RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/166
26 June 2001
(01-3179)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original: English
PHILIPPINES  EXPERIENCE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE  TBT  AGREEMENT
Contribution from the Philippines
I. INTRODUCTION
On 1 January 1995, the Philippines ratified the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade
Negotiation which included a revision of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade as initiated bythe leading signatories of GATT and the SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures) Agreement.
These showed the country's commitment to liberalization and facilitation of world trade for global
prosperity.
II. OVERVIEW
1. The discharge of Philippine obligations to the TBT Agreement is the joint responsibility of
the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) and the Bureau of International Trade Relations (BITR) of the
Department of Trade and Industry.  The BPS, whic h is the National Standards Body in the country
and member of the ISO Information Network (IS ONET), is the WTO/TBT Enquiry Point. BITR is
responsible for the formulation of the country's major foreign trade policies.  Representing the
Philippines in TBT meetings is the Office of the Ph ilippine Trade Representative.  On the other hand,
the Policy Analysis Service of the Department of Agriculture is the focal Enquiry Point for the SPS
Agreement.
III. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
2. In order to facilitate international trade, great emphasis has been laid on the use of
international standards. Article 2.4 of the Agreement states that where technical regulations arerequired and international standards exist or their completion is imminent, Members shall use them as
a basis for their technical regulations except when such international standards are ineffective or
inappropriate.
3. The Philippine standardization policy states that wherever possible, international standards
should be adopted or be the basis of Philippine National Standards.  Through membership in theInternational Organization for Standardization (I SO), International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC), Food and Agriculture Organization/Codex Alimentarius Commission, and International Office
of Epizootics, the Philippines has access to the works of these organizations.  This makes it easy for
our standards writing bodies to use their documents as references for writing Philippine standards.  To
date, 54 per cent of the Philippine National Standards are aligned with international standards.
4. Philippine National Standards when declared mandatory are applicable to both locally
manufactured and imported products.
5. The Philippines is a participating member of 24 ISO Technical Committees.  Our
participation in these Committees however, is only through correspondence except in cases where
funding is provided by foreign donors.  We are aware that physical attendance or taking up ofG/TBT/W/166
Page 2
chairmanship or secretariat is still the best way to influence the outcome of international standards
development process, but the high costs of attendance to these activities prevent the Philippines from
actively participating in the works of the committees.
6. Aside from the financial constraints, there is also a lack of expertise to enable the submission
of sufficient technical inputs to documents put out for comments.
7. Many from Philippine industries still do not appreciate the value of the importance of
participating in international standards developm ent process.  Thus, when draft documents are
circulated for comments, less attention is given, which usually puts the Philippines at a disadvantage
when the standard is finalized.  Some provisions may not be adaptable to the country's circumstance,
posing difficulty to industry in meeting the requirem ents of international standards.  This coupled with
trading partners in previous decades that used other standards dragged the alignment of some sectors
with international standards.
IV. OPERATION OF THE ENQUIRY POINTS
8. As mentioned previously, the Philippines has established a WTO/TBT national enquiry point
in accordance with Article 10 of the Agreement.  The Bureau of Product Standards through its
Information Services acts as the nodal organization for implementing and administering the
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade with the Policy Analysis Service of the Department ofAgriculture as the enquiry point for the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
9. As Enquiry Points for TBT and SPS the Philippines experienced the following problems:
(i) Lack of coordination between the TBT/SPS Enquiry Points and regulatory bodies
emerge as main concern in the country.  Bodies which are developing regulations and
conformity assessment requirements sometimes fail to furnish WTO Enquiry Pointswith the relevant documents for notification.  The main reason is the absence of a law
on notification obligations aside from the TBT Agreement;
(ii) Non-cooperation of some industry associations in disseminating to their members
notified draft standards, proposed technical regulations or conformity assessment
procedures.  Due to this, comments and inputs from those affected by the notificationcan not be obtained on time. Industry associations maintain that this work is the
responsibility of government and the enquiry point;
(iii) Variation in the quality and content of the information submitted by WTO Members
in their TBT/SPS notifications resulted to confusion and difficulty in understanding
the notifications.  Members should exercise utmost effort to improve transparency in
standards and technical requirements.  There is a need to clearly describe the contents
of notified technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures;
(iv) Texts of the proposed standards, technical regulations or conformity assessment
requirements are in native language which have resulted in added work on translation
of the text (Spanish speaking countries, Japan and Korea among others).  Although
notified in the English language, the issue arises when study and review of the text is
undertaken.  The additional costs involved in translation (if indeed available withinthe Member country) are sometimes beyond what the enquiry point can absorb.
