G/TBT/GEN/361  
 
13 September  2023 
(23-6076) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
UNID O UPDATE TO THE TBT COMMITTEE  
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION  
(UNID O) 
This document contains information provided by UNID O at the TBT Committee meeting of 
21-23 June 2023 under Agenda Item 5 (Update by Observers).1 
 
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UNIDO  is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for 
poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mission of UNIDO is 
to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial de velopment (ISID) in Member States. 
UNIDO's mandate is anchored in Sustainable Development Goal 9: "Build resilient infrastructure, 
promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation".  
UNIDO has been the largest multilateral player i n quality infrastructure development and a preferred 
partner of many developing countries. For more than 40 years, UNIDO has been supporting partner 
countries to increase their competitiveness through quality and compliance with standards. UNIDO's 
approach  to QI development is systemic and holistic, from building awareness to helping initiate, 
develop and strengthen a fit -for-purpose QI that runs efficiently and is cost -effective. UNIDO 
promotes good practice, capacity building and training, and fosters glo bal cooperation in 
standardization, measurement and compliance along value chains.  
In view of enhancing the capacity of developing countries to participate in global trade and facilitate 
the implementation of the multilateral agreements including the WTO TBT Agreement, UNIDO 
strengthens national and regional quality infrastructure (QI) s ystems by defining quality -related 
policies and good governance strategies, strengthening metrology, standardization and accreditation 
services, building conformity assessment capacities, enhancing the competitiveness of the private 
sector and promoting qu ality awareness.  
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE  
1  GLOBAL QUALITY AND STANDARDS PROGRAMME (GQSP)  
1.1.  The Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP) is a programmatic framework, which 
was designed to encourage systematic trade development along specific value chains by 
strengthening quality infrastructure institutions and service providers, enhancing the compliance 
capacity of private sector actors, particularly SMEs and creating a culture of quality among all 
stakeholders in more than 10 countries. GQSP is funded by the Swiss Confederation through the 
Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by UNIDO.  
1.1  GQSP Ghana  
1.2.  Conformity assessment procedures are used to ensure that relevant requirements in technical 
regulations or standards are fulfilled. In  Ghana, the GQSP Programme has been providing support 
 
1 In original language only.  G/TBT/GEN/361  
 
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  in upgrading the conformity assessment system in the country for international recognition of its 
services and conformity assessment results.  
1.1.1   Upgrade of the National Accreditation Body  
1.3.  Technical suppor t has been provided to upgrade the nascent National Accreditation Body, 
known as the Ghana National Accreditation Service (GhaNAS) to move from an affiliate member of 
ILAC to an associate member of ILAC and prepare GhaNAS for peer review. The presence of a n 
internationally recognized national accreditation body will help maintain the high degree of 
confidence in testing results  
1.1.2   Upgrade of National Product Certification Activity  
1.4.  Recognizing that product certification with the attendant mark of conformity i s a key tool that 
could facilitate trade, the project is supporting Product Certification Scheme of the Ghana Standards 
Authority (GSA) to expand the scope of accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065. Trainings were provided to 
key inspectors to develop their skills  and expertise, to for international recognition of the product 
certification scheme.  
1.2  GQSP South Africa  
1.5.  The objective of the GQSP South Africa Project was to strengthen the quality and standards 
compliance capacity to facilitate market access for SMEs in the essential and vegetable oils value 
chain destined for cosmetic and health markets.  
1.6.  This was done by providing targeted interventions to:  
• Strengthen the technical competence and sustainability of the National Quality Infrastructure 
(NQI) institutions an d service providers to offer product quality conformity assessment 
services that are fit -for-purpose at affordable prices.  
• Support SMEs to comply with international market requirements (standards and technical 
regulations) in order to access markets (local , regional and international).  
• Promote a culture of quality by supporting SMEs and institutions to embed the need for quality 
at individual, institutional and policy levels to build the reputation of the products produced.  
1.7.  As a result of the project:  
• Two South African national standards were developed in order to position the profile of South 
African oils in the international arena. The 1st South African indigenous essential oil national 
standard: SANS 4731:2021 (Rose geranium oil), is based on the interna tional standard: ISO 
4731:2012. This was followed by the development of the 1st home -grown South African 
indigenous vegetable oil national standard: SANS 2239:2022 (Baobab seed oil).  
• Industry learning and compliance around marking and accuracy requirement s for 
prepackaging was accelerated in order to gain access to the export market when 12 SMEs 
were assisted with compliance with legal metrology marking requirements and trained on legal 
metrology prepackaging requirements in order to gain market access.  
• Three essential oil test laboratories were identified for technical assistance and training to 
prepare for accreditation against the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 in order to provide a 
comprehensive accredited testing service within South Africa for profilin g of the physical and 
chemical properties of the essential oils produced in South Africa.  
1.8.  In collaboration with the industry association, Southern African Essential Oil Producers 
Association (SAEOPA), a 5 -level training curriculum was developed and present ed to SMEs along the 
essential and vegetable oil value chains in collaboration with an industry association for their quality 
assurance in a consistent manner.  
1.3  GQSP South Africa Phase II  
1.9.  The Phase II project was launched in June 2023 and aims to further strengthen the South(ern) 
African essential and vegetable oils value chain to enable sustainable and competitive market access 
for SMEs. The project envisages three complementary outcomes:  G/TBT/GEN/361  
 
