WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/207
22 May 2003
(03-2733)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
OVERVIEW OF THE EXISTING DATABASES ON
TBT-RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Note by the Secretariat
At the Committee meeting held on 20 March 2003, the Secretariat was requested to prepare a
paper outlining the existing databases on TBT-related technical assistance with an aim to assistMembers to identify areas where the Committee could add further value.  This Note has been
prepared in response to that request.  It compiles information on the following databases:  the WTO-
OECD Doha Development Agenda Trade-Related Te chnical Assistance Capacity Building Database,
the ISO Database of Technical Assistance Projects in the Areas of Standardization and related
Matters, the Trade-Related Technical Assistance Database and the Database of Technical AssistanceProgrammes of the Free-Trade Area of the Americas.
I. WTO-OECD DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA TRADE-RELATED TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE CAPACITY BUILDING DATABASE
1. The Trade-Related Technical Assistance Capacity Building Database  (TCBDB) was
established jointly by the WTO and OECD to provide information on trade-related technical
assistance and capacity building projects.  It was developed for the use of WTO Members, donors,developing countries and least developed countries.  It is publicly available at http://tcbdb.wto.org/ in
English, French and Spanish.  The records within this database are also included in the
AiDA database of development projects.
1
2. The objectives of the TCBDB are as follows:
- transparency of trade-related technical assistance delivered;
- exchange of information;
- avoidance of duplication;
- estimation of the progress in the implementation of the Doha Mandates on technical cooperation
and capacity building;
- coordination and coherence;  and
- meeting the objectives of the report mandated relating to paragraph 41 of the Doha Declaration.
                                                     
1 AiDA's Development Gateway is available at  www.developmentgateway.org.  It contains
411,480 records, over 12,000 of which are categorized as  'Trade Capacity Building' and cover activities related
to trade policy and  regulations, trade development and trade infrastructure.This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own
responsibility and without prejudice to the positions of Members
and to their rights and obligations under the WTOG/TBT/W/207
Page 2
3. The TCBDB contains information on all trade-related technical assistance and
capacity-building projects (both national and regional).  At present, it contains over 8,000 records
covering nearly 4,500 activities provided by 28 bilateral donor countries and multilateral agencies in
year 2001 and part of 2002.  The data is reported from bilateral donors and multilateral/regional
agencies.  An analytical tool exists which allows database users to identify projects by beneficiarycountry, donor country, agency, and/or trade category.
4. Information provided under each project includes the following:  trade category, reporting
country/organization, extending agency, donor project number, beneficiary/host country, commitment
date, amount of grant/loan, project description, email/web contact address and the list of participating
countries.  One of the trade categories in the database is "SPS and TBT".  As a result, it is possible to
obtain information focussing on technical assistance related to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to
Trade.
5. In 2002, the First Joint WTO/OECD Report on Trade-Related Technical Assistance and
Capacity Building
2 was issued.  This report established a baseline, as of 2001, showing there were
over 1,200 commitments to activities that cover all aspects of trade policy and regulations identified
in the Doha Declaration and a further 1,300 or so rela ted to activities in trade development.  Annex 1
of the report contains foreword looking information on donor strategies, delivery mechanisms andinstitutional arrangements (of donors from 18 countries and six multilateral organizations).  A second
report is currently being developed.
6. Projects in the TCBDB illustrate possible resp onses to the TBT-related technical assistance
needs identified by developing country Members in their responses to the questionnaire
(G/TBT/W/193)
3.  A user is able to identify projects such as those described below by searching the
database under "TRTA and CB Category" and then selecting the "SPS and TBT" category under
"Trade Policy and Regulations".
- Assistance in the implementation of TBT obligations;
- Assistance in understanding TBT issues in the WTO;
- Assistance to facilitate understanding of the principles of WTO agreement and implementing
them in the form of national legislation;
- Technical cooperation programmes on TBT for specific issues;
- Workshops/seminars on conformity assessment and on international or foreign standards;
- Needs assessment to determine conformity of national legislation and policies with international
standards;
- Various initiatives to strengthen scientific, technical or regulatory expertise;
- Assistance to meet specific standards to gain market access;
- Assistance to determine the feasibility of deve loping and implementing specific certification
programmes;
- Assistance in development and implementation of standardization, certification and labelling
schemes;
- Collaboration with small and medium sized enterpri ses, producers, and industry generally to assist
them in meeting standards to access markets;
- Technology transfer and initiatives to increase awareness regarding market innovation
opportunities for specific sectors;
- Funding to participate in forums;  and
- Assistance in the modernization of legal, administrative, human resource and material
infrastructure to facilitate conformity with international conventions of the UN and the WTO.
