WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/232
21 October 2003
(03-5565)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME
MANAGEMENT MODEL
Submission from Brazil
I. INTRODUCTION
1. This document aims at contributing to the definition of a management mechanism for the
technical co-operation and assistance programme, under the Committee on Technical Barriers to
Trade (from now on referred to as the Committee).
II. BACKGROUND
2. The importance of organising a wide Co-operation and Technical Assistance Programme
under the Committee has been discussed since the Second Triennial Review of the TBT Agreement
especially due to:
a. limited scope of current technical assistance initiatives conducted by the Committee by means
of regional seminars, whose format, periodicity and scope are not producing better results
than information exchange and raising awareness in part of the target group;
b. numerous initiatives of technical assistance by donor countries, conducted on a voluntary
basis, some of them organised as wide and comprehensive programmes involving selected
themes related to metrology, standardization, technical regulation and conformity assessment,
including the donation of equipment and facilities;
c. several initiatives conducted by international and regional organizations in the shape of
specific programmes (e.g. ISO/IEC, EUROMET, SIM/OAS)
d. availability of funding and special-condition credit programmes of multilateral organizations
(e.g. UNIDO, World Bank, IDB);
e. the needs identified by the questionnaire recently applied by the Committee;
f. the confidence that the Committee could carry out the co-ordination of the several initiatives
mentioned, in the shape of a technical co-operation and assistance programme aimed at least
developed and developing countries, so that they could:
i. train and qualify human resources;
ii. organise and improve their technical structures for metrology, standardization,
technical regulation and conformity assessment; and
iii. adopt procedures based on standards, guides and recommendations of international
standardization bodies, in order to implement the TBT Agreement to overcome andavoid technical barriers to trade.G/TBT/W/232
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3. The debates conducted in previous meetings, as well as the seminar held in March 2003 by
the Committee and the documents presented by several countries, confirm the need of a concerted
effort over this matter, aimed at least developed and developing countries.  The issues raised also
favour the perception that the format of technical co-operation – which should include a pro-active
relationship between donors and recipients – is, doubtless, more adequate if lasting results are to beobtained.
III. CHALLENGES OF A COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMME
4. Experiences reported by donor and recipient countries, as well as reports of programmes
sponsored by multilateral credit organizations, demonstrate that it is possible to plan and conduct
funding programmes for organising and improving technical structures, training human resources and
establishing managerial mechanisms in the fields of metrology, standardization and conformity
assessment, provided that there are:
i. political will at recipient’s end;
ii. availability of human resources, with some degree of knowledge – even if incomplete and
insufficient – of the main challenges and necessary basic structures in the relevant fields;
iii. awareness of private sector regarding needs in the fields of metrology, standardization and
conformity assessment related to the quality and competitiveness of their products; and
iv. regular implementation of actions.
5. This is the panorama found in an expressive number of countries.  In case those basic
conditions do not exist, the Committee should concentrate efforts in conceiving another type of
programme, which would consist basically of donations with a strong focus on human resourcestraining.  Such programmes are slower in ripening and, consequently, reach best results in the long
term.
6. On the other hand, it is important to note that there is no accumulated experience related to
such comprehensive initiatives in the field of technical regulation, except for some specific issues inbilateral relations aimed at trade facilitation.  In general, successful experiences in metrology,
standardization and conformity assessment are restricted to bilateral relationships or involve countries
that already maintain a preferential sub-regional link.  Furthermore, there is no information available
related to initiatives that simultaneously involve a number of mechanisms such as financing, grants,
scholarships, donations and consulting from many sources, whose combination and administration are
of a complex nature.
7. Therefore, the tasks faced by the Committee, in order to manage such a comprehensive
Programme, entail organising all possibilities of supplies (including donations and financing);
reconciling the terminology used, rules of access and mechanisms for project merit evaluation,
approval,  follow-up and final evaluation; organising the demand identified by the questionnaires as
well as establishing the priorities for meeting such demand; and supervising the communication
process between donors and recipients.  Consequently, as far as management is concerned, it
represents a complex challenge that could, however, be overcome by steps that would consider
distinct themes for each of the technical fields, the agents involved, the possibilities of supply and the
funding mechanisms to be employed, according to established priorities.
IV. THE MANAGEMENT MODEL
7. The attached diagram illustrates the manage ment mechanism proposed for the Committee’s
Co-operation and Technical Assistance Programme, which consists of seven basic elements:G/TBT/W/232
Page 3
8.1. Supply Website  – includes information from all donor countries, international technical
organizations and multilateral bodies that voluntarily agree to share the data basis, which identifies
possibilities of donations and financing.
Committee’s tasks:
i. to organise the website within the WTO’s in formation system with links to countries
and organizations; and
ii. to search a common taxonomy in order to organise available information according
to areas, themes and funding mechanisms. The product of the Supply Website is a
Map of Supply Possibilities on Technical Co-operation and Assistance Activities.
8.2. Possibilities Map  – Includes all possibilities of supply, organised according to technical
areas, modalities, mechanisms and available resources.
Committee’s tasks:
i. to convert all information on supply into a system that includes the different
categories, now under a common terminology;
ii. to make the site public and well known;
8.3 Demand Website  – includes all demands presented by means of the questionnaire and its
updated revisions.
