G/TBT/GEN/218  
 
22 May 2017  
(17-2757) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL ELECTR OTECHNICAL COMMISSIO N (IEC)  
RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE WTO TBT COMMI TTEE  
STATEMENT BY THE IEC  
This document contains information provided by the IEC at the TBT Committee meeting of  29-30 
March 2017  under Agenda Item 4 (Technical Cooperation Activities) and Agenda Item 5 (Updating 
by Observers ). 
 
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1  AGENDA ITEM 4: TECHN ICAL COOPERATION ACT IVITIES  
1.1.  The IEC Regional Directors for Africa (IEC -AFRC) visited several IEC Affiliate countries, 
providing support to the National Electrotechnical Committees of Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, 
Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  
1.2.  On the conformity assessment side, the IEC, in collaboration with AFSEC, the African 
Electrotechnical Standardization Commission, held a regional se minar in Nairobi on the IEC ACAS 
e-learning modules.  ACAS is the Affiliate Conformity Assessment Status for developing countries 
participating free of charge in the IEC Affiliate Country Programme. Participants went through a 
number of modules to get a de tailed look at the ACAS e -learning course and information on the 
IEC CA Systems. An international audience attended with delegations from Côte D’Ivoire, DR 
Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, 
Zambia  and Zimbabwe.  
2  AGENDA ITEM 5: UPDAT ING BY OBSERVERS  
2.1.  The IEC is pleased to report that Liberia and Cabo Verde have joined the IEC Affiliate Country 
Programme bringing the total number of IEC Affiliate Countries to 87.  
2.2.  Madagascar, Mali and the Syrian Arab Re public have established their IEC national 
electrotechnical committees, a pre -requisite to benefit fully from the IEC environment. Details are 
to be found in our full report.  
2.3.  Under the terms of the Affiliate Country Programme, Madagascar and Tanzania have  taken 
the step to declare their first national adoptions of IEC International Standards. Adoptions of IEC 
IS also continue, with Bangladesh, Guyana, Senegal, Uruguay and Zambia having declared 
additional national adoptions. For Senegal, this meant upgradi ng their status to Affiliate Plus.  
2.4.  Botswana and Ecuador are actively participating in IEC standards development by using their 
right to submit comments on working documents.  
2.5.  Under the IEC Mentoring Programme, a partnership has been established between Nami bia 
and the UK to reinforce the Namibian national electrotechnical committee.  
2.6.  Finally, On 22 and 23 May 2017, the IEC will organize in partnership with Kenya Bureau of 
Standards (KEBS) and AFSEC, the African Electrotechnical Standardization Commission, th e very 
first International Conference on low voltage direct current (LVDC) for Sustainable Electricity 
Access, in Nairobi, Kenya. The aim is to promote the rapid expansion of LVDC as an important tool G/TBT/GEN/218  
 
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  to accelerate sustainable universal energy access. The conference will collect needs and 
requirements that will influence standardization work and key performance and risk assessment 
indicators. This will allow regulators and systems administrators to benchmark different LVDC 
solutions. The conference will esp ecially focus on using the World Bank Energy Sector Management 
Assistance Program (ESMAP) Multi -Tier Framework and how LVDC could be the tool for enabling it. 
The conference will also outline why LVDC is a disruptive technology that will fundamentally 
change and accelerate energy access and point out opportunities for growth of local economic 
activities.  
2.7.  For more details, I invite the Committee to visit the IEC Website and to download our full 
report .  
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