G/TBT/GEN/259  
 
2 May  2019 
(19-3030) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE UN ITED NATIONS ECONOMI C COMMISSION FOR EUR OPE (UNECE) 
RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE WTO TBT COMMI TTEE  
INFORMATION PROVIDED  BY UNECE   
This document contains information provided by UNECE  at the TBT Committee meeting of 
6-7 March  2019 under Agenda Item 5 (Observers).  
 
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UNECE ACTIVITIES REL ATED TO STANDARDS AN D TECHNICAL REGULATI ONS  
1.  UNECE would like to recall that the organization hosts several standards setting bodies – including 
the World Forum for Harmonization of V ehicle Regulations (WP.29) and UN/CEFACT among others. 
Additionally, a unique body, the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization 
Policies – or Working Party 6 (WP6) - develops and disseminates best practice related to the 
development and  implementation 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 , such as the 
equipment used in installations with a high risk of explosion.  
2.  The following recent activities of the UNECE are of particular interest to the TBT Committee:  
1  MAIN RESULTS OF THE TWENTY -EIGHT SESSION  OF THE WORKING PART Y ON 
REGULATORY COOPERAT ION AND STANDARDIZAT ION POLICIES (WP6) O N 
14-16 NOVEMBER 2018  
3.  The 2018 session of the Working Party reviewed the activities undertaken in the intersession 
period to the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and discuss future direction of work to enhance 
the uptake of standards by policymakers for sustainable development. Notably, the meeting 
proposed and approved follow -up actions to the event "Standards for the Sustainable Development 
Goals " held on 26 September 2018  in Geneva, Switzerland as part of the ISO General Assembly and 
with the support of the PTB, ASTM International and IEEE. The meeting also discussed options to 
follow up to the Working Meeting on "Management tools and standards in support of SDG 14 ''Life 
below water '', held in October 2018 in Reykjavik, Iceland in cooperation with the International 
Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).  
4.  The WP.6 adopted the revised Recommendation T on "Standards and Regulations for Sustainable 
Development " and the Recommendation U on "Gender -Responsive Standards ".  
5.  The WP.6 also reviewed the direction of future work for the sectoral initiative on cybersecurity 
approved in 2017. The initiative on "Equipment for explosive environments " presented for adoption 
a revised version of its "Common regulatory arrangements " to be published in 2019.  
6.  The Secretariat presented two ne w publications on "Standards for the SDGs " and on "Bringing 
standardization in University Curricula: Making the case " and a number of partner organizations 
presented items for information.  
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  2  UNECE ACTIVITIES ON "STANDARDS FOR THE SD GS" 
7.  The focus of the work of the WP.6 in 2019 is to continue to support its member states by 
developing guidance and best practice on how to use standards in operation alizing the priority of 
sustainable development and the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.  
8.  These activities are supported by the project on "Standards for the SDGs " which was funded by 
the PTB (the Metrology Body of Germany), ASTM Internationa l and IEEE. The project has the stated 
objective of raising awareness among standards bodies on the 2030 Agenda, promoting the use of 
standards as a tool for policymakers, authorities, the civil society, business communities, and other 
stakeholders, for su stainable development and developing a culture of collaboration across cultures 
and methods of work.  
9.  The project has three main deliverables:  
• Awareness -raising activities, including a joint UN -ISO event (held on 26/09/18 in Geneva), 
which attracted over 800 people and was held as part of the ISO General Assembly;  
• A series of case studies, presenting the practical experience of policy makers  using 
international standards for sustainable development, with examples ranging from the 
subnational and national to the global levels, and from all regions, available at: 
https://www.unece.org/s dgs-isoweek2018.html ; 
• A database (still in course of finalization) that allows users to identify standards that 
support specific policies, link standards to SDGs and associated targets (currently, SDG6, 
SDG7, SDG11 and SDG13) and cross -reference standards through a dynamic search 
engine.  
3  GENDER -RESPONSIVE ST ANDARDS  
10.  As an important element of its activities on the promotion of standards as a foundation of 
sustainable development, the UNECE Working Party 6 leads the "Gender -Responsive Standards 
Initiative ", with participation from international regional and national standards bodies, 
governmental authorities, regional and intergovernmental organizations as well as NGOs, UN 
organizations, and academic and research institutions.  
11.  The initiative aims to strengt hen the use of standards and technical regulations as tools to attain 
SDG 5 (Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls), integrate the gender lens in 
the development of both standards and technical regulations, as well as elaborate gender ind icators 
and criteria that could be used in standards development. 1 
12.  The initiative works on the basis of bi -monthly webinar meetings and yearly in -person meetings. 
We encourage Members to sensitize their standards bodies to participate in the meetings and in the 
work of the initiative. At its 28th Session, in November 2018, the Working Party has approved a 
pioneering Recommendation on this matter.  
13.  The Recommendation calls upon authorities to work with the standardization bodies under their 
jurisdiction and  support them in adopting the "Gender -Responsive Standards Declaration ". The 
Declaration will be opened for signature on 14 May 2019. Signatory standards bodies will commit to 
drawing up a "Gender Action Plan ", containing actions to be chosen at the discre tion of the standards 
bodies. The Annex of the Declaration offers a list of exemplary commitments that can be included in 
the Standards Body action plan.2 
                                                
