. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/42
11 December 2000
(00-5378)
General Council
Special Session on Implementation
ACTIONS TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPATION OF DEVELOPING
COUNTRY MEMBERS IN THE WORK OF RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD-SETTING ORGANIZATIONS
Report by the Director-General
1. You will recall that at its Special Session on 18 October 2000 the General Council agreed to
the proposal by the Chairman with respect to the SPS Agreement, to:
- First, encourage international standard setting organizations to ensure the
participation of Members at different levels of development and from all geographic
regions, throughout all phases of standard development;
- Second, request that I explore with the relevant international standard-setting
organizations and relevant intergovernmental organizations financial and technical
mechanisms to assist the participation of developing countries in standard-setting
activities;
- Third, request that I coordinate efforts with the relevant international standard-setting
organizations to identify SPS-related technical assistance needs and how best to
address these, taking into consideration the importance of bilateral and regional
technical assistance in this regard;  and
- Fourth, request that I make a progress report on my initiatives regarding elements two
and three above to the General Council at its Special Session in December.
At the same session, the General Council also agreed to address concerns relating to the TBT
Agreement on a similar basis.
2. The SPS Agreement itself identifies as the relevant international standard-setting
organizations the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Office international des
épizooties (OIE) and the FAO International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).  There is no such
explicit identification of relevant standard-setting organizations in the TBT Agreement.
3. Last month, I sent letters to the Directors-Ge neral of the FAO, WHO, OIE, the UN Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO) and to the fi ve standard-setting organizations which have
observer status in the TBT Committee (International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC),
International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Organization of Legal Metrology(OIML), United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), and the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)).  I have informed these organizations of the
decisions taken by the General Council and invited them to participate at informal meetings, at the
level of Deputy Directors-General, to identify ways of facilitating developing country participation in
standard-setting activities and addressing their technical assistance needs.  Separate meetings will beWT/GC/42
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held, back-to-back, with respect to the SPS Agreement and the TBT Agreement.  Several of the
invited organizations have already responded to welcome this initiative and to confirm their
participation in the meetings.
4. With regard to the second tiret of the General Council's decision, I have also written to the
World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank and the UN Development Programme.  I have drawn their attention to the fact that
one of the principal provisions of both the TBT and SPS Agreements is to encourage governments to
harmonize their national requirements with international standards in order to facilitate trade.  I have
informed them that many developing countries are concerned that their difficulties in effectively
participating in the work of international standa rdizing bodies limits their ability to influence
international standards on products of interest to th em.  Constraints to their participation include lack
of technical expertise to participate effectively in the different stages of standard-setting and offinancial resources to attend meetings of these bodies.
5. I have requested each of these organizations to provide information regarding the kind of
technical and financial assistance that they may already be providing to developing countries to
facilitate their participation in the work of international standardizing bodies, and of any planned
activities in this regard.  I have also asked whether these organizations have scope to expand theirassistance to developing countries.  My goal is to gain a better understanding of the assistance already
being provided, as well as to draw the attention of various agencies to this problem, so that greater
resources can be devoted to addressing it in future.  I expect to have received the requested
information before the end of January 2001.
6. Following our meetings with the international standard-setting organizations and examination
of the information provided by the relevant financial institutions, I will report to you further on the
actions being taken to increase the participation of developing country Members in the work of
relevant international standard-setting organizations.
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