RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/M/6
6December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5114)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
MINUTES OFTHE MEETINGS HELD ON16AND 22OCTOBER 1996
Chairperson: Ambassador C.L.Guarda (Chile)
1. TheCommittee onTechnical Barriers toTrade helditssixth andseventh meetings on
16and22October 1996.
2. Thefollowing agenda, contained inWTO/AIR/440 andWTO/AIR/468, were adopted:
Page
A. Observer Status forInternational Intergovernmental Organizations inthe
Committee 2
B. Report toSingapore Ministerial Conference 2
C. Decisions andRecommendations onConformity Assessment Procedures 2
D. Periodic Examination under Article 12.10: "Special andDifferential
Treatment, aslaiddown inthisAgreement, granted toDeveloping
Country Members onNational andInternational Levels" 3
E. Eco-labelling 4
F. Statements onImplementation andAdministration oftheAgreement 4
G. Presentation bytheRepresentative from theUN/ECE 5
H. Other Business 6G/TBT/M/6
Page2
A. OBSERVER STATUS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS INTHE COMMITTEE
3. TheChairperson recalled thatatitsmeeting of18July1996, theGeneral Council had
adopted "Rules ofProcedure oftheMinisterial Conference andMeetings oftheGeneral Council"
(WT/L/161).
4. TheCommittee agreed thatpending theon-going consultations bytheChairman ofthe
General Council ontheapplication oftheguidelines forobserver status forinternational
intergovernmental organizations, theCommittee would continue togrant observer status tothose
international intergovernmental organizations which were observers intheCommittee onan
adhocbasis under therules andprocedures stated inAnnex 3ofdocument WT/L/161.
B. REPORT TOSINGAPORE MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
5. TheChairperson recalled thatatthelastmeeting, shehadrequested Members toprovide
suggestions, ifany,concerning theformat andcontent oftheCommittee 'sReport totheSingapore
Ministerial Conference before theendofAugust sothatadraftReport could beprepared and
circulated toMembers atthebeginning ofOctober forconsideration andadoption atthepresent
meeting (G/TBT/M/5). Shedrew attention todocument G/TBT/W/32, thedraftReport prepared
bytheSecretariat andsaidthattheSecretariat would update theinformation contained inthetables
ofthatdocument.
6. Anumber ofproposals forchanges toG/TBT/W/32 were made bytherepresentatives of
theEuropean Communities andArgentina andwere discussed intheCommittee.
7. TheCommittee reconvened itsmeeting on22October andagreed toadopt itsReport to
theSingapore Ministerial Conference andtosubmit ittotheCouncil forTrade inGoods atits
meeting on1November.
C. DECISIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ONCONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
PROCEDURES
8. TheChairperson drew attention toArticles 5.4and6.1.1 oftheAgreement encouraging
Members touserelevant guides orrecommendations issued byinternational standardizing bodies
regarding conformity assessment procedures andmutual recognition ofresults ofeachother's
conformity assessment procedures. Sherecalled thattheTokyo Round TBTCommittee had
recognized ISO/IEC Guides 25,39and43ontesting andinspection activities andrecommended
theiruseandproposed thattheCommittee consider ifitwished toadopt those decisions and
recommendations taken bytheTokyo Round TBTCommittee. Sherecalled alsothatatthelast
meeting, shehadsuggested thattheCommittee consider setting upasmall technical group to
study therelevant ISO/IEC Guides described attheMarch 1996 meeting byarepresentative from
theISO,iftheymight contribute totheestablishment ofmutual confidence inconformity
assessment activities between Members tofurther theobjectives ofArticles 5and6ofthe
Agreement.
9. Therepresentative ofCanada noted thatthere might bechanges inthesituation ofthe
ISO/IEC Guides. Hesaidthatitmight bemore appropriate towaituntilthefollowing yearto
review therelevant ISO/IEC Guides withtheother conformity assessment related issues under the
Committee 'sTriennial Review orunder aseparate exercise.G/TBT/M/6
Page3
10. Therepresentative ofMexico shared theviewexpressed byCanada. Shenoted thatsome
ISO/IEC Guides might bechanged intoISO/IEC Standards. Shequestioned whether anydecisions
adopted bytheCommittee, recommending theuseofcertain ISO/IEC Guides, befrozen, given
thefactthatISO/IEC Guides were evolving.