                                                     
2 The report is available on the database website at http://tcbdb.wto.org/publish/dbreport_e.pdf.
3 An Analysis of the Priorities identified by Devel oping Country Members in their Responses to the
Questionnaire for a 'Survey to assi st Developing Country Members to identify and prioritise their Specific
Needs in the TBT Field.'G/TBT/W/207
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- Assistance for policy reform in specific sectors
II. THE ISO DATABASE OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (TA) PROJECTS IN THE
AREAS OF STANDARDIZATION AND RELATED MATTERS
7. The ISO Database of TA Projects in the Areas of Standardization and related Matters
(henceforth "the ISO Database") was established in 2001, designed to contain basic data on
TA projects recently implemented, in implementation or approved for implementation in the near
future.4  It is an interactive website with two levels of access.  One level provides access to
development agencies which allows them to post and to update basic information on their TA projects
in a predetermined format.  Access codes can be obtained from the ISO administrator to executing
agencies for the posting of information.  The second level is read-only access for developing country
and other users which are not TA projects providers.  For interested parties that are not ISO members,the database can be accessed in read-only mode at http://www.qec.it/db_iso/home.html.  The login
and password are:  "guest" and "ISO guest" respectively.
8. The objectives of the ISO Database are as follows:
- to provide transparency on standards related TA  projects with a view to avoid duplication;
- to promote coordination to ensure complementarity and optimum use of scarce resources;  and
- to assist development agencies, donors and developing countries in designing and implementing
projects with maximum effectiveness.
9. The ISO Database currently has 100 TA projects posted by a number of international
organizations and national standards bodies.  It is possible to search the Database by geography,
area(s) of activity (i.e. standardization, quality, certification, testing, metrology, accreditation,
technical regulations and environment), scope of technical assistance project (i.e. assistance to
economic players, institution building/upgrading or  policy-making), executing agency(s), donor(s)
and date(s).
10. Basic data provided under each project includes the following:  the executing agency, project
title, beneficiaries and financing, area(s) of activity, project scope and methods, description of
activities, dates and planned/achieved outputs.
11. Projects in the ISO database (e.g. as listed below) illustrate possible responses to the
TBT related technical assistance needs identified by developing country Members.
- Assistance to adapt domestic certification and standardization systems to meet the requirements of
international and other domestic systems;
- Assistance in the establishment of conformity assessment systems;
- Raising awareness as well as providing training on the role of standards and conformity
assessment in world trade for industry, government as well as other relevant bodies;
- Training staff for work in areas of standardization, harmonization, certification and auditing
- Supporting participation in standards-related forums;  and
- Training on quality and safety in specific sectors.
12. The ISO is currently considering the possibility of extending the Database to include
TA needs and requests of developing countries (in addition to the information on TA projects in
implementation).  This would provide a "TA Exchange in the Fields of Standardization" facility,allowing developing countries, development agencies and donors to identify opportunities to request,
implement and/or finance TA projects, satisfying the needs and objectives of the different parties.
                                                     
4 Further information on the Database is available at http://www.qec.it/db_iso/pg1.html.G/TBT/W/207
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III. TRADE-RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE DATABASE AND THE DATABASE
OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES OF THE FREE-TRADE AREA OF
THE AMERICAS
13. The following two databases related to technical assistance have been identified within the
framework of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA):  the Trade-Related Technical AssistanceDatabase and the Database of Technical Assistance Programmes.
A. T
RADE -RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE DATABASE
14. The Trade-Related Technical Assistance Database (TRTAD) was developed to facilitate the
access of smaller economies to technical assistance and to better inform donors of the trade-related
technical assistance needs in the FTAA negotiations.  It is publicly available at
http://www.ftaa-alca.org/trt/ta/SearchTACountry.asp.  There are two sections in the
TRTAD:  "Technical Assistance Demand" and "Technical Assistance Sources".
