RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/121
7 October 1999
(99-4192)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
AMENDMENT OF THE TBT AGREEMENT
Proposal by Japan
I. BACKGROUND
1. The TBT agreement contains several ambiguous provisions.  In order to make the Agreement
more effective, predictable and operational, it is necessary to clarify its provisions taking into account
the following factors:
(i) Existence of standards that cannot be regarded as the “international standards” within 
the meaning of the TBT Agreement;
(ii) Lack of market /technology relevancy in certain international standards;  and
(iii) Lack of transparency, openness and impartiality in the development of international 
standards/guides or recommendations.
2. It was with this understanding that the Government of Japan tabled a proposal
(G/TBT/W/113) to the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade on 15 June 1999, regarding
clarification of the definitions of “international standards” and  “guides or recommendations issued by
international standardizing bodies (ISB).”
3. The Government of Japan hereby submits this paper in order to supplement and clarify our
previous proposal.
II. EXPLANATION
4. For the convenience of readers, we developed a matrix of subjects to be stipulated and
corresponding provisions of TBT agreement (see the attached table).  As this table shows, the
definitions of “international standards,” “guides or recommendations issued by ISB” are not sufficient
or clear enough.  For instance, even among the ISO standards, there exist inappropriate standards that
only reflect limited regional needs or technically outdated specifications.  Existence of such
inappropriate standards could lead to a situation where other WTO Members could challenge aMember for violation of the TBT Agreement , if it does not use those standards as the basis of its
technical regulations, even though the Member has a just cause for not adopting such standards.  In
order to eliminate such a possibility, it is indispensable to define what kinds of standards should be
treated as “international standards” under the TBT Agreement.  From this point of view, the
Government of Japan believes that the essential condition for “international standards” under theTBT Agreement is that the standards are developed in a transparent, open and impartial process.  To
ensure this condition, certain disciplines to secure transparency, openness and impartiality for the
development of international standards, which are not currently provided in the Agreement, should be
adopted as express provisions in the Agreement.G/TBT/W/121
Page 2
5. Since the WTO cannot impose obligations on other international bodies directly, these
provisions should take the form of binding obligations on WTO Members to take reasonable and
available measures to ensure compliance by ISBs with the disciplines.
6. In addition, the Government of Japan proposes introduction of the concept of
market/technology relevancy into the Agreement, b ecause international standards should reflect the
market needs on a global scale.  When certain standards do not appropriately reflect market realities
or the status of existing technologies, we believe it is not appropriate for such a standard to be
regarded as the controlling “international stan dard” within the meaning of the TBT Agreement.
Paragraph 4 of Article 2 should not be applied in such a case.
7. Regarding conformity assessment, the Government of Japan has a similar concern in spite of
the existence of certain provisions, such as Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 9.  It is not clear what are
“guides or recommendations issued by ISBs” and if international systems for conformity assessment(ISCA) can develop documents with binding nature  in the Agreement.  The Government of Japan
believes that “guides or recommendations” referred to in Paragraph 5.4 should exclusively be
developed by ISBs in a process similar to the process through which ISBs develop  “international
standards.”  Needless to say, an international body that limits its membership to developed countries
or bodies willing to conclude MRAs, etc. should not be regarded as an ISB in the Agreement.Documents from ISCAs should not have binding na ture in the Agreement although such documents
might be useful as references for implementation of conformity assessment.  We believe that such
reference documents should also be developed in a transparent, open and impartial process.
III. PROPOSALS FOR AMENDMENT
(Amendments are underlined.)