11. TheChairperson explained thatiftheCommittee adopted decisions, recommending theuse
ofcertain ISO/IEC Guides, itcould up-date therecommendations, ifneeded, atalaterstage.
12. Therepresentative oftheUnited States shared theviews expressed byCanada andMexico
thatadditional consideration might beneeded before theCommittee made recommendations on
certain ISO/IEC Guides. Shesaidthatunder theprovisions oftheAgreement, onewould
presume thatISO/IEC Guides were indirectly endorsed foruse. Shethought thatthevalue of
having arecommendation, making reference toparticular ISO/IEC Guides, would beforthe
purpose ofillustration andunderstanding. Shesaidthatitmight create confusion ifthe
Committee adopted certain ISO/IEC Guides without fullconsideration ofother ISO/IEC Guides
thatmight beappropriate. Shewelcomed theChairperson 'sproposal tosetupasmall technical
group tostudy therelevant ISO/IE Guides. Shenoted thatanumber ofdelegations were
suggesting tolookintothisexercise inthecontext oftheCommittee 'sTriennial Review. She
sought guidance from theChairperson onhowthetechnical working group would besetupand
whatitswork programme would be.
13. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities supported thesetting upofatechnical
working group andassociated hisdelegation withitswork. HesaidthatISO/IEC Guides were
usedasbasis forcertain European standards andthathisdelegation would share theexperience of
using those Guides withother Members.
14. TheCommittee agreed tosetupasmall technical working group tostudy therelevant
ISO/IEC Guides andhowtheymight contribute tofurther theobjectives ofArticles 5and6ofthe
Agreement. TheChairperson invited delegations toinform herortheSecretariat oftheirinterest
inparticipating inthetechnical working group.
15. Therepresentative from theCodex Alimentarius Commission informed theCommittee that
hisorganization hadadopted Principles forImport andExport Inspection ofFoodstuffs aiming at
mutual recognition andaccreditation bygovernment inspection andcertification systems. He
thought thatthose principles might beofinterest tothetechnical working group andsaidthathe
would transmit those documents totheWTO Secretariat.
D. PERIODIC EXAMINATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.10: SPECIAL AND
DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT, ASLAID DOWN INTHE AGREEMENT,
GRANTED TODEVELOPING COUNTRY MEMBERS ONNATIONAL
AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
16. TheChairperson recalled thattheCommittee hadhelddiscussions onTechnical Assistance
atitsfirst, thirdandfifthmeetings andatitsthirdandfifthmeetings ithadadopted decisions on
technical assistance (G/TBT/1/Rev.4) sothatArticle 11oftheAgreement could begiven
operational significance. Shesaidthatinthisrespect, theSecretariat hadprepared document
G/TBT/W/26 containing information ontechnical assistance itwasproviding. Aiming at
providing technical assistance tonewMembers, inparticular developing countries, tobetter
understand theAgreement sothatitcould befullyimplemented, theSecretariat wascoordinating
itstechnical assistance activities withdonor Members andother international andregionalG/TBT/M/6
Page4
intergovernmental bodies which provided technical assistance toother Members. Shesaidthat
TBTSeminars hadbeenheldfortheAPEC andtheALADI countries andthattwoadditional
TBTSeminars would beheldinNovember andDecember thisyearforsouthern African and
central American countries.
17. Shereminded Members thatArticle 11oftheAgreement "Technical Assistance toOther
Members" provided obligations forMembers togiveadvice andtechnical assistance toother
Members, especially developing country Members, ifrequested. Inthiscontext, shedrew the
attention ofdeveloping country Members tothepossibilities ofrequesting advice andtechnical
assistance from other Members onmutually agreed terms andconditions. Shenoted thatunder
Article 12.8oftheAgreement onSpecial andDifferential Treatment ofDeveloping Country
Members, "theCommittee isenable togrant, upon request, specified, time-limited exceptions in
whole orinpartfrom obligations under thisAgreement" andthatnosuchrequest hadbeen
received.
18. Therepresentative ofIndia noted thatnoregional TBTSeminar wasorganized bythe
Secretariat intheAsian region andasked ifthere wasplantoorganize suchregional seminar in
thenearfuture.