15. The Technical Assistance Demand section contains an inventory of technical assistance needs
in 21 countries in the Western Hemisphere.  A search can only be carried out by country.  Countries
can update their information using an on-line form on the database site.  For each country,
information is provided on technical assistance according to negotiating needs and implementation
needs.  These two categories are then further divide d into trade disciplines, of which needs related to
technical barriers are included as a subcategory.  Examples of these needs are as follows:
Negotiating assistance needs
- Understanding agreements and commitments;
- Identification of technical cooperation needs for compliance with multilateral trade
commitments;
- Increased understanding of conformity assessment, mutual recognition agreements and
certification procedures;
- Establishment or improvement of conformity assessment, mutual recognition agreements and
certification procedures;
- Establishment or improvement of conformity assessment systems, testing laboratories and
certification entities based on international criteria and standards;
- Enhancement of local metrology capacity;
- The formation of specialized government units that will deal with matters of trade in
agricultural and agro industrial goods related to technical standards;
- Support for establishment or improvement of information systems and databases on technical
regulations and standardization programmes;
- Support on international standards organizations rules and their application;
- Training in the subjects of trade negotiations for both public and private sector to facilitate
meaningful interaction and supply of information;
- Support on issues such as trade and biotechnology, plant varieties, genetically modified
organisms and related matters,
- Determination of hidden TBT;
- Establishment or improvement of services to communicate information;
- Establishment of the legal framework to facilitate the flow of information to state and local
governments,
- Incorporation of public consultations into processes related to technical regulations;
- Implementation of a quality control system;  and
- Evaluation of existing technical barriers to trade in goods and services.G/TBT/W/207
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Implementation needs
- Training and education related to TBT;
- Monitoring WTO implementation in TBT;
- Mechanisms to fulfill WTO obligations;
- Materials and institution building;
- Adoption and implementation of laws and policies to fulfill commitments;
- Adjustment of infrastructure and procedures to comply with commitments;
- Establishment and strengthening of national system of standardization;
- Impact studies for establishment of systems of standardization;  and
- Technical assistance for trade-related litigation.
16. The Technical Assistance Sources section of the TRTAD contains an inventory of trade-
related technical assistance programmes offered by 46 institutions for the countries of the Western
Hemisphere. Donor institutions can update their information using an on-line form on the database
site.  For each institution, the database provides a description of the technical assistance programme(s)
offered, eligibility requirements to participate, type of funding, mode of delivery and contact
information.  It also lists studies on trade-related technical assistance which the institution hascompleted.  A search can be carried out by institutions.  Examples of TBT-related technical assistance
activities included in the database are as follows:
- Building technical and human resource capac ity to participate effectively in the
WTO negotiations to ensure country-specific concerns are taken into account;
- Course specific to the TBT Agreement;
- Assistance missions, education and training on regulations in specific sectors or issue areas;
- Assistance in the creation of a supportive trade-related regulatory and policy framework;
- Institution building to handle trade policy and TBT issues for specific sectors and issues;
- Assistance in the areas of standards and related activities (conformity assessment, quality and
environmental management, testing and metrology);
- Establishment of national enquiry points for TBT;  and
- Transfer of expertise in the field of legal metrology.
B. D
ATABASE OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES
17. The FTAA Database of Technical Assistance Programmes contains information on
programmes offered under nine trade-related categories, one of which is standards and technical
barriers.  It is available at www.ftaa-alca.org/tecass/tapindex.asp.
18. Eight organizations which provide technical assistance are listed in the category of standards
and technical barriers.  For each organization, the title and description of their programme(s),
eligibility requirements, fee (if any), and contact information is provided.  Examples of the training
courses listed are as follows:
- Strengthening national standards bureaux;
- Principles in metrology, standards-setting and conformity assessment;
- Standards and conformity assessment for specific countries and sectors;
- Quality and environmental control for small enterprises;  and
- Specialist degrees in quality, environmental and prevention.
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