Further, due to the high technical nature of the notifications, translation is often
difficult due to the absence of exact or equivalent English word for some technical
terms;G/TBT/W/166
Page 3
(v) Transparency:  It is the responsibility of enquiry points to provide information and
make these available and accessible due to the importance and effect of said
information to trade and commerce.  Some enquiry points have set-up and maintained
computerized database on all TBT/SPS notifications, provided hotlines dedicated to
WTO inquiries and set-up other sophisticated information technology (IT) equipment.While this is true, majority of enquiry points have limited resources to invest in the
setting-up.  Ideally, Member enquiry points should have access to computers,
publication software, internet access, an established web-site and the capacity to
transmit notifications and text electronically;
(vi) Response period from other Enquiry Points:  Inquiries or requests for texts from
counterpart enquiry points should be acted immediately.  Should it take longer to
respond, a notice should be given to the other party explaining such delay.  It ishowever, unfortunate to note that the response time takes approximately a month or
two based on our experience.
V. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES
10. The globalization of industries has resulted in tremendous increase in the trade of goods and
services across national borders.  One problem still faced by international traders has been the lack ofacceptance by authorities in importing countries of test and other conformity assessment results.  The
level of technical requirements and specifications associated with various goods and services are
causing major test jams for domestic regulatory agencies.
11. To ease the problems of long queues in testing laboratories, some have devised arrangements
such as interim recognition of test results from country of origin.  Such is the case for Indonesiancement exported to the Philippines.  If the test is conducted by a laboratory which is accredited by an
APLAC member, body the results are recognized by the Bureau of Product Standards, and the cement
shipment can be sold in Philippine market while samples are undergoing the 28-day test in Philippine
laboratories.
12. The BPS has other arrangements, whereby audits by our counterparts done in relation to the
PS Quality or Safety Mark issued to companies abroad are recognized by BPS.  These companies
need not have to be audited by Philippine auditors, but will be regarded as having undergone the
required audit by the BPS.
13. Philippine exporters on the other hand have experienced some TBT problems.  Examples of
these are:
(i) Abaca exporters need to go through additional certification for the non-spraying of
abaca crops with pesticides when crops are standing.  Reasons for the requiredcertification are not cited;
(ii) Requirements of a very high molasses content for sugar which is above regular world
standards;
(iii) Requirements for sugar imports in jute bags only at a certain weight which nobody
has done for a generation;
(iv) Requirements of countries to label genetically modified food products.
14. There are other problems though with regard to conformity assessment.  These are:G/TBT/W/166
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(i) At present there is no compilation of the conformity assessment systems in operation
in the Philippines.  It is quite difficult to know what the conformity assessment
requirements are for certain products or services and who is the implementing
agency;
(ii) There are an insufficient number of accredited laboratories that can conduct the
required tests for certain products.  Laboratories that conduct tests just cannot respond
promptly, sometimes due to the big volume of samples handled.  This then increases
the cost of doing business, as test results take long to get released;
(iii) There is difficulty in concluding MRAs with those from developed countries due to
the lack of infrastructure to provide the necessary confidence in our conformity
assessment schemes.
15. In order to harmonize Philippine conformity assessment procedures with those of other
countries, it has adopted various international guides such as ISO/IEC Guides 61, 62, 65, 58 and 25
(17025).  These guides are used by BPS in its accreditation schemes for conformity assessment
bodies.
16. The Philippines is a member of ILAC, IAF, APLAC and PAC.  Membership in these
organizations is important if one is to harmonize its conformity assessment practices, as theseregional/international organizations provide interpretation of the provisions in the relevant conformity
assessment documents.  Many developing countries find it difficult to sustain membership in these
organizations.  Aside from membership fees which have to be paid annually, there are meetings that
are held in various parts of the world.  These meetings are important as it is in these fora where
interpretation of the provisions of the document are discussed and elaborated.