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  • Technical competence and sustainability of the National Quality Infrastructure (QI) System is 
enhanced.  
• SME compliance with international standards and technical regulations is strengthened.  
• A conducive policy environment and culture for quality are str engthened.  
 
1.10.  New initiatives will be developed to introduce new technologies including digitalization and 
support to the Government in the development of a national quality policy for South Africa.  
2  WEST AFRICA COMPETITIVENESS PROGRAMME (WACOMP)  
2.1.  The West Af rica Competitiveness Programme (WACOMP), funded by the European Union, aims 
to support several selected value chains at the national and regional level so as to promote structural 
transformation and better access to regional and international markets while  taking into account 
social and environmental concerns. The major objectives of the programme are to strengthen the 
competitiveness of West African countries and also enhance their integration into the regional and 
international trading system. Within this  update period, technical assistance has been provided to 
various countries including Ghana:  
2.1  WACOMP Ghana  
2.2.  Over eight MSMEs and 1D1F (1 district 1 factory) companies were supported to implement 
GMP, Quality and Quality Assurance Standards in their manufactu ring operations. Two cosmetics 
testing laboratories was supported in their accreditation process in line with IEC/ISO 17025. 
Certificate of Analysis Format  was harmonized and product standards were developed for multiple 
products including cosmetics to imp rove compliance to market requirements. SMEs were trained to 
comply with international standards such as: ISO 9001 Quality Management System, ISO 14000 
Environment Management System and ISO 45000 Occupational Health and Safety Standards.  
3  AFRICAN CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC (ACP) QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMME  
3.1.  With the view to assist the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) to overcome 
technical barriers to trade (TBT), since 2019 UNIDO has been collaborating with the World Bank 
(WB) and the Int ernational Trade Centre (ITC) to implement a programme "Supporting business -
friendly and inclusive national and regional policies, and strengthening productive capabilities and 
value chains" with funding from the European Union.  
3.2.  Based on the above coopera tion, a full -fledged project entitled "Supporting quality and 
regulatory infrastructure, value chain -specific quality infrastructure services and quality culture 
promotion in the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States" was approved and entered into  
implementation. The project is funded continuously by the European Union and it is devoted to 
Quality Infrastructure in order to help the three ACP regions tackle TBT issues.  
3.3.  This project aims to contribute to enhancing the regional quality and regulatory  infrastructure 
(Q&RI) governance in ACP countries, strengthening the availability of value chain specific QI Services 
and promoting quality culture and practices. The desired outcome at the end of that project is to 
have an enhanced Q&RI climate that supp orts and enhances the ability of firms to compete, grow 
and prosper in domestic, regional and international markets. The regional technical partners for this 
project are the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), the CARICOM Regional Organization  
for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS).  
3.4.  Through this project, UNIDO will support the harmonization of the policy, regulatory and 
strategic frameworks at the regional levels supporting the development of regional  Quality and 
Laboratory Policies, Regulatory Framework and drafting of QI specific legislation. Support will be 
provided for the strengthening of QI services for selected regional value chains including automotive. 
To increase the culture of quality, the a wareness of and education on quality topics will be enhanced 
in industry, the education sector and consumer associations.  
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