G/TBT/GEN/261  
 
9 May 2019 
(19-3190) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS INDUS TRIAL DEVELOPMENT OR GANIZATION 
(UNIDO) RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE WTO TBT COMMI TTEE  
INFORMATION PROVIDED  BY UNIDO   
This document contains information provided by  UNIDO  at the TBT Committee meeting of 
6-7 March  2019 under Agenda Item 5 (Observers).  
 
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1  UNIDO ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT CONFORMITY A SSESSMENT BODIES IN DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES  
1.1.  Capacity building and competence development to conformity assessment bodies including 
testing laboratories a nd accreditation bodies has been one pillar of UNIDO 's quality infrastructure -
related technical cooperation projects and programmes with developing countries. UNIDO projects 
and programmes have been always designed and tailored in a demand -driven approach and aim to 
support extensively recipient countries in developing and delivering internationally -recognized 
conformity assessment services to their private sector and further serve their needs of industrial 
development, public health and safety, and interna tional trade. With support by UNIDO technical 
cooperation projects and programmes, conformity assessment bodies in developing countries could 
produce consistently accountable and trustable conformity assessment results and support 
producers and exporters a t affordable costs to verify and demonstrate compliance of their products 
to technical regulations, standards and requirements at national and foreign markets. These projects 
and programmes therefore enable developing countries to overcome technical barrie rs faced by their 
exports at foreign markets, reduce their trade cost and promote effectively their meaningful 
participation to international trade and global value chains by strengthening competitiveness.  
1.1  Trade Capacity Building (TCB) Project in Ghana  
1.2.  The project is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and during 
its second phase, UNIDO has supported two laboratories on microbiology testing in Ghana to be 
accredited successfully to ISO/IEC 17025 for the competence of testing a nd calibration laboratories 
in 2014 and 2017 respectively. With the engagement by the American National Accreditation Body 
(ANAB) in the accreditation process, UNIDO is further supporting a pesticide residue testing 
laboratory to attain accreditation to IS O/IEC 17025. An online training course was organized in 
January 2019 for personnel skills development and it is expected that the pesticide residue 
laboratory in Ghana will successfully achieve accreditation during the second quarter of 2019. 
Additionally,  a transition training was organized to all the assisted and other accredited laboratories 
in Ghana to obtain accreditation, aiming to upgrade their existing management system to align with 
new requirements of the new standard.  
1.2  Quality Infrastructure Progr amme for Central Africa (PIQAC)  
1.3.  The PIQAC programme supported a total of 7 laboratories towards accreditation in the Central 
African region with funding by the European Union. During its implementation, one laboratory per 
country has received training, te chnical support and equipment within a tailor -made scope of 
accreditation, as two laboratories in the region have been already accredited successfully to 
ISO/IEC  17025 standard - General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration 
laboratori es. G/TBT/GEN/261  
 
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  1.4.  In Cameroun, the National Veterinary Laboratory of Garoua (the LANAVET) has been accredited 
for its ELISA and PRC analyses on animal tissues, making it the first accredited laboratory in the 
region. The LANAVET carries out tests on animal tissues to pr otect the country, imports and exports 
from epidemics. It has now received an international recognition for the quality of its tests and will 
contribute to food safety in the country, thus improving the trust of national and international buyers 
towards Ca meroons ' products.   
1.5.  In Gabon, the laboratory of the Directorate -General for Consumption and Competition (the 
DGCC), located in the capital city Libreville, has recently been accredited for its microbiological tests 
on water. The laboratory, which is part o f the organ responsible in Gabon for competitive market 
regulation, control of the quality and safety of goods and services and the protection of consumer 
interests, is now able to carry out tests on the water distributed in the country, and has gotten 
international recognition for the quality of its analyses of water. It will act as a focal location for 
water control in the region.  
1.3  Environment and Agribusiness Laboratory (ENVAL) Accreditation in Cote d 'Ivoire, 
West Africa  
1.6.  In West Africa, UNIDO continues supporting the Economic Community of West African States 
(ECOWAS) Commission and the 16 West African countries to develop and strengthen their regional 
quality infrastructure. This support is provided via the West Africa Qua lity System Programme 
(WAQSP), an EU -funded programme implemented by UNIDO in support to the implementation of 
the ECOWAS Quality Policy (ECOQUAL).  
1.7.  With support by UNIDO, the ECOWAS Quality Infrastructure Scheme has been adopted and it 
is composed of a Re gional Council for Quality with four community committees operating in the fields 
of Standardization, Metrology, Conformity Assessment, Technical Regulations and a Regional 
Accreditation System (ECORAS) including three accreditation bodies: NiNAS (Nigeria) , GhaNAS 
(Ghana) and SOAC (8 West African Economic and Monetary Union). Among other, UNIDO has been 
supporting the Conformity Assessment Committee to strengthen the capabilities of laboratories 
towards ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation. So far, 12 testing labora tories have been selected in the 
framework of the WAQSP in the four ECOWAS priority areas namely the agri -food sector, buildings 
materials, pharmaceuticals and mechanics.  
1.8.  The ENVAL Laboratory in Cote d 'Ivoire has been accredited in the field of chemical a nd 
microbiological tests in water. With the support of the WAQSP Programme in terms of capacity 
building for personnel (8 technicians and 3 of them were women), equipment provision and 
accreditation assessment on ISO/IEC 17025, the laboratory has further e xtended its accreditation 
scope to cover fish and fishery products and other products in the agri -food sector. It is noteworthy 
that the ENVAL laboratory has now become a local conformity assessment service provider capable 
of delivering internationally -recognized testing services for food, water and textiles. Consumer 
protection is strengthened therefore by assuring enterprises and inspection authorities of reliable 
testing results.  
1.4  Strengthening Regional Accreditation System in West Africa  
1.9.  SOAC is a multi -economy accreditation body serving eight states in the West African Economic 
and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and it has been supported by a sustained multi -year capacity building 
programme funded by the EU and implemented by UNIDO. The programme has resulted r ecently in 
the issuance of the first four accreditation certificates to three laboratories in the agri -food sector in 
Côte d'Ivoire and one on the mass calibration in Benin. Now the region could also have a pool of 
over 100 resource persons able to be mobi lized for the needs of SOAC.  
1.10.   The SOAC coincides with the entry into force on 1 January 2019 of the Interim Economic 
Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed between Côte d'Ivoire and the European Union. The EPA 
agreement allows free access of certain products t o the EU market, provided that they comply with 
EU standards and requirements. Laboratories concerned in Côte d'Ivoire now can obtain 
accreditation from SOAC and, in turn, offer their competitive services to producers and exporters 
the country. Therefore, companies and exporters in the region could conduct their tests in competent 
laboratories at affordable costs, which could reduce their production and trade costs and support 
them to better reap the business opportunities and benefits brought by the EPA Ag reement.  G/TBT/GEN/261  
 
