G/TBT/GEN/255  
 
7 February 2019  
(19-0722) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS E CONOMIC COMMISSION F OR EUROPE (UNECE) 
RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE WTO TBT COMMI TTEE  
STATEMENT BY UNECE  
This document contains information provided by UNECE at the TBT Committee meeting of 
14-15 November 2018 under Agenda Item 4  (Observers).  
 
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1  UNECE ACTIVITIES REL ATED TO STANDARDS AN D TECHNICAL REGULATI ONS  
1.1.  UNECE would like to recall that the organization hosts several standards setting bodies – 
including the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regula tions (WP.29) and UN/CEFACT among 
others. Additionally, a unique body, the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and 
Standardization Policies – or Working Party 6 (WP.6) - develops and disseminates best practice 
related to the development and implementat ion 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 th e equipment used in installations with a high risk of explosion.  
1.2.  The following recent activities of the UNECE are of particular interest to the TBT Committee:  
2  UNECE ACTIVITIES  ON "STANDARDS FOR T HE SDG s" 
2.1.  The focus of the work of the WP.6 in 2018 was to su pport its member states by developing 
guidance and best practice on how to use standards in operationalizing the priority of sustainable 
development and to the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.  
2.2.  These activities were supported by the project o n "Standards for the SDGs" which was funded 
by the PTB (the Metrology Body of Germany), ASTM International 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 to ol for policymakers, authorities, the civil society, business communities, and 
other stakeholders, for sustainable development and developing a culture of collaboration across 
cultures and methods of work.  
2.3.  The project has three main deliverables:  
a. A joint UN-ISO event (held on 26/09/18 in Geneva), which attracted over 800 people and 
was built on a peer learning approach with 4 breakout sessions: on SDG 6 "Clean Water 
and Sanitation", on SDG 7 "Affordable and Clean Energy", on SDG 11 focussing on the 
priorit y of smart cities and of disaster risk reduction, on SDG 14 "Climate Action" . 
b. 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  G/TBT/GEN/255  
 
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  c. 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 t hrough a dynamic search 
engine.  
3  GENDER -RESPONSIVE STANDARD S  
3.1.  The UNECE Working Party 6 currently leads the "Gender -Responsive Standards Initiative", with 
participation from international standards bodies (ASTM International; IEC, ISO, ITU) national and 
regional standards bodies (AFNOR, BSI, the Swedish Standards Institute, CEN/CENELEC, the 
Institute for Standardization of Moldova), governmental authorities, regional and intergovernmental 
organizations (WorkSafe New Zealand, the European Commission, the Eur asian Economic 
Commission), as well as NGOs (International Gender Champions, L'Association Réseau Normalisation 
et Francophonie, EDGE Certified Foundation) UN organizations (the International Trade Centre (ITC), 
UNAIDS, UNICEF, UN/WOMEN, and the World Mete orological Organisation) and academic and 
research institutions.  
3.2.  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.  
3.3.  The initiative aims to strengthen 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 
indicators and criteria that could be used in standards development.1 
3.4.  The most important achievement of the Initiative is a "Pledge" document, that standards bodies 
will be able to sign up to  at a date to be agreed during 2019. Upon signing the Pledge, standards 
bodies will commit to drawing up a "Gender Action Plan". This Gender Action Plan will contain actions 
that can be chosen from a list contained in an Annex to the declaration. Additiona lly, standards 
organizations that commit to the Pledge will also undertake to share information about their activities 
to implement their commitments on their website.2 
3.5.  The Declaration is embedded into a recommendation that will be submitted for adoption a t the 
forthcoming 28th Annual Session of the WP.6 in November 2018.  
3.6.  UNECE also wishes to support the proposal of Canada for a Thematic Session on role of gender 
in development 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  SECURITY  
4.1.  Another area of potential interest to the members of the WTO TBT Committee is the "S ectoral 
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 internat ional best practices.  
4.2.  This initiative 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, i ncrease market choice and reduce costs.  
4.3.  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, 
                                                
1 More information is available at: http://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-trade -
capacity -and-standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/gender -initiative.html   
2 The Pledge is available at: 
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/wp6/documents/2018/ECE_CTCS_WP.6_2018_06_Recommendatio
n_U.pdf  G/TBT/GEN/255  
 
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  such as electr ical energy supply, and other essential services that are the backbone of any national 
economy.3  
4.4.  Interested members are invited to comment o n the proposal and participate in the initiative.  
5  TECHNICAL  COOPERATION PROJECT  IN KYRGYZSTAN  
5.1.  In 2018, UNECE fina lized a complete training course on risk -based regulatory 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  
5.2.  The course materials were delivered for the first time in two capacity -building workshops, which 
took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (22 -25 May 2018) and Osh (28-29 May 2018). The workshops 
were part of a capacity -building project on "Strengthening the National Capacity of Trade -Support 
Institutions" which focused on building capacity for risk based regulatory systems with a focus on 
conformity assessment and m arket surveillance. The project was financed by the Russian Federation, 
with support by the Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan and the participation of the National Institute 
for Standards and Metrology, the Eurasian Economic Commission, UNDP and the Kyrgyz stan State 
University.  
5.3.  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 administrations within and beyo nd 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:  
a. "Managing Risks in Regulatory Frameworks" (Recommenda tion R - 2011)  
b. "Crisis Management within a Regulatory Framework" (Recommendation P - 2011)  
c. "Applying Predictive Risk Management for Targeted Market Surveillance" (S, 2016).  
6  EDUCATION  ON STANDARDS AND ST ANDARDS -RELATED ISSU ES  
6.1.  UNECE WP.6 has been working o n 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" https://www.unece.org/index.php?id=47848 .  
6.2.  This Publication (ECE/TRADE/440) 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 reviews 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.  
6.3.  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 
availabl e on existing University programmes on standards and standards -related issues that is 
available on the UNECE website https://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-
trade -capacity -and-standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/education.html . 
                                                
3 See:https://www.unece.org/fileadmi n/DAM/trade/wp6/documents/2018/ECE_CTCS_WP.6_2018_9E_C
ybersecurity.pdf ) 
4 https://www.unece.org/index.php?id=47846&L=0  or as online training.  G/TBT/GEN/255  
 
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  7  TWENTY -EIGHT H SESSION OF THE WORK ING PARTY ON REGULAT ORY COOPERATION 
AND STANDARDIZATION  POLICIES (WP6) ON 1 4-16 NOVEMBER 2018  
7.1.  The Twenty -eighth Session of the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and 
Standardization Policies (WP6) will take place from November 14 -16 (2018), and members of the 
TBT Committee, including countries that are not UNECE members, are invited and welcom e to 
attend.  
7.2.  More information is available at https://www.unece.org/wp6 -28th-2018.html  
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