17. ISO/IEC Guides are highly technical documents, and unless people are involved in its
development or discussion in interpretative guidance, it will be difficult to apply the provisions in
actual operation.
18. The BPS Accreditation Scheme for Quality Management System has been evaluated by our
peers in the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC ), and are positive in signing the MLA during the
coming PAC Plenary Meeting in September.  Once we are in the PAC MLA, we should be able to
sign the IAF MLA, as PAC is a recognized regional MLA member of the IAF.
19. The BPS has also applied for membership in the APLAC MRA and will be peer evaluated
once the audit team has been composed and schedule agreed upon.  APLAC MRA membership will
enhance trade facilitation as there is a big possibility that test results will be mutually accepted by
MRA members.
VI. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
A. TBT RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE RECEIVED
20. A number of government and private sector industry representatives have participated in
seminars and workshops sponsored by the WTO and APEC namely:
(i) ISO/WTO/TISI Seminar on Conformity Assessment and its Role in International
Trade (WTO-Thailand);
(ii) WTO Agreement on TBT and the Role of Standards in Trade Promotion
(WTO-Japan);G/TBT/W/166
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(iii) Workshop on Institutionalizing a Harmonized Sanitary and Phytosanitary Programme
(Philippines);
(iv) Uruguay Rounds on Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (APEC-Philippines);
(v) Seminar on GATT Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO-Thailand);
(vi) Seminar on Food Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) (APEC-Philippines);
21. These seminars were useful in raising awareness or better understanding of the requirements
of the TBT/SPS Agreements.
B. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE REQUIREMENTS
(i) Training and seminars on areas of quality and environmental management systems,
testing, product certification and accreditation, including development of mutual
recognition agreements and equivalence agreements;
(ii) Access to experts on the development and harmonization of standards;
(iii) Technical assistance in the setting-up of efficient information exchange mechanisms
between and among countries to provide updated information on standards and
conformance including activities of the WTO regarding TBT concerns;
(iv) Provide capacity building measures to the BPS, Department of Agriculture and
regulatory agencies to improve the performance of the TBT and SPS Enquiry Pointsand counterpart enquiry points in other agencies;
(v) Exposure for staff of the Bureau of Product Standards, Department of Agriculture and
regulatory agencies to familiarize themselves on systems and procedures adopted by
other countries;
(vi) Assistance for the improvement of technical infrastructure of government regulatory
bodies to upgrade testing/calibration laboratories for a reliable certification system
that will build the confidence of our trading partners;
(vii) Preparation of training/promotional kits and manuals on TBT/SPS Agreements;
(viii) Assistance on the use of information technology, e-mail and other more efficient
communication methods.
VII. RECOMMENDED INTERNAL MEASURES
22. The Philippines, however, has to adopt internal measures that will complement technical
assistance:
(i) Encourage participation and vigilance from the private sector and industry
associations in the fora discussing TBT measures.  While it was noted that the private
sector only sit as observers in meetings of the WTO, the private sector's vigilance on
TBT issues will work for their interests.  Resources from each industry should also bepooled for the purpose of sending delegations to these meetings;G/TBT/W/166
Page 6
(ii) Enhance technical expertise of regulatory bodies and private sector.  Adopt a
programme where government can provide assistance to private sector groups in the
setting-up of standards and calibration and testing laboratories;
(iii) Institutionalize arrangements between government and private efforts to address
TBT issues.  Identify sectors which can afford to address the issues themselves andthose who are unable, and develop a scheme by which the more affluent sectors can
adapt the industries which have less resources and provide them technical assistance
on TBT.  Some industry sectors have the resources to conduct their scientific
evaluation needed and hire consultants/experts;
(iv) Make use of private sector conformity assessment with government surveillance in
the preparation of technical regulations;
(v) Establish information networks.  Apart from the WTO enquiry point, it would be
better if each sector (agriculture-livestock, plant, fisheries) could directly establish
networks with their counterparts among WTO Member-countries so as to facilitate
dissemination of any new technical regulations;
(vi) Development of a National Notification System;
(vii) Promulgation of a national policy/legislation;
(viii) Conduct of a continuing education and information campaign on the TBT and
SPS Agreements.  The programme aims to raise awareness of obligation of regulatory
bodies relative to the implementation of the TBT and SPS Agreements.
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