RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/W/54
30September 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4060)
Original: English Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
PHILIPPINE PAPER ONTHE FIRST TRIENNIAL REVIEW
Communication from thePhilippines
Thefollowing communication, dated 26September 1997, concerning theTriennial Review
oftheAgreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade hasbeenreceived from thePermanent Mission of
thePhilippines withtherequest thatitbecirculated toMembers oftheCommittee.
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1. ThePhilippines welcomes theoccasion oftheFirstTriennial Review asanopportunity tofully
assess theimplementation oftheAgreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade. Itisourview, however,
thattheReview provided inArticle 15.4oftheAgreement doesnotnecessarily mean thatanadjustment
ofthesubstantive rights andobligations oftheAgreement willneedtobeeffected asaconsequence
oftheReview.
2. ThePhilippines believes thattheprimordial objective oftheReview istodetermine howthe
Agreement hasoperated andhowithasbeenimplemented, particularly withrespect tothespecial
development, financial andtradeneeds ofdeveloping country Members. Inthisregard, weagree with
Members whoareoftheopinion thattheReview ofArticles 11and12willbecentral totheCommittee ’s
work. Inaddition totheabove, thePhilippines proposes thattheCommittee could focus onthefollowing
aspects oftheAgreement:
A. Implementation andAdministration oftheAgreement Relating toArticle 15.2
3. ThePhilippinesnotestherelativelylowrateofcompliancewiththerequirementsofArticle15.2.
TheCommittee could therefore identify theunderlying problems ofcompliance withtheprovisions
ofArticle 15.2, including consideration oftheroleoftechnical assistance under Article 11andtaking
intoaccount therights ofandflexibility accorded todeveloping countries under Article 12.
B. Notification Procedures andTransparency
4. ThePhilippines observes thatthefollowing issues could betaken upintheReview:
(a) Articles 2.9.4 and5.6.4 require Members toallow reasonable timeforother Members
tocomment onnotified proposals. ThePhilippines supports therecommendation of
a60-day notification period commencing from thedatethenotification iscirculated
intheWTO; and
(b) aprocedure fornotification ofemergency measures mayalsobedeveloped toensure
necessary information become available oncethenotification ismade. Theexisting
notificationformatmaybeusedwiththeadditionofentriesinwhichtoplaceinformation
onthenature oftheurgent oremergency measure.G/TBT/W/54
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C. Acceptance andImplementation oftheCode ofGood Practice
5. Thenotification ofdraftstandards referred toinParagraph LoftheCode shallinclude, as
faraspracticable, whether thedraft standard deviates from relevant international standards. The
Philippines believes however that,asfaraspossible, thedegree ofequivalence should beidentified
andanydeviation from theinternational standards andthenature ofandreasons forsuchdeviations
alsobeidentified toimprove transparency.
D. International Standards
6. Ideally, international standards should beadopted asnational standards ortechnical regulations
asthesearepresumedtobeconsensus-basedstandards.However,inreality,manyifnotmostdeveloping
countries areunable toactively participate inthedevelopment stage ofthese standards duetomany
constraints.
7. Developed countries tendtoadopt international standards asnational standards andusethese
asaccess requirements totheirmarkets. While theuseofinternational standards isencouraged, such
requirements inturncould haveanadverse impact onthetrade ofdeveloping countries which arenot
inaposition tocomply withsaidstandards forreasons suchaslackoftechnology andinfrastructure.
8. Even ifstandards arebydefinition voluntary, theycannonetheless haveanimpact onmarket
access. Inasense, standards become asimportant astechnical regulations, andtherefore Members
should ensure thatstandards donotcreate unnecessary obstacles tointernational trade, particularly
ofdeveloping countries. Members should alsoexercise utmost effort toimprove transparency in
standards.
9. InthecaseofthePhilippines, common problems inaligning orharmonizing national standards
withinternational standards include:
(a) Lack oftesting facilities toconduct thetestsspecified intheinternational standards,
highcostoftesting equipment, andtraining ofpersonnel tobeinvolved incarrying
outthetests;
(b) inherent conflicts between international standards andthenational codes, which are
difficult, atleastintheshort-run, toharmonize;
(c) inability tofullyparticipate instandards development activities duetolowresponse
rateoftheprivate andother affected sectors torequests forcomments ondraft
international standards; and
(d) inadequate coverage oftheinternational standard tocover thepresent market
needs/demands, forexample, interms ofsizes, andother requirements (e.g. IEC
standards onAutomotive Batteries, Cooking andHeating Liquids).
10. TheCommittee could therefore lookintotheproblems encountered byMembers inadopting
international standards, including themore meaningful implementation ofArticles 11and12.
11. Moreover, theCommittee could alsobeabletoundertake areview oftheconcept ofequivalence
ofstandards inthecontext oftheCode ofGood Practice. Thiswillbeimportant assuchconcept can
address theknown difficulties ofdeveloping countries.
12. Andfinally, theCommittee could alsolookintoapossible mechanism tomonitor theuseof
international standards byMembers, ifthisisnotalready adequately provided intheAgreement.G/TBT/W/54
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E. Conformity Assessment Procedures
13. Endorsement ofspecific ISO/IEC Guides maypromote theobjectives ofArticles 5and6of
theAgreement butsince these Guides aredynamic andareprone torevisions, endorsement maybe
quickly rendered outdated. Inorder tominimize, ifnoteliminate thisproblem, thePhilippines believes
thatalistofinternational standards, guidelines andguides related toconformity assessment procedures
should beconsolidated, published andregularly updated bytheCommittee forMembers ’information.
TheCommittee could authorize theSecretariat toliaise withtheinternational standardizing bodies in
preparing thislist.