A. A new Article 4 bis should be added after Article 4.  The new Article 4 bis is to read:
Article 4 bis International Standards
1. Members shall take such reasonable measur es as may be available to them to ensure
that international standards developed by international standardizing bodies of which Members
or relevant bodies within their territories are members or participants comply with the
provisions of Article 2 and the following conditions:
(a) A notice should be published at a suff iciently early stage, in such a manner as to
enable interested parties wi thin the territory of a Member to become acquainted with
it, that an international standardizing body  (hereinafter referred to as an “ISB”) is
proposing to introduce a particular standard.  For purposes of this Article, when
preceding procedures have been conducted by relevant bodies under a contract or an
agreement with the ISB, such a sufficient ly early stage shall mean an appropriate
stage in the preceding procedures;
(b) Notification should be made through established mechanisms to the members of the ISB
providing a brief description of the scope of the proposed standard, including its
objective and rationale.  Such notification sh all take place at an early appropriate stage,
when  amendments can still be introd uced and comments taken into account;
(c) Upon request, at any stage, copies of the proposed standard should be promptly
provided to the members of the ISB;G/TBT/W/121
Page 3
(d) A reasonable period of time should be  provided, without discrimination, for the
members of the ISB to make comments in writing at a sufficiently early stage so that
such comments may be taken into account in the further consideration by the ISB;
(e) The members of the ISB should be given substantial opportunities reflecting market
realities and the status of technologies to  participate in stan dard-developing work,
including any preceding procedures conducted by relevant bodies under a contract or
an agreement with the ISB.  In decision-mak ing procedures all interested members shall
be treated in an equitable manner;  and
(f) The standard should be published promptly upon adoption.
2. Members recognize that “international standards” referred to in Article 2.4 shall
comply with the provisions of Article 2 and conditions of paragraph 1 of this Article.  In
addition, when certain standards do not appropriat ely reflect market realities (i.e. do not have a
substantial share (x %) in the global market of like products in terms of consumption) or the
status of existing technologies, such standa rds should not be regarded as “international
standards”  within the meaning of this Agreement.
B. The text of paragraph 2 and 3 of Article 9 should be modified as follows.
9.2 Members shall take such reasonable measur es as may be available to them to ensure
that international and regional systems for conformity assessment in which relevant bodies
within their territories are member s or participants comply with the provisions of Articles 5, 6
and the following conditions:
9.2.1 Documents developed by international systems for conformity assessment shall not have
a binding nature but shall be used as reference for implementation of conformity assessment in
the Agreement.  The “guides or recommendations”  referred to in Paragraph 4 of Article 5 shall
be developed only by ISBs and comply with the provisions of Article 2 and the conditions of
Paragraph 1 of Article 4 bis.
9.2.2 When international systems for conformity  assessment (hereinafter referred to as
“ISCAs”) develop reference documents for implementation of conformity assessment, their
development process shall be guided by the following:
(a) A notice should be published at an earl y appropriate stage, in such a manner as to
enable interested parties within the territory of a Member to become acquainted with it, that
ISCA  is proposing to introduce a particular reference document for implementation of
conformity assessment;
(b) Notification should be made through established mechanisms to the members of the
ISCA providing a brief description of the scope of the proposed reference, including its
objective and rationale.  Such notification shal l take place at an early appropriate stage, when
amendments can still be introduced and comments taken into account;
(c) Upon request, copies of the proposed refe rence document should be promptly provided
to the members of the ISCA;  and
(d) A reasonable period of time should be  provided, without discrimination, for the
members of the ISCA to make comments in writing, which should be taken into account in the
further consideration by the ISCA.G/TBT/W/121
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(e) Interested parties within the territory of a Member should be given appropriate
opportunities, whenever possible, to participate in refe rence-developing work
(f) The references should be published promptly upon adoption.
9.2.3 In addition, Members shall not take any measures which have the effect of, directly or
indirectly, requiring or encouraging such system s to act in a manner inconsistent with any of
the provisions of Article 5 and 6.
9.3 Members shall ensure that their central gove rnment bodies rely on international or
regional conformity assessment systems only to the extent that these systems comply with the
provisions of Article 5, 6 and the conditions set out in paragraph 2 of this Article, as applicable.
Members recognize that “guides and recommendati ons” referred to in Article 5.4 comply with
the provisions of Article 2 and the conditions of Paragraph 1 of Article 4 bis.
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