. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/2/Add.74
30 June 2003
(03-3477)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  Spanish
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Communication from the Dominican Republic
Addendum
Pursuant to Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, all the state
agencies and national authorities of the Dominican Republic wish to inform the Committee of the
measures in force or taken to ensure the implementation and administration of the Agreement.  TheCommittee will also be notified of any subsequent modification.
I. LAWS AND REGULATIONS
1. The Dominican Republic ratified the WTO Agreements on 9 March 1995 after the Congress
had approved the Marrakesh Agreement by Decr ee No. 2-95 of 20 January 1995.  Accordingly, by
virtue of being international treaties, the WTO Agreements take precedence over the domestic laws
and may be invoked before the country's courts.  Consequently, there is no need in the Dominican
Republic for special legislation to implement the Agreement.  All the state agencies of the Dominican
Republic and the national authorities responsible for the implementation and administration of
technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures have received copies of the
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and have been duly informed of the obligations arising
from it.  On 23 January 2003 there was established, under Decree No. 58-03, the National Committeefor the implementation of the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Measures and Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, which is responsible for ensuring the
administration and implementation of the Agreement.
2. The Directorate-General of Standards and Qu ality Systems of the Dominican Republic is a
legal body set up under Law No. 602 of 20 May 1977, which established a system to standardize the
preparation of quality standards that will serve as a basis for the production of domestic goods.  The
preparatory process is covered by regulations under the Law.
II. TRANSPARENCY
3. The technical regulations of the Dominican Republic are published in a national newspaper.
During the preparatory stages (preliminary draft) a period of 60 days, beginning from the notification,
is established for the formulation of comments in writing.
4. The announcement of the entry into force of  a technical regulation is only published in
national newspapers.
5. All the technical regulations that were drawn up before 1995 are available and may be
obtained through the enquiry point.G/TBT/2/Add.74
Page 2
III. INSTITUTIONS
6. The enquiry points, as mentioned in Article 10, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the Agreement is:
Comité Nacional para la aplicación del Acuerdo para las Medidas Sanitarias y Fitosanitarias y
del Acuerdo sobre Obstáculos Técnicos al Comercio,
Secretaría de Estado de Relaciones Exteriores,
Ave. Independencia 752. Santo Domingo, Rep. Dom.
Embajador Julián de la Rosa.
Telephone: (809) 535-6280, ext: 2380
Fax: (809) 535-6377E-mail: acientificos@serex.gov.do
The National Committee for the implementation of the Agreement on the Application of
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade has
general responsibility for ensuring the fulfilment of the obligations deriving from theAgreement.
7. The government departments which adopt technical regulations in the Dominican Republic
are:
• Directorate-General of Standards and Quality Systems (DIGENOR)
• Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
• Ministry of Public Works and Communications
In accordance with Article 10.11 of the WTO Agreement, the institution which has
responsibility for notification procedures is:
Comité Nacional para la aplicación del Acuerdo para las Medidas Sanitarias y
Fitosanitarias y del Acuerdo sobre Obstáculos Técnicos al Comercio.
Secretaría de Estado de Relaciones Exteriores.
Ave. Independencia 752.  Santo Domingo, Rep. Dom.
Embajador Julián de la Rosa.
Telephone: (809) 535-6280, Ext: 2380
Fax: (809) 535-6377
E-mail: acientificos@serex.gov.do
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