19. Therepresentative oftheSecretariat saidthattheSecretariat wasplanning, ifpossible, to
organize aTBTSeminar forSouthern Asian countries intheforth coming year.
E. ECO-LABELLING
20. TheChairperson drew attention todocument G/TBT/W/30 which wasalsoissued as
WT/CTE/W/38, acommunication from Canada on"Draft Decision onEco-labelling
Programmes".
21. Therepresentative from Canada saidthatgiven thefactthatthere would beintensive
discussions intheCommittee onTrade andEnvironment oneco-labelling inthecoming days, it
would bebetter nottodiscuss theissue atthepresent meeting.
22. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatement made.
F. STATEMENTS ONIMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OFTHE
AGREEMENT
23. Therepresentative ofCanada informed theCommittee thathisdelegation hadresponded
withaletter totherequest from theEuropean Communities regarding theCanadian sidedoor
strength testformotor vehicles andthattheinformation could bemade available toother
interested Members onrequest.
24. Referring totheEuropean Communities 'regulation onregistration ofgeographical
indications anddesignations oforigin, heregretted thatithadnotbeennotified under the
TBTAgreement. Hisdelegation 'sviewwasthatitshould benotified under theAgreement, given
thefactthatitwould haveimpacts ontrade. Hesaidthattheregulation wasanimmediate
concern ofsome Canadian cheese exporters. However, given thedevelopment oftheregulation,
itwould havemore widespread implications.G/TBT/M/6
Page5
25. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities welcomed theresponse from Canada.
However, heregretted thatnoreply orlatereplies were received from some other Members tohis
delegation 'scomments made totheirnotifications. Hedrew attention totheobligations under the
Agreement thatMembers, inaddition tonotifying, should reply torequests andreact tocomments
within areasonable timeperiod. Hesaidthathisdelegation would contact those Members
bilaterally.
26. TheChairperson reiterated Members 'obligations under theAgreement ofnotifications and
providing opportunities forcomments.
27. Therepresentative oftheUnited States recalled thatatthelastmeeting, theEuropean
Communities hadmade comments onaUnited States draftregulation concerning CareLabelling
ofTextiles (G/TBT/Notif.96.20). ShesaidthattheUnited States Federal Trade Commission
when preparing thatregulation, hadconsidered therelevant ISOStandards, butthought them
inappropriate. Therelated documents tothatnotification were published intheFederal Registers
ofNovember andDecember 1995. IntheNovember 1995 Publication, theUnited States Federal
Trade Commission hadprovided detailed explanation andinformation ontherevision ofthe
relevant ISOstandards andhadinvited comments ontheproposed regulation. Sheexplained that
themain inconvenience ofusing theISOStandards related toatrade mark rightregarding theuse
ofsymbols andthetechnology usedintheUnited States. TheISOstandard didnotcover allof
theelements thattheFederal Trade Commissioner foreseen needed toprevent deceptive practices
andprovide information toconsumers. Shesaidthattheinformation elaborated intheFederal
Register Publication could bemade available toallinterested Members. Sheensured thatthe
comments made bytheEuropean Communities hadbeenconsidered bytheFederal Trade
Commission. Sheinformed theCommittee thatnofinaldecision ontheregulation hadyetbeen
made andthattheregulation, when adopted, would bepublished intheFederal Register.
28. Sherecalled thatherdelegation hadnotified inG/TBT/Notif.96.46 aUnited States
Standard onTea. Sheinformed theCommittee thatsince thesubmission ofthatnotification, the
TeaImportation Inspection Acthadbeenrepealed bytheUnited States Congress. Atpresent, tea
wasregulated likeanyother foodunder theUnited States Food andCosmetic Actwithout specific
standards. Shewelcomed theeffort oftheEuropean Communities inbringing theCommittee 's
attention tothatstandard atthelastmeeting, providing opportunities forherauthorities tohave
direct contact withthedomestic regulators, reminding them oftheobligations under the
Agreement.
