RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/2/Add.16
22July1996
ORGANIZATION(96-2883)
Original: Spanish Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OFTHE AGREEMENT
ONTECHNICAL BARRIERS TOTRADE
Thefollowing statement under Article 15.2oftheAgreement hasbeenreceived from the
delegation ofChile.
________________
1. TheAgreement Establishing theWorld Trade Organization andtheAgreement onTechnical
Barriers toTrade, which isanintegral partthereof, came intoforce aslawoftheRepublic on
17May1995, afterhaving beenapproved bytheNational Congress (Decree No.16oftheMinistry
ofForeign Affairs, published intheOfficial Journal on17May1995).
2. Thesystem operated inChile withregard tothepreparation ofstandards, technical regulations
andconformity assessment procedures takes intoaccount theprinciple ofnon-interference withthe
freeoperation ofmarkets andfreedom oftrade, theapplication ofnon-discriminatory treatment as
between domestic andforeign products and,asfaraspossible, theuseofinternational standards as
abasis fornational standards.
Thebodyresponsible forexamining standards inChile istheNational Standardization Institute
(INN). TheINNisaprivate-law foundation runbytheProduction Promotion Corporation (CORFO)
anditrepresents Chile asamember oftheInternational Organization forStandardization (ISO).
Theprocessofexaminationofstandardsiscarriedoutinaccordancewithinternationallyaccepted
ISOandIECcriteria. Standards areadopted bymeans ofaprocess ofconsensus-building among the
parties invited toparticipate from boththepublic andtheprivate sector.
Inthecontext oftheexamination ofstandards, thepublic consultation process isannounced
intheOfficial Journal, andthetextsofstandards aremade available toanyone requiring them.
Once standards havebeenapproved bytheINNCouncil, theyaregiven official status bythe
corresponding Ministry, bymeans ofdecrees orresolutions, andarepublished intheOfficial Journal.
3. Technical regulations aremandatory andtheauthority toissue them lieswiththeMinistries
orother Government bodies withcompetence inthespecific areatoberegulated. They areapproved
bylaws, decrees orresolutions andarepublished intheOfficial Journal.
Prior totheadoption ofregulations, itiscustomary toestablish participatory bodies forall
thesectors involved, normally intheform ofcommissions.
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4. ConformityassessmentproceduresinChiletaketheformofcompulsorymechanismssupervised
bytheMinistries concerned withhealth, hygiene andsafety, aswellascertain voluntary systems such
astheoneadministered bytheNational Standardization Institute.
5. Theresponsibility forimplementing andadministering theAgreement onTechnical Barriers
toTrade lieswith theMinistry ofEconomy, Development andReconstruction (Foreign Trade
Department).
6. Thebody responsible forfulfilling theinformation requirements laiddown inArticle 10of
theAgreement istheNational Standardization Institute. Thecurrent address, telephone andtelefax
numbers oftheenquiry point areasfollows:
Instituto Nacional deNormalización (INN)
Matías Cousiño 64,6piso
Santiago, Chile
Telephone: +56.2/697.8144
Telefax: +56.2/696.0247
7. On20September 1995, theNational Standardization Institute (INN) accepted theCode ofGood
Practice forthePreparation, Adoption andApplication ofStandards.
8. Withtheaimoffullycomplying withitsobligations under theAgreement onTechnical Barriers
toTrade, andtaking intoaccount theneedforthecountry tohaveanauthoritative body oflawinthe
fieldofstandardization,theGovernmentispreparingabillwhichestablishesanorganizationalframework
forallaspects ofnational standardization practice, including standards, technical regulations, conformity
assessment andmetrology, while atthesame timedefining theinstitutional framework.