G/TBT/2/Add.34/Rev.3  
 
14 September 2022  
(22-6808) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT  
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE  
COMMUNICATION FROM EGYPT  
Revision  
The following communication under Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade , 
dated  12 September 2022 , has been received from the delegation of Egypt .  
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, the Agreement on Technical Barriers 
to Trade, (hereinafter referred to as the TBT Agreement) after having been accepte d by the 
presidential decree No 72 of 1995, and approved by the Egyptian People's Assembly on 16  April 
1995, came into force for the Arab Republic of Egypt on 30 June 1995, and were incorporated into 
the domestic law.  
2  EGYPTIAN WTO/TBT ENQUIRY POINT  
2.1.  The Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (hereinafter referred to as EOS) has 
been designated as the Egyptian WTO/TBT Enquiry Point. The address, telephone, fax and e -mail of 
the enquiry point are as follows:  
16 Tadreeb El - Modarrebeen St., Ameriya, Cairo – EGYPT  
Telephone: + (202) 22845522; + (02) 22845524  
Fax: + (202) 22845504  
E-mail: eos.tbt@eos.org.eg , eos@idsc.net.eg  
Website : www.eos.org.eg  
Chairman : Acting as a Head of the EOS, Dr.Eng. Kaled Hassan Sofy . 
 
2.2.  The principal responsibilities of the Egyptian WTO/TBT Enquiry Point include responding to 
technical enquiries regarding technical regulations , standards, conformity assessment procedures 
and fulfilling notification obligations under  the TBT Agreement.  
3  TECHNICAL REGULATIONS  
3.1.  Technical regulations based on standards are submitted to the Minister of Trade and Industry 
for approval and publication. There are other Ministries involved in the preparation, issuance and 
implementation of specific technical regulat ions, such as the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry 
of Health and Population, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Land 
Reclamation,  National Food Safety Authority of Egypt (NFSA) and the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) . 
3.2.  The texts of the new adopted technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures and all 
legal acts falling under the scope of TBT Agreement are published in the Egyptian official Gazette.  G/TBT/2/Add.34/Rev.3  
 
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  3.3.  The expected length of time for presenting comments  on draft tec hnical regulations or 
conformity assessment procedures by other WTO Members is 60 days, that for certain cases 
(depending on the urgency consideration) where this period could be extended or reduced .  
4  STANDARDS  
4.1.  EOS is the sole authority responsible for iss uing standards in the Arab Republic of Egypt.  
a. EOS has accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application 
of Standards;  
b. The work programme on draft standards is available at EOS website and is also available 
at ISO website (WTO  ISO Standards Information Gateway); and can be submitted upon 
request;  
c. All Egyptian standards are harmonized with international standards according to ISO/IEC 
Guide 21 ; 
d. The reference for Egyptian Standards are international standards (e.g., ISO, Codex) or  
any other  reference clarified in the Ministerial Decree  No.102/2022  or domestic studies 
may be added;  
e. List of adopted standards are published in the Egyptian official Gazette, the EOS magazine, 
on the EOS website https://www.eos.org.eg  as well as in the E OS standards catalogue . 
4.2.   EOS technical  committee s 
a. EOS has about 150 technical committees comprising professors of universities and 
research centres, private and public production sectors along with trade, health and 
agriculture sectors besides representatives of the industrial and commercial federations 
and businessmen so cieties (from 7 to 15 members) to guarantee impartiality and the 
participation of all concerned stakeholders in developing the standard.  
4.3.  The main functions of EOS technical committee:  
a. The formulation of Egyptian standard;  
b. Participation  in the preparation o f the annual plan of the EOS Working Program (Issuance 
of Egyptian Standards);  
c. Study  the received comments and suggestions on the draft standards and carry out the 
required amendments according to the comments received from inside Egypt or from WTO 
Members (outgoing notifications) or any other international organization . 
5  CONFORMITY ASSESS MENT PROCEDURES:  
5.1.  The basic technical infrastructure for conformity assessment procedures in the Arab Republic 
of Egypt is:  
• Testing labs : (Governmental, Private).  
• Certification : (Product -Governmental (EOS), Private) (System –Private).  
• Inspection : (Private,  Governmental GOEIC (General Organization for Export and 
Import control)).  
• Metrology:  (Scientific, Industrial, Legal), (National Institute of Standards (NIS) and 
EOS).  
• Accreditation:  (Governmental (EGAC) Egypt Accreditation Council).  
 G/TBT/2/Add.34/Rev.3  
 
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  6  MEMBERSHIP IN INTERNA TIONAL AND REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:  
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO);  
• International Organization for Legal Metrology (OIML);  
• Codex Alimentarius  (CODEX);  
• African Regional Organization for standardization (ARSO);  
• Arab Industrial Developmen t and Mining Organization (AIDMO);  
• European Organization for Quality (EOQ);  
• International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO);  
• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM international);  
• European committee for standardization (CEN) as an affiliated memb er; 
• Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries (SMIIC).  
 
7  THE EGYPTIAN TBT NATIONAL SUB -COMMITTEE  
7.1.  Egypt  has established the TBT National Sub -Committee in 2003 under the auspices of the 
Supreme national committee headed by the Minister of Trade and Industry. The subcommittee is 
comprised of all the relevant governmental and non -governmental stakeholders. The  sub-committee 
chairman is the head of the Egyptian organization of Standardization and Quality. The Technical 
Secretariat of the Supreme National Committee and the National TBT Subcommittee is the Central 
Department for World Trade Organization Affairs  in the Trade Agreements and Foreign Trade sector.  
7.2.  The main functions of the TBT Sub -committee include inter -alia:  
• Monitoring Egypt’s rights and obligations under the WTO TBT agreement;  
• Discussing TBT trade concerns both on the import and export sides;  
• Ensur ing appropriate coordination among all Egyptian entities involved in 
formulating Egypt’s TBT measures ; 
• Making recommendations to the Minister of Trade and Industry concerning TBT 
matters of interest to Egypt.  
 
7.3.   Key agencies involved in TBT matters in Egypt include inter -alia:  
• Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (EOS) ( Head of TBT National 
Sub-committee ); 
• The Central Department for WTO Affairs - Trade Agreements and Foreign Trade 
sector ; 
• General  Organization for Export and Import Control (GOIEC);  
• The Egyptian accreditation Council (EGAC);  
• Federation of Egyptian Industries;  
• Ministry of Health  and Population ;  
• Export Councils;  
• Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation;  
• Ministry of Environment;  
• National Food Safety Authority of Egypt (NFSA) ; 
• Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA).  
 
7.4.  Recognizing the importance of transparency and predictability, Egypt has devised a national 
coordination mechanism established by the Prime Minister Decree No. 2489/2007 to ensu re 
enhanced transparency on Egypt’s TBT measures and addressing other WTO members TBT 
notifications. This mechanism has in fact enhanced the procedures to notify all Egyptian TBT related 
new measures as well as draft and modified ones, as evident from the increase in number of 
notifications.  
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