G/TBT/GEN/334  
 
22 September  2022 
(22-7118) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  
UNIDO  UPDATE TO THE TBT COMMITTEE  
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION 
(UNIDO)  
This document contains information provided by UNIDO  at the TBT Committee meeting of 
13-15 July 2022 under Agenda Item 4 (Update by Observers).  
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  UNIDO is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development 
for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The missio n of UNIDO 
is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in Member 
States. UNIDO 's mandate is anchored in Sustainable Development Goal 9: "Build resilient 
infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrializ ation and foster innovation ".  
1.2.  UNIDO has been the largest multilateral player in quality infrastructure development and a 
preferred partner of many developing countries. For more than 40 years, UNIDO has been supporting 
partner countries to increase their competitiveness through quality and compliance with standards. 
UNIDO 's approach to QI development is systemic and holistic, from building awareness to helping 
initiate, develop and strengthen a fit -for-purpose QI that runs efficiently and is cost -effective . UNIDO 
promotes good practice, capacity building and training, and fosters global cooperation in the 
development of standards setting, measurement and compliance along value chains.  
1.3.  In view of enhancing the capacity of developing countries to participate in global trade and 
facilitate the implementation of the multilateral agreements including the WTO TBT Agreement, 
UNIDO strengthens national and regional quality infrastructure (QI) systems by defining quality -
related policies and good governance strategie s, strengthening metrology, standardization and 
accreditation services, building conformity assessment capacities, enhancing the competitiveness of 
the private sector and promoting quality awareness.  
2  QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDEX  
2.1.  Quality infrastructure is an important enabler of sustainable development. Information on the 
fitness of QI to meet sustainable development needs could serve as a useful input to support policy 
processes and national implementation plans for achieving the SDGs, as well as the coordination of 
technical cooperation programmes by development partners worldwide.  
2.2.  The Quality Infrastructure for Sustainable Development (QI4SD) Index was developed by 
UNIDO in collaboration with partner organizations of the Interna tional Network on Quality 
Infrastructure (INetQI). It is a Global Knowledge tool of the Global Quality and Standards Programme 
(GQSP), funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The QI4SD Index is a 
tool to assess the overall state of the development of a country 's QI readiness to support the 
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to bridge an information gap by being the first tool, 
which explicitly measures how fit for purpose quality infrastructure is in meeting sustainable 
development.  
2.3.  The Index measures QI using indicators for five QI dimensions (Standards, Accreditation, 
Conformity Assessment, Metrology and Policy), which are aggregated into a composite indicator, i.e. G/TBT/GEN/334  
 
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  a single aggregate score, for each country. It demonst rates the value of QI for sustainable 
development, and the importance of investing in it. Moreover, the QI4SD Index gives scores for each 
of the three main pillars of sustainable development: People, Planet and Prosperity. These scores 
aim to measure the c ontribution and readiness of a country to tackle sustainable development in 
these specific pillars.  
2.4.  The QI4SD Index can be accessed on the UNIDO Knowledge Hub: https://hub.unido.org/qi4sd  
3  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE  
3.1  UNIDO supported West Africa accreditation body SOAC gained international 
recognition  
3.1.  Since 2001, the UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union) and ECOWAS (Economic 
Community of West African States) Commissions trusted UNIDO, through Quality Programmes 
financed by the European Union, to support the growth of local accreditation bodies (AB) in West 
Africa. One of the results achieved was the establishment of the West African Accreditation System 
(Système Ouest Africain d'Accréditation -SOAC ) that serves th e eight Member States of UEMOA 
(Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo).  
3.2.  Accreditation is the supreme recognition of competency for testing/calibration laboratories, 
certification and inspection bodies. It is expec ted to play an increasing role in sustainable 
development: by driving more sustainable production and responsible consumption, conformity 
assessment can foster digitalization and a more circular economy. Furthermore, accredited and 
hence reliable conformit y assessments support the global response to climate change by testing, 
certifying, verifying and inspecting numerous areas including the reduction of greenhouse gas 
emissions, energy efficiency or renewable energy.  
3.3.  With the support of UNIDO under the Qual ity Programmes, the West African Accreditation 
System (SOAC) signed the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with the African Accreditation 
Cooperation (AFRAC) and with the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) in May 
2022. The recognitio n presents an important milestone on West Africa 's integration into international 
quality system and will contribute to trade expansion while protecting health, safety and 
environment.  
3.4.  For more information, please refer to https://www.unido.org/news/international -recognition -
passport -global -value -chains  
3.2  Ghana handcraft soap standards training benefit 35 SMEs ' entrepreneurs  
3.5.  The West Africa Competitiveness Progra mme (WACOMP) is a partnership initiative between the 
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU). The overall 
objective of the programme is to strengthen the competitiveness of West Africa and to enhance the 
ECOWAS countr ies' integration into the regional and international trading system, including the 
newly established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The programme is currently being 
implemented in the ECOWAS member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Co te d'Ivoire, The 
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, 
and Togo) and in Mauritania, through national components in each country, as well as a regional 
one. In Ghana, the programme seeks to impro ve the competitiveness of Ghanaian exports with a 
focus on three selected value chains including cosmetics and personal care products.   
3.6.  At the beginning of March, as part of support to Ghana 's young entrepreneurs in natural 
cosmetics value chain WACOMP –Ghana, a cosmetics formulation training was organised to improve 
their manufacturing processes and differentiate their products. In Europe alone, thanks to the 
consumers ' raising awareness of the benefits of natural cosmetics, the sales of natural and organic  
cosmetics have grown at an average of over 7% per year over the past years and is expected to 
reach 5 billion euros by 2023. During the 4 days training session, 35 SMEs focused on using 
standards for Shea butter -based creams, handcraft soap bars, lip balm s and black soap cosmetics 
for local and international markets.  G/TBT/GEN/334  
 
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  3.7.  Last year, WACOMP -Ghana already trained 110 cosmetics SMEs on handcraft cosmetics 
formulation (35 cosmetics SMEs in the northern cluster in Tamale, 25 SMEs in the middle cluster 
zone in Kumas i and 50 SMEs in Accra).  
3.8.  For more information, please refer to https://wacompghana.org/35 -entrepreneurs -benefit -
from-handcraft -soap-making -formulation/  
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