29. Sheinformed theCommittee thattheNational Institution forStandards andTechnology
(NIST), theUnited States Enquiry Point, wascurrently updating anumber ofDirectories
containing information onstandard related activities intheUnited States. ADirectory of
United States private sector product certification programmes wasrecently published, containing
information on170organizations engaged inprivate certification activities. Copies ofthe
Directory andofthe1995 Directory oftheoperation oftheUnited States Enquiry Point were
available tointerested Members attheUnited States Enquiry Point.
30. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
G. PRESENTATION BYTHE REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE UN/ECE
31. TheChairperson recalled thatatthelastmeeting, theCommittee hadgranted observer
status totheUnited Nations Economic Commission forEurope onanadhocbasis andatthatG/TBT/M/6
Page6
meeting, therepresentative oftheUnited States hadrequested additional information concerning
therules andwork oftheUN/ECE.
32. Therepresentative from theUN/ECE saidthatthere were 55member states inher
organization. They were from North America andEurope (including theformer Soviet Union),
aregion covering two-third ofworld trade. Oneofthemandates oftheUN/ECE Trade Division
wastoelaborate trade standards. These standards were agreed within theECE andwere also
adopted andusedinaninternational context. They included: (i)UN/ECE standards onlayout
keywhich governed shipping documents, movement ofinternational freight byair,sea,railand
road; (ii)theUnited Nations 'Location Codes; (iii)global standards forthetransmission ofdata
electronically setoutbytheUnited Nations/Electronic DataInterchange forAdministration,
Commerce andTransport (UN/EDIFACT); and(iv)commercial quality standards foragricultural
perishable products. TheUN/ECE Working Party onTechnical Harmonization and
Standardization Policy which gathered organizations suchastheISO,major standard bodies ofthe
European Union (such asCEN andCENELEC), National Institute ofStandards andTechnology
(NIST) oftheUnited States andstandard body from theRussian Federation, wastheprincipal
regional policy body, especially forconformity assessment procedures. Sheinformed the
Committee thatUN/ECE hadprepared andrecently updated abooklet containing alltheUN/ECE
conventions, technical regulations andstandards which affected trade within theregion and
internationally. Thebooklet could bedistributed toWTO Members through theWTO Secretariat
ifMembers considered ituseful.
33. Shenoted thatUN/ECE, whilst aregional economic commission, didensure thatits
standards were inconformity withinternational standards. Under Article 11oftheterms of
reference oftheEconomic Commission, non-ECE Members were abletoparticipate fullyina
proceeding. Inthework ofUN/EDIFACT, representatives from Japan, Korea, Singapore and
Hong Kong participated onanequal basis intheelaboration ofEDIFACT standards. With respect
totheUN/ECE layout key,there wasamemorandum ofUnderstanding withtheISOthatthe
UN/ECE layout keyhadthestatus ofanISOstandard. Inthework oftheUNLocation Code,
there wasanagreement withmajor international bodies (such astheIATA andtheInternational
Chamber ofShipping) which usedtheCode. Initswork onquality standards forfresh fruits and
vegetables, UN/ECE cooperated withFAO andCODEX, ensuring consistency ofwork among the
organizations. UN/ECE alsoworked closely withtheOECD scheme fortheapplication of
international standards forfresh fruits andvegetables. UN/ECE standards were usedbythe
European Commission initselaboration ofstandards within theEuropean Union.
34. ShesaidthatUN/ECE collaborated closely withother United Nations 'regional economic
commissions (Commissions forWest Asia, AsiaPacific Region, Latin America, andAfrica)
directly orthrough theEconomic andSocial Council oftheUnited Nations towhich allregional
commissions report. Thisnetwork wasanimportant means todisseminate UN/ECE 'swork and
tofacilitate theuseofUN/ECE standards. Shesaidthatitwasthecommitment ofUN/ECE
Members tomake theeffort toabide bytheAgreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade andits
Code ofGood Practice, tofacilitate theconduct ofinternational trade andtoensure minimize
duplication ofwork between UN/ECE andtheWTO.
35. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatement made.
H. OTHER BUSINESS
36. TheCommittee agreed ontheChairperson 'sproposal thatthefirst1997 meeting ofthe
Committee would beheldon14February 1997. Oneoftheagenda items would bethe
Committee 'sTriennial Review, allowing theCommittee toinstruct theSecretariat toprepare the
necessary documents toconduct theReview.