In particular, w ith a view to furthering its work in the 
area of mandatory marking and labelling requirements , Members agreed to hold a discussion of how 
to facilitate compliance with mandatory marking and labelling requirements on products .2 On this 
basis, the Committee agreed to hold a session on  technical regulations with a  focus on  mandatory 
marking and labelling  on 27 October 2020 . 
 
 
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This thematic session  will be  moderated by:  Mr. José Antonio Cury G. Braga (Brazil)  and the 
presentations can be found  here. 
 
Panel  
• European Union: CE Marking , Christian Scharling , DG GROW , European Commission.3 
 
• European Union: Compliance issues of mandatory marking and labelling requirements 
of imported products , Beatriz Menéndez Aller , DG TRADE, European Commission.4 
 
• United States : Labelling: Marketing, Consumers and Public Health , Dr. Douglas Balentine , 
Senior Science Advisor, International Nutrition Policy, Center for Food Safety and Applied 
Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration (CFSAN FDA).5 
 
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1 The draft programme is contained in  G/TBT/ GEN/304. 
2 G/TBT/41 , para. 8.2.a.iv, footnote 303.  
3 JOB/TBT/369 . 
4 JOB/TBT/369 . 
5 JOB/TBT/372 .