G/TBT/GEN/247  
 
25 June 2018  
(18-3987) Page: 1/2 
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 
19-21 June 2018 under Agenda Item 5 (Observers).  
 
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1.  UNECE would like to recall that the organization hosts several subsidiary bodies that develop 
standards  – including for example the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations 
(WP.29) - and UN/CEFACT among others.  
2.  Additionally, UNECE hosts a unique body, the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and 
Standardization Policies – or Working Party 6 – an intergovernmental body that develops and 
shares best practice in the area s of standardizat ion, technical regulations, conformity assessment 
and market surveillance. It also encourages and supports regulatory cooperation among members 
in specific sectors.  
3.  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 authori ties, regional and 
intergovernmental organizations (WorkSafe New Zealand, the European Commission, the Eurasian 
Economic Commission), as well as NGOs (International Gender Champions, L 'Association Réseau 
Normalisation et Francophonie, EDGE Certified Founda tion) UN organizations (the International 
Trade Centre (ITC), UNAIDS, UNICEF, UN/WOMEN, and the World Meteorological Organisation) 
and academic and research institutions.  
4.  The goals of the UNECE initiative are:  
a. To challenge the perception that standards a nd technical regulations are "gender 
neutral ". 
b. To enhance the contribution of standards in achieving the SDGs and specifically SDG5 on 
"Empowering Women and Girls ".  
5.  Concrete actions under the initiative include:  
a. promoting the equal participation of women  and men in standard -setting and processes 
related to the development and implementation of technical regulations;  
b. developing and sharing best practice on how to take into account biological and cultural 
differences in the development and implementation of  standards and technical 
regulations;  
c. developing gender indicators and criteria that can be used in standards development;  G/TBT/GEN/247  
 
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  d. identifying and undertaking actions to ensure that standards contribute to gender 
equality.  
6.  The initiative works on the basis of mo nthly or bi -monthly webinar meetings and yearly 
physical meetings. We wish to encourage Members to sensitize their standards bodies to 
participate in the meetings and in the work of the initiative.  
7.  The most important achievement of  the Initiative is a "Pledge" document, that standards 
bodies will be able to sign up to.  
8.  When the Pledge is going to be opened for signature, 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. Additionally, standards organizations that commit to 
the Pledge will also undertake to share information about their activities to implement their 
commitments on their website.  
9.  The Annex listing possible ac tions that could be contained in the Action Plan will remain as a 
living document. Information about the Initiative as well as the draft of the Pledge are available on 
our website . 
https://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-trade-capacity -and-
standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/gender -pledge.html   
 
https://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/steering -committee -on-trade-capacity -and-
standards/tradewp6/thematic -areas/gender -initiative.html   
10.  Another important initiative  underway in the WP. 6 is an event and research project 
undertaken in cooperation with standards organizations on how standards support and sustainable 
development.  
11.  The event, co -organized by UNECE , ISO and other standards organizations as well as other 
UN Agencies in Geneva, will focus on "Standards for the SDGs ". It will be held on 26 September 
2018 in Geneva.  It will capitalize on the presence in Geneva of more than 400 representatives of 
the standards community gathered for the ISO General Assembly. We hope to attract 
policymakers from the UNECE region and beyond to the event, to promote the value of standards 
for the realization of the SDG goals by countries and communities .  
12.  As part of this project, UNECE launched an ambitious research effort that aims at mapping 
standards that can be used for the implementation of four SDGs: SDG 6 on Water and Sanitation, 
SDG 7 on Energy, SDG 11 with a special focus on "Disaster Risk Reductio n" and SDG 13 on 
"Climate Change ".  
13.  Finally, a  technical cooperation project "Strengthening the national capacity of trade -support 
institutions of Kyrgyzstan " is under way by the secretariat of the Working Party. The project is 
based on the UNECE Needs Ass essment Study on Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade in 
Kyrgyzstan from 2015.  
14.  The objective of the project is to support Kyrgyzstan in transition towards a risk -based 
regulatory system in particular as regards market surveillance and enforcement a uthorities.  
 
 
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