./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/2/Add.16/Supp.1
19 April 1999
(99-1558)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  Spanish
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Supplement
The following statement under Article 15.2 of the Agreement has been received from the
delegation of Chile.
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The delegation of Chile submits the following notification in order to bring up to date the
information about Chile contained in document G/TBT/2/Add.16, relating to the implementation and
administration of the Agreement on Technical Barriers  to Trade.  This text completely replaces the
original text.
1. The Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and the Agreement on Technical
Barriers to Trade, which is an integral part thereof, came into force as law of the Republic on
17 May 1995, after having been approved by the National Congress (Decree No. 16 of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, published in the Official Journal on 17 May 1995).
2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Directorate-General of International Economic
Relations, is responsible for coordinating international trade negotiations with regard to technicalregulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures.
3. The responsibility for implementing and administering the Agreement on Technical Barriers
to Trade lies with the Ministry of the Economy, Development and Reconstruction (Foreign Trade
Department).
4. The Foreign Trade Department is also the body responsible for fulfilling the information
requirements laid down in Article 10 of the Agreement.  The current address, telephone and telefax
numbers of the enquiry point are as follows:
Foreign Trade Department (DECOEX)
Ministry of the Economy
Teatinos 120, piso 11
Santiago, Chile
Telephone: (56-2) 698 81 48Telefax: (56-2) 697 49 05
E-mail: decoex@decoex.minecon.cl
5. The system operated in Chile with regard to the preparation of standards, technical
regulations and conformity assessment procedures takes into account the principle of non-interference
with the free operation of markets and freedom of trade, the application of non-discriminatoryG/TBT/2/Add.16/Supp.1
Page 2
treatment as between domestic and foreign products and, as far as possible, the use of international
standards as a basis for national standards.
6. The body responsible for examining standards in Chile is the National Standardization
Institute (INN).  The INN is a private-law foundation run by the Production Promotion Corporation(CORFO) and it represents Chile as a member of the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO).  The process of examination of standards is carried out in accordance with internationally
accepted ISO and IEC criteria.  Standards are adopted by means of a process of consensus-building
among the parties invited to participate from both the public and the private sector.  In the context of
the examination of standards, the public consultation process is announced in the Official Journal, and
texts of standards are made available to anyone requiring them.  Once standards have been approved
by the INN Council, they are given the official status by the corresponding Ministry, by means ofdecrees or resolutions, and are published in the Official Journal.  On 20 September 1995, the National
Standardization Institute (INN) accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and
Application of Standards.
7. Technical regulations are mandatory and the authority to issue them lies with the Ministries or
other Government bodies with competence in the specific area to be regulated.  They are approved by
laws, decrees or resolutions and are published in the Official Journal.  Prior to the adoption of
regulations, it is customary to establish participatory bodies for all the sectors involved, normally in
the form of commissions.
8. Conformity assessment procedures in Chile take the form of compulsory mechanisms
supervised by the Ministries concerned with health, hygiene and safety, as well as certain voluntary
systems such as the one administered by the National Standardization Institute.
9. With the aim of fully complying with its obligations under the Agreement on Technical
Barriers to Trade, and taking into account the need for the country to have an authoritative body of
law in the field of standardization, the Government is preparing a bill which establishes an
organizational framework for all aspects of national standardization practice, including standards,
technical regulations, conformity assessment and metrology, while at the same time defining the
institutional framework.
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