G/TBT/2/Add.85/Rev.1  
 
7 January 2015  
(15-0079)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT  
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
COMMUNICATION FROM RWANDA 
Revision 
The following communication under Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade 
has been received from Rwanda. 
  
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1.  In accordance with Article 15.2. Of the WT O Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) 
and considering the decision of the TBT Committee of 1 July 1995, concerning the Statement on 
Implementation and Administration of the Agreem ent as contained in Documents G/TBT/1/Rev.10 
of June 2011, the Republic of  Rwanda submitted to the Committee this statement on the 
implementation and administration of the agreement in Rwanda. 
2.  The Government of Rwanda accepted with effect from 22 May 1996 the Agreement establishing 
the WTO and associated legal Instrument included in Annexes 1, 2 and 3 (including the Agreement 
on Technical Barriers to Trade).  
3.  In October 2010, the Government of Rwanda put in place a National Quality Policy. The two 
main objectives of the Policy are to strengthen th e National Quality Infrastructure and to separate 
regulatory from Non Regulatory functions of RBS. 
4.  Effective from 1 August 2014, Rwanda Bureau  of Standards (RBS) became Rwanda Standards 
Board (RSB) as per the law No. 50/2013 of 28 June 2013 Establishing and Determining its Mission, 
Organization and Functioning as published in th e Rwandan Official Gazette No.30 of 29 July 2013. 
5.  Under the guidance of the Policy, and in line with international best practices, regulatory 
functions related to inspections initially carried out by former Rwanda Bureau of Standards were 
transferred to the Inspectorate Authority under th e Ministry of Trade and Industry while Rwanda 
Standards Board mainly focus on Standards Development and Information Dissemination, Certification, Metrology and Quality Testing activities.  
6.  The Ministry of Trade and Industry is th e overall coordinating agency of the WTO/TBT 
Agreement, and ensures that the obligations under  the Agreement are fulfilled. According to the 
requirements of the Agreement, the Ministry of  Trade and Industry acts as the Notification 
Authority and the Rwanda Standards Board as the National Enquiry Point for WTO/TBT 
notifications. 
7.  The principal responsibility for the national Notification Authority is the fulfilment of the 
notifications obligations under the TBT Agreement wh ile the responsibilities of the national Enquiry 
Point is responding to technical enquiries from other WTO Members regarding Rwanda's domestic regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures in force. G/TBT/2/Add.85/Rev.1 
 
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  8.  Notices concerning standards published by  Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) and technical 
regulations adopted by Regulators and other Government institutions are published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda. 
9.  Rwanda, through RSB accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and 
Application of Standards (Annex 3 to the TBT Agreement) on 7 March 2005 under document 
G/TBT/CS/N/159. 
10.  All enquiries concerning Rwanda's domestic regulations, standards and conformity assessment 
procedures in force should be addressed to: 
Rwanda Standards Board  
KK 15 Rd, 49 Kicukiro Centre 
P.O.BOX: 7099 
Kigali-Rwanda  
Telephone: + (250) 58 6103/ 582945 
Fax: + (250) 58 3305 E-mail: info@rsb.gov.rw  
Web site: http://www.rsb.gov.rw  
 
  
 
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