. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/113
15 June 1999
(99-2393)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
ISSUES CONCERNING INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND INTERNATIONAL
STNADARDIZATION BODIES
Submission from Japan
1. International standards are one of the most important element of the TBT Agreement and they
play a significant role in the implementation of the Agreement.  Despite this however, there is no clear
definition of what an "International Standard" is.  Furthermore, there are many "international
standards" that can not be qualified as an "Interna tional Standards" in the context of the Agreement.
Unless such international standards are given the necessary recognition, the actual implementation of
the TBT Agreement will prove difficult.
2. Japan therefore proposes that a "guideline for international standards and their development
process" should be drafted and the necessary requirements for international standards should be
clarified.  The establishment of such a "guideline" will encourage the various international bodies to
clarify and strengthen their own rules and procedures on standards development to meet this"guideline" and hence develop international standards that will be recognized and utilized within the
context of the TBT Agreement.
I. THE FUNCTION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS IN THE AGREEMENT
3. International standards are expected to reduce barriers to trade through the alignment of
national standards and regulations with international standards.
II. REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
4. Based on this characterization, international standards should fulfil the following
requirements.
(1) The process for international standards development should be transparent, open and
impartial.
- Transparency: Information regarding current work programs and proposals under
consideration should be made easily accessible and comprehensible to all interested andrelated parties.
- Openness: Membership should be open to the relevant bodies of all countries, and any
interested member who so desires should be offered the chance to participate in the various
stages of the standards development procedure, including such stages as proposal of newwork items, technical discussion on the contents of proposals, comments on the drafts, voting,
dissemination and usage of the results.  Openness of participation is particularly indispensable
at the key technical discussion and examination stages where contributions from as many
sources around the world as possible are necessary to ensure the development of a standard
that is truly 'international'.G/TBT/W/113
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- Impartiality: Equal consideration should be given to the views and opinion of all interested
parties concerning international standards development.
(2) International standards should meet the needs of the global market.
The fundamental aim of the provision in TBT Agreement which calls for the development of
national standards and regulations based on international standards, is to reduce trade barriers through
the utilization of international standards, or in other words, through the adoption of standards that
meet the needs of the global market.  Accordingly, attention is drawn to the fact that forcing Members
to adopt standards that do not meet the needs of th e international market would have an adverse effect
on word trade and goes against the fundamental principle of the WTO.
III. PRESENT SITUATION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND THEIR
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
5. Whilst standards development processes may vary among the different international
standardization bodies, the key point to consider is  to what extent these processes take the comments
and opinions of different countries into consideration.  There are, for example, organizations thatwork in close cooperation with regional standards bodies and allow the delegation of significant
stages in standards development to such bodies, which makes it very difficult for members outside of
the regional bodies to take part in these processes.  Such a system is counteractive towards the basic
concept of transparency, openness and impartiality in the process of international standards
development, and may distort the content of the standa rds in such a way that they will only reflect the
needs of the limited region.
6. There are also international standards that cannot be used due to their obsolescence, as was
pointed out in the last Triennial Review.  These international standards should be promptly amended
or abolished by the international bodies that developed the concerned standards.  In addition, it should
be made clear in the context of the Agreement that Members need not refer to obsolete internationalstandards as a base for national standards and regulations.
IV. RECOMMENDATIONS
7. Given the above, individual standards organizations that intend to develop standards qualified
as an "International Standard" in the context of the Agreement should review and, where necessary,
redesign their standard development procedures to ensure transparency, openness and impartiality
throughout the whole process and should conduct prompt and periodical reviews of their standards.
Moreover, in order to make sure that these activities are implemented, it is recommended that theTBT Committee should examine the possibility of establishing a fundamental rule relating to
international standards and international standards bodies.  The rule should contain such requirements
as assurance of transparency, openness and impartiality in all stages of international standard
development procedures, and implementation of appropriate reviews of these standards.  In doing so,
the requirements listed above could be applied to international organizations together with suchprocedural contents similar to that shown in th e "Code of Good Practice", or such appropriate
procedures mentioned above could be examined as a requirement for being considered as an
"International Standard".
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