G/TBT/GEN/311  
 
25 February 2021  
(21-1658) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
AGENDA ITEM 5: TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE  
UPDATE BY ANSI ON ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE TBT COMMITTEE   
This document contains the statement from the United States  at the TBT Committee meeting  of 
24-26 February 2021 under Agenda Item 5.  
 
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1.  Emphasizing the importance of effective technical assistance activities, the United States would 
like to highlight our ongoing efforts to support the understanding and implementation of the TBT 
Agreement through the 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 l east 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 Southern a nd West Africa. 
The original Standards Alliance will come to a close in September of 2021; however, the program 
was renewed for a second phase in 2019. Phase 2 of the Standards Alliance builds upon successes, 
lessons learned, and measured impacts of Phase 1 to provide targeted technical assistance to 
developing countries and to support the development of National Quality Infrastructure and Good 
Regulatory Practices that are rooted in the principles of the TBT Agreement.  
3.  To date, the Standards Alliance has completed over 100 trainings, workshops, and delegation 
visits, with more than 4,500 participants. These activities have advanced partner countries' 
understanding and application of the TBT principles and transparency mechanisms. Perhaps most 
notable are o ur national enquiry point and notification authority trainings that have supported 
increased notification and transparency amongst participating countries.  
4.  The increased capacity of partner countries related to the TBT principles is articulated through 
sector-specific activities, such as the series on clean cooking and transportation fuels. This series of 
trainings in Uganda, Zambia, Mozambique, and Nigeria has built upon best practices for standards 
development, in which participants have adopted or adapte d the ASTM E3050 international standard 
for ethanol -based cooking and transportation fuels.  
5.  In addition to the above activities, in 2020 the Standards Alliance conducted training on 
regulatory impact assessment with Zambia, developed a national quality in frastructure handbook 
with Cote d'Ivoire, and launched technical assistance addressing COVID -19 response and recovery.  
6.  Amidst the COVID -19 pandemic, nations have scrambled to increase production and access to 
medical devices and to prevent and treat the vi rus. The Standards Alliance, in partnership with the 
medical devices industry, is working to build technical capacity in the medical devices sector while 
helping participating nations identify technical and regulatory barriers to trade. This sub -project 
builds the capacity of partner countries for standards and conformity assessment procedures related 
to medical devices; removes countries' technical barriers to trade for medical devices; increases 
patients' access to needed high -quality PPE and other medica l technologies to respond to and recover 
from COVID -19 and future global health crises; and fosters private sector engagement in the 
(medtech) regulatory space.  G/TBT/GEN/311  
 
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  7.  In the coming year, the Standards Alliance has a robust pipeline focusing on our partners acros s 
the globe. These include activities focused on sustainable urban development in Cote d'Ivoire; rural 
electrification standards in Senegal; and best practices for water and sanitation in Latin America, 
Africa, and the Middle East. This initiative continue s to emphasize transparency and to promote the 
foundational principles of the TBT Agreement.  
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