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  1.11.   The SOAC model has served as an instrument to foster regional integration, as it allows 
adhesion of other UEMOA Member States that do not yet have accreditation bodies. Similarly, UNIDO 
has also organized cooperation in accreditation in West Africa through the so -called ECOWAS 
Regional Accreditation System (ECORAS). This mechanism will allow intra -regional recognition of 
accreditation certificates issued within the region. In addition to SOAC, the region has the Nigerian 
Accreditation Body (Ni NAS), also established with the support of UNIDO, as well as GhaNAS, the 
Ghanaian accreditation body. At African and international level, SOAC and NiNAS are today full 
members of the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC), and they are respectively Affi liate 
Members and Associate Members of the International Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).  
2  UNIDO SUPPORT TO SMA LL HYDRO -POWER (SHP)  INTERNATIONAL 
STANDARDIZATION  
2.1.  Small hydro -power schemes have little or no environmental impact and can provide a range of 
valuable and sustainable energy services especially in rural areas. In regions with hydro -power 
potential, this form of renewable energy is the most cost -effective opportunity to energize on/off -
grid areas. Small hydro -power can be applied to satisfy low -to-medium voltage electric needs such 
as lighting or telecommunication and to provide motive power for small industry.  
2.2.  Upon request from International Centre on Small Hydro Power (ICSHP), UNIDO has supported 
the center through a project funded by China, to d evelop a technical guideline which will serve as a 
basis for the development of international standards for SHP development. This initiative focuses on 
the promotion of technologies that are needed to mitigate the effects of climate change and facilitate 
the growth in low -carbon renewable energy technologies, as well as create employment 
opportunities in an inclusive and sustainable context in line with the UN 2030 development agenda.  
2.3.  On the margins of the ISO General Assembly held in September 2018, UNIDO organized a 
meeting with the participation of the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), Austrian 
Standards International (ASI), Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) and the ISO Central Secretariat, 
to discuss the potential cooperation on developing a  new standard for SHP.  
2.4.  Following this initiative, ISO, during its Technical Management Board (TMB) meeting, held in 
Tokyo on 27-28 February 2019 voted positively on the development of an International Workshop 
Agreement (IWA): "Technical Guidelines for the  Development of Small Hydropower Plants - General 
Terms and Definitions and Design Principles ".  
2.5.  UNIDO would like to encourage interested parties in particular national standards bodies to join 
the SHP international standardization process.  
3  THE QUALITY INF RASTRUCTURE FORUM - THE CONTRIBUTION OF QUALITY 
INFRASTRUCTURE TO SU STAINABLE DEVELOPMEN T, 4 APRIL 2019  
3.1.  UNIDO would like to inform the Committee that in cooperation with the African Union, UNIDO 
is to organize a Quality Infrastructure Forum focusing on the  contribution of quality infrastructure to 
sustainable Development. UNIDO would like to draw the attention of the TBT Committee and is 
pleased to invite interested WTO Members and development partners to join the forum.  
3.2.  The forum will take place on 4 Apri l 2019 in Brussels, Belgium, and will convene the 
international community of quality infrastructure governance bodies and practitioners. The Quality 
Infrastructure Forum will combine interventions from policy makers, technical experts, private 
sectors and developmental partners that will assist in setting the future scene for collaboration on 
Quality Infrastructure. The event will focus on best practices of Quality Infrastructure for the 
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for the imple mentation of the African 
Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and how sustainability standards can help assist the 
private sector achieve the SDGs. The event will also serve to identify priority interventions for the 
further development of Quality Inf rastructure Systems in support to the Third Industrial 
Development Decade for Africa 2016 -2025 (IDDA 3).  
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