RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/W/43/Add.1
9July1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2882)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE OFINDIVIDUAL GOVERNMENTS
AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS INUSING
INTERNATIONAL GUIDES ONCONFORMITY
ASSESSMENT
Note bytheSecretariat
Addendum
Atthefirstmeeting oftheTechnical Working Group onISO/IEC Guides Relating toArticles 5
and6oftheAgreement, theSecretariat wasrequested tocompile inapaper thepractical experience
ofindividual governments andinternational organizations inusing ISO/IEC Guides, aswellasother
guides andrecommendations issued byinternational standardizing bodies.
Thispaper compiles relevant information received from thedelegations ofKorea, Norway
andColombia.
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I. INFORMATION FROM KOREA
1. Korea would liketonotetherecent development between theISO/CASCO andtheEuropean
Union inwhich theyagreed tocooperate toharmonize theISO/IEC Guides andtheEN45000 series
standards. Ithink thisdevelopment willmake theISO/IEC Guides onestepcloser tobecome atruly
international standard forconformity assessment.
2. KoreaisalsocurrentlyintheprocessofincorporatingtheISO/IECGuidesintoKoreanStandards
forconformity assessment.
(i) Bytheendofthisyear, wewillintroduce Guides 25,58,61and62intotheKorean
Standards.
(ii) Guide 65willalsobeadopted atafuture dateinrelation withtheplantoassign
responsibility fortheKSMarking System tonon-governmental bodies.
(iii) WenotethatISOiscurrently working oncombining Guides 39and57.When the
work iscompleted, Korea willadopt thenewGuide asitsnational standard.
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3. Inthisregard, Ihopethatasmany Members aspossible willharmonize theirnational regulations
withISO/IEC Guides, soastofacilitate international tradebyreducing technical barriers arising from
different conformity assessment procedures.
TheEstablishment ofKOLAS (Korean Laboratory Accreditation Scheme)
4. Pursuant totheISO/IEC Guides 25and58which arebothrelated tothecalibration andtesting
oflaboratory systems, theKorean National Institute ofTechnology andQuality established theKorea
Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS). Under thescheme, KOLAS canaccredit calibration and
testing laboratories through assessment oftheirgeneral competence. AsofJune1997, 61inspection
bodieshavebeencertifiedbytheKOLASandhaveconductedinspectionsinaccordancewithinternational
criteria, suchasISO/IEC Guides.
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II. INFORMATION FROM NORWAY
TheISO/IEC Guides described indocument G/TBT/W/38 (abackground paper from the
Secretariat) areallveryrelevant andappropriate fortheconformity assessment work inNorway. In
ouropinion theyarequite suitable forfurthering theobjectives ofArticles 5and6oftheAgreement
withthepossible exception ofGuide 39which isanolddocument seldom usedinEurope andwhich
inanycaseought toberevised.
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III. INFORMATION FROM COLOMBIA
Thedelegation ofColombia considers that,asfarasconformity assessment procedures are
concerned, itisuseful forWTO Members tousetheguides orrecommendations drawn upby
international standardizing bodies.
InthecaseofColombia, thefollowing guides areColombian Technical Standards (NTC):
- Guide 22:NTC 3008
- Guide 25:NTC 3002
- Guide 39:NTC 3101
- Guide 43:NTC 3002
- Guide 58:NTC 3008
Guides 61,62and65havebeenproposed forthe1997 standardization programme, andare
intheprocess ofbeing adopted asColombian technical standards.