1 More information is available at: http://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-trade -
capacity -and-standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/g ender -initiative.html   
2 The Declaration is available in English and other languages on the UNECE website: 
www.unece.org/tradewelcome/tradewp6/thematic -areas/gender -responsive -standards -initiative/gender -
responsive -standards -declaration.html     G/TBT/GEN/259  
 
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  14.  UNECE also wishes to support the proposal of Canada for a Thematic Session on role of gender 
in devel opment of standards and technical regulations as part of 8th Triennial Review and makes 
itself available for assisting in its organization and providing subject matter expertise, subject to 
agreement by WTO TBT Members.  
4  SECTORAL INITIATIVE ON CYBER SECURI TY 
15.  Another area of potential 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.  
16.  This initiativ e 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 services, encourage competition, increase market choice and reduce cost s.  
17.  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 infrastructures, 
such as electrical energy supply, and other essenti al services that are the backbone of any national 
economy3.  
18.  Interested members are invited to comment on the proposal and participate in the initiative.  
5  RISK -BASED REGULATOR Y SYSTEMS  
19.  In 2018, UNECE finalized a complete training course on risk -based regu latory 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 Regulatory Frameworks and Market  Surveillance, available on the UNECE website. 4  
20.  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. This large toolbox has now been widely 
implemented by admi nistrations within and beyond the UNECE region. The UNECE risk based 
approach to regulation is presented in detail in the publication "Risk Management in Regulatory 
Frameworks: Towards a Better Management of Risks " (available at 
https://issuu.com/unpublications/docs/ece_risk_management ). UNECE has approved three 
recommendations to Governments on the risk -based approach to regulation and policies, as follows:  
• "Managing Risks in Regulat ory Frameworks " (Recommendation R  - 2011)  
• "Crisis Management within a Regulatory Framework " (Recommendation P  - 2011)  
• "Applying Predictive Risk Management for Targeted Market Surveillance " 
(Recommendation S , 2016).  
21.  These documents provide a foundation for the development of a holistic risk -based regulatory 
system, including risk -based regulations, conformity assessment and market surveillance.  
6  EDUCATION ON STANDAR DS AND STANDARDS -RELATED ISSUES  
22.  UNECE WP.6 has been working on the priority of education on Standards and standards -related 
issues since the 1970s. In 2018, it issued a publication on "Bringing standardization in University 
Curricula: Making the case "  
                                                
3 See: 
https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/wp6/documents/2018/ECE_CTCS_WP.6_2018_9E_Cybersecurity.
pdf) 
4 https://www.unece.org/index.php?id=47846&L=0  or as online training.  G/TBT/GEN/259  
 
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  23.  The Publication advocates for integrating education about standardization into the curricula of 
educational establishments. It presents evidence of the relevance of standards for policymakers and 
business executives as well as professionals. It then revi ews the efforts of UNECE since 2012 to date 
to improve education about standardization, as well as activities underway by universities, standards 
bodies and independent associations. The conclusions present priorities and directions for future 
work.  
24.  UNECE invites Members to involve their academic institutions, in their respective countries, to 
participate in the ongoing activities and in particular to complement the compendium of information 
available on existing University programmes on standards and stand ards-related issues that is 
available on the UNECE website5  
25.  In support of this work, on 17 April 2019, UNECE will sign a Memorandum of Understanding 
with the Jiliang University of China, the only university in the world dedicated to metrology, 
standardiza tion, quality supervision, inspection and quarantine, with more than 15,000 
undergraduate students.  
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5 https://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-trade -capacity -and-
standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/education.html