G/TBT/GEN/314  
 
9 April 2021  
(21-2988) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
OBSERVER UPDATE TO THE WTO TBT COMMITTEE  – FEBRUARY 2021  
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE  INTERNATIONAL  
ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION (ISO)  
This document contains information provided by ISO at the TBT Committee meeting of  
24-26 February 2021 under Agenda Item 6 (Updat e by Observers ). 
 
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1.1.  ISO would like to thank the WTO TBT for the opportunity to provide an update on ISO activities.  
1.2.  The ISO Strategy  2030, the result of a colla borative effort between our members, partners and 
stakeholders, was recently approved by ISO member bodies. It sets out our vision and mission for 
the next 10 years and a set of goals and priorities to help us get there. These goals are stepping -
stones to our vision and will help us to ensure that our work is making lives easier, safer and better.  
1.3.  An Implementation Plan and Measurement Framework have been developed as companion 
documents to the ISO Strategy 2030 and as working tools for ISO and our members. They will help 
us to successfully implement the ISO Strategy 2030, by ensuring that the actio ns we take are well 
aligned with the goals and priorities outlined in the Strategy. The ISO Strategy 2030 will be available 
publicly on iso.org  the week of 22 February 2021.  
1.4.  The ISO Action Plan for developing c ountries 2021 – 2025 (APDC) was approved in December 
2020. It is the strategic framework for technical assistance and training support that ISO delivers to 
its developing country members. While the Action Plan will seek to encourage increased use and 
adopt ion of ISO standards relating to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the priority 
focus is on international trade and climate change. Other key elements include good standardization 
practices, gender responsiveness and digitalization.  
1.5.  Over two -thirds of ISO members in developing countries are responsible for the WTO TBT 
inquiry point for standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Within the 
framework of the ISO APDC 2016 – 2020, a series of joint ISO/WTO training sess ions were organized 
in November 2020 on "Benefitting from the transparency framework of the WTO/TBT Agreement: 
the role of the NSB when holding the TBT inquiry point ". In total, 43 participants from 18 different 
countries participated in these interactive,  virtual training sessions. Two -thirds of the participating 
countries have submitted the post -training assignment. Since the training a 10% increase of the 
subscriptions of e -Ping users has been measured in the participating countries, about 20% of 
partici pating countries requested ePing Administration rights to optimize their use of the TBT 
transparency tool at the national level  
1.6.  The preparation of the ISO toolkit on Standards in support of Public Policies, aiming at providing 
practical guidance to NSBs on  how they can better contribute to an effective policy -making process 
within the context of Good Regulatory Practices (GRP), is ongoing. The toolkit will include a step -by-
step guide for effective collaboration with policymakers, case studies and a series of factsheets on 
specific topics of interest to National Standards Bodies (NSBs) and regulators. The p ublication is 
expected later in 2021.  G/TBT/GEN/314  
 
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  1.7.  The new ISO digital learning platform was launched in January 2021. The first release of 
content includes the mandatory ISO eLearning course on Project Management for Committee 
Managers and Support Teams, together with a selection of ISO microlearning vide os. This offering 
will be expanded throughout the year with various courses ranging from how to develop international 
standards to good standardization practices, as well as business competencies related to 
international standards development. Future platf orm developments will facilitate exchange 
experiences with fellow learners in dedicated forums.   
1.8.  A number of virtual regional workshops on conformity assessment -related topics will be held 
in 2021. They will cover, respectively, the use of conformity asses sment by regulatory bodies, and 
the setting up and operation of production certification activities. The ISO Capacity Building unit can 
be contacted at capacity@iso.org  for information on these and other capacity building activities.  
1.9.  On conformity assessment topics, we can report that ISO/IEC ISO/IEC 17060 Conformity 
assessment – Code of good practice  is currently under revision. The document will continue 
recommending good practices for all elements of conformity assessment and align with the recent 
versions of the related standards while considering developments in the conformity assessment . The 
publication is planned for next year.  
1.10.  In response to the COVID -19 crisis, The ISO Committee on Conformity Ass essment (CASCO) 
issued a statement  on the COVID -19 pandemic and conformity assessment. The statement highlight s 
that the CASCO Toolbox (ISO/IEC series of standards) enables the conformity assessment 
community to face the extraordinary period which the world is currently facing and maintain 
confidence in the global conformity assessment system. In addition, CASCO c reated a dedicated 
online page  collecting members ' experience and resources in response to the COVID -19 crisis, 
focusing on two areas: maintaining business continuity and carrying out conformity assess ment 
activities remotely.  
1.11.  CASCO updated the online page Conformity assessment tools to support public policy .  
1.12.  As a signatory of the UNECE Declaration on Gender -responsive standards, ISO is committed 
to enhancing the gender balance in standardization work and applying a gender lens to the standards 
development process. This work is being carried out within the framework of the ISO Gender Action 
Plan. Initial outcomes include a survey to collect data on gend er representation at the NSB -CEOs 
and technical committees levels, the creation of the ISO -IEC Joint Special Advisory Group on Gender -
responsive standards, the creation of a network of gender focal points (GFPs) in NSBs for knowledge 
and best practices sha ring, and the definition of guiding criteria to assess how standards support 
SDG5.  
 
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