Committee’s task:
i. to reorganise the questionnaire according to the taxonomy adopted in the first
website.  The product of the Demand Website is a Map of Needs of Technical Co-
operation and Assistance;
8.4. Maps of Needs  – include all demands, organised according to technical areas, modalities,
mechanisms and requested resources.
Committee’s tasks:
i. to convert information on demand by country and region into a system that includes
the different categories, now under a common terminology;
ii. to compare the Maps of Needs with that of the Possibilities;
iii. to conduct an exercise to establish priorities according to well defined criteria that
takes into consideration the maximum possible number of results in a given period
of activity;
8.5. Executive Programmes  – they result from the comparison between demand and supply and
aim at meeting the detected needs of technical co-operation and assistance according to possibilities,
availability and priorities of donors and financing agents.  The Executive Programmes, of operational
nature, could be organised per recipient Coun try or Region. The programmes would be notified
periodically, before they start, during the execution and after their conclusion (the organization,
realisation and evaluation of those programmes would depend on the support of a network of ad hoc
consultants)
Supporting instruments
8.6. General Reference Programme – it is a comprehensive Programme, of strategic nature,
covering all thematic areas, modalities, and technical co-operation and assistance mechanisms.  This
reference Programme may guide demander and supplier in the conciliation of interests aiming at theconstruction of an Executive Programme.  Due to its strategic reference nature, this programme
should be conceived for a long term perspective, eventually five years, and should also receive yearly
revisions that would guide its implementation in the following year and so forth.G/TBT/W/232
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8.7. Steering Committee1 - it will be created as an advisory mechanism to the TBT Committee,
whose main activities would be:
i. to maintain updated both the supply and demand websites, the questionnaires and
the notifications of received and supplied co-operation and assistance and theGeneral Reference Programme itself;
ii. to act in the construction of executive programmes by means of supervising the
consultants' work entrusted with that task;
iii. as a result of the follow up process, the Steering Committee shall also identify needs
that have not been met and foster the indication of new needs to be appraised and
incorporated by donors and financing agents; finally, success cases should be
documented and disclosed regularly.
V. BASIC CONCEPTS
2
Donor:  country or organization that provides technical co-operation and assistance, with no financial
burden to the recipient, as far as direct costs of those activities are concerned;
Financier: country or organization which has procedures to support technical co-operation and
assistance, with a financial burden to the recipient as to the direct costs of those activities;
Recipient: country, region or organization that receives the benefits of technical co-operation and
assistance support. It should be considered that in case of co-operation the benefit is mutual, with nodistinction between recipient and donor;
Area/Field: refers to technical disciplines such as Metrology, Standardization, Technical Regulation
and Conformity Assessment, including Authorisation Procedures (Approval);
Modalities: include several investment forms:
i. works and facilities;
ii. equipment, permanent goods and parts;
iii. training (on-the-job training, apprenticeships and technical missions);
iv. technical consulting (on a short, medium and long term – the last including resident
consultants);
v. consumables;
vi. events (seminars and others);
Mechanisms:  include the different ways of making human and materials resources available to the
technical co-operation and assistance activities: financing; donations in goods; direct financial
donations; person-hour for training and consulting; grants etc.
                                                     
1The convenience of designating the Steering Committee before or after the conclusion of the work assigned to a
Task Force (see item VI) would be discussed by the TBT Committee.
2These basic concepts include some definitions for illus trative purposes, since donor countries and funding and
credit organizations have their own operational procedures that will have to be taken into account when theReference General Programme is detailed.G/TBT/W/232
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VI. IMPLEMENTATION OF MANAGEMENT MODEL3
It is suggested that the Committee organises a Task Force with the purpose of detailing the
suggestions presented, reviewing the graphic  model, completing the definitions and defining the
operational aspects of the management model.  The following steps are considered fundamental to the
success of the model:
9.1. Negotiation with potential donors aiming at the construction of the “Supply Website” (this
might be a gradual inclusion process);
9.2. Construction of a common taxonomy (in accor dance with the organization of technical
activities conducted by international standardising bodies);
9.3. Improvement of questionnaire and definition of procedures for its practical application;
9.4. Indication of the adjustments necessary to the WTO’s Information System so that it can host
the electronic management mechanisms;
9.5. Establishment of procedures for determining priorities among proposed activities;
9.6. Consultation with donors aiming at attaining uniformity of rules of access to funding and at
clarifying specific rules when such uniformity cannot be attained;
9.7. Establishment of templates for recording budget calculations to be used in the proposals
submitted and in their analysis;
9.8. Preparation of a tutorial for guiding recipient countries in organising their requests;
9.9. Preparation of a consultants data bank aiming at helping recipient countries in identifying and
quantifying their needs as well as rendering their requests;
9.10. Planning of guidance manuals, including those in electronic media;
9.11. Conceiving and structuring the follow-up and evaluation system;9.12. Preparing travelling seminars in order to disseminate the Programme, which would also
include training of human resources so that they could prepare requests of recipient countries
in the adopted formats.
                                                     
3This management model is, in short, a facilitation mechanism, agreed between donors and recipients, under
the TBT Committee’s coordination.  Therefore, it aims at preserving the responsibility of donor countries tojudge the merit of requests, according to their own rules.  In the future, Members could evaluate the
possibility of a direct management by the Committee of a common fund to meet the most basic needs of
least developed countries.