G/TBT/GEN/281  
 
21 January 2020  
(20-0559) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
AGENDA ITEM 4 - RECE NT ACTIVITIES BY UNE CE  
INFORMATION PROVIDED  BY THE  UNITED NATIONS ECONO MIC COMMISSION FOR E UROPE  
This document contains the statement made by  the UNECE  at the TBT Committee meeting  of 
13-15 November 2019 under Agenda Item 4 (Updating by Observers).  
 
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1  UNECE ACTIVITIES REL ATED TO STANDARDS AN D TECHNICAL REGULATI ONS  
UNECE would like to recall that the organization hosts several standards setting bodies – 
including the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Re gulations (WP.29) and UN/CEFACT among 
others. Additionally, a unique body, the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and 
Standardization Policies – or Working Party 6 (WP.6) - develops and disseminates best practice 
related to the development and impleme ntation of technical regulations, standardization policies, 
and policies related to quality infrastructure as well as conformity assessment and market 
surveillance. It encourages and supports regulatory cooperation among members in specific sectors.  
The 2 019 meeting of the UNECE WP. 6 will be held from 20th to 22nd November 2019. UNECE 
renews its invitation for representatives of member states and diplomatic missions – including from 
countries not members of the UNECE – as well as other interested stakehol ders to actively 
participate.   
The present document summarizes recent activities of the UNECE WP. 6 that are of particular 
interest to the TBT Committee.  
1.1  UNECE activities on "Standards for the SDGs " 
The focus of the work of the WP. 6 in 2019 was promoting the use of standards and all other 
components of the national and international quality infrastructure system as a foundation of 
sustainable development and of international trade as a means for the achievement of the SGGs of 
the UN 2030 Agenda.  
Under this priority, during the current reporting period, UNECE launched the "Standards for the 
SDGs Portal https://standards4sdgs.unece.org  which offers user s:  
• a tool that allows you users to search among more than 1000 standards to identify those that 
can be used to achieve 4 of the 17 SDGs  
• a collection of case studies of countries, cities and regions that have successfully used 
standards for sustainability,  and  
• supporting online training materials.  
A brochure  is available online and provides further details.   
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  2  GENDER -RESPONSIVE STANDARDS INITIATIVE  
2.1.  Another important element of UNECE activities on the promotion of standards as a foundation 
of sustainable development is the "Gender -Responsive Standards Initiative ", with participation from 
international regional and national standards bodies, government al authorities, regional and 
intergovernmental organizations as well as NGOs, UN organizations, and academic and research 
institutions.  
The initiative aims to strengthen the use of standards and technical regulations as tools to 
attain SDG 5 (Achieve Gend er Equality and Empower all Women and Girls) and to integrate a gender 
lens in the development of both standards and technical regulations 1. Three years of broad 
consultation resulted in the adoption of the "Declaration on Gender Responsive Standards and 
Standards Development " (see: http://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-trade -
capacity -and-standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/gender -initiative.html ).  
The declaration has now been signed by international and regional standards bodies (i.e. ISO, 
IEC, ITU, CEN/CENELEC, ARSO) as well as over 40 national standards bodies worldwide. The list of 
signator ies keeps growing as new members are welcomed.  
Upon signing the declaration, standards organizations commit to developing a gender action 
plan. Many standards bodies have already drawn up these plans and some have started to actively 
implement them, for ex ample by developing a standard on equal wages; encouraging the 
participation of NGOs that represent the interests of rural and marginalized women in standardization 
and ensuring the participation of women in international standardization events.  
We encour age Members to sensitize their standards bodies to become signatories if they have 
not already done so and to participate actively in the ongoing activities. A brochure available on the 
UNECE website  provides further details.  
In this context, UNECE looks forward to the  Workshop on the role of gender in development of 
standards and technical regulations, which is scheduled to be held in 2 020, as part of 8th Triennial 
Review and stands ready to assist in the organization of the workshop and/or provide subject matter 
expertise. In preparing for the event, Members may wish to refer to the UNECE volume on "Gender 
Responsive Standards " which provides an analytical backdrop to mainstreaming gender in the 
development and implementation of standards. The volume is also made available on the UNECE 
website.  
3  SECTORAL INITIATIVE ON CYBER SECURITY  
3.1.  Another area of interest to the members of the  WTO TBT Committee is the "Sectoral Initiative 
on Cyber -Security " which aims to promote the convergence of national technical regulations 
currently in place, or yet to be put in place, in this sector towards a shared framework that is based 
on a risk -based  approach and other international best practices.  
This initiative is being developing by UNECE in partnership with the International 
Electrotechnical Commission. It aims at reducing barriers to trade for components, equipment, 
qualified persons and servic es, encourage competition, increase market choice and reduce costs.  
It also aims at increasing the level of data protection for banking, health and other essential 
data services and the level of reliability, continuity, safety and security of critical inf rastructures, 
such as electrical energy supply, and other essential services that are the backbone of any national 
economy.  
Interested members of the WTO TBT Committee are invited to comment on the draft proposal  
and participate in the upcoming meeting of the UNECE Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation 
and Standardization Policies.  
                                                
1 More information is available at: http://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-trade -
capacity -and-standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/gender -initiative.html   G/TBT/GEN/281  
 
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  4  RISK -BASED REGULATOR Y SYSTEMS  
4.1.  In 2018, UNECE finalized a complete train ing course on risk -based regulatory frameworks. The 
course can be made available both as an online tool and for in person training courses of different 
lengths. These materials are based on the methodology detailed in the publication: Training Guide 
on Reg ulatory Frameworks and Market Surveillance, available on the UNECE website. 2  
The foundation of these training modules is the large body of UNECE work aimed at promoting 
the use of risk management tools in regulatory systems.  A pilot project based on thes e materials 
was carried out in Kyrgyzstan in 2018 and we look forward to working with WTO TBT members to 
hold similar online and in presence trainings in additional countries and regions in future.  
5  EDUCATION ON STANDAR DS AND STANDARDS -RELATED ISSUES  
5.1.  UNECE WP.6 has been working on the priority of education on Standards and standards -related 
issues since the 1970s (see dedicated page  on our website). In 2018, it issued a publication on 
"Bringing standardization in University Curricula: Making the case " . The Publication advocates for 
integrating education about standardization into the curricula of educational establishments and 
presents priorities and directions for future work.  
UNECE participated actively in the 2019 Workshop of the "International Cooperation on 
Education for Sta ndardization (ICES) " and in the Academic Day of the World Standards Cooperation 
(WSC) held in Belgrade. At the session, participants agreed on the need to step up education on 
standards related issues as a contribution to institution -building for the world  we want.  
At the upcoming session of WP. 6, a high -level panel with participation by Universities from 
Europe (Berlin University, Rotterdam School Management, etc), Russia and Russian -speaking 
countries as well as China will discuss with representatives o f the standards community how to 
progress these activities.  
UNECE invites Members to involve their academic institutions, in their respective countries, to 
participate in the discussion and complement the compendium of information available on existing 
University programmes and programmes provided by standards organizations on education on 
standards and standards -related issues that is available on the UNECE website.  
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2 https://www.unece.org/index.php?id=47846&L=0   or as online training.