G/TBT/W/405  
11 May 2015  
(15-2456)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: Spanish  
 
  ECUADOR - EMERGENCY TECHNICAL REGULATION OF THE ECUADORIAN 
STANDARDIZATION INSTITUTE (RTE INEN) NO. 088: 
"SURFACE TENSION AGENTS" 
STATEMENT BY MEXICO TO THE COMMITT EE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
AT ITS MEETING OF 18-19 MARCH 2015 
The following communication, dated 8 May 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Mexico. 
 
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1.  Mexico wishes to submit the following trade concern with respect to Emergency Technical 
Regulation of the Ecuadorian Standardization Institute (RTE INEN) No. 088: "Surface tension agents", issued by Ecuador on 22 November 2013 and notified to WTO Members 
in document G/TBT/N/ECU/117. Mexico has expressed its concerns on the subject to Ecuador 
on a bilateral basis, but no replies have yet been received. This specific trade concern is accordingly submitted on the basis of the following questions: 
a. First of all, Mexico did not find in the regulations any specification or reference 
concerning unexpected events of an urgent nature that might have justified their being issued on an emergency basis. 
b. Paragraph 10.1 of RTE INEN No. 088 stipulates that evidence of compliance with 
the technical regulation, in the form of a "cer tificate of product conformity" issued by an 
accredited product certification body designated in the country, must be produced prior to the marketing of domestic or imported products covered by the Regulation. For 
imported products, the Regulation requires that the certificate be issued by an accredited 
product certification body, with accreditation recognized by the Ecuadorian Accreditation Agency or by a product certification body designated in accordance with the Law on the 
Ecuadorian Quality System. 
c. Mexico considers that the measure imposed under paragraph 10.1 of RTE INEN No. 088 
may infringe Article 5.1.1 and 5.2 of the TBT Agreement as regards access to Ecuador for Mexican products, since, according to information from the Mexican industry, there is 
no certifying body in Ecuador that can issue the "certificate of product conformity" for 
the products covered by the technical regulation in question. 
d. According to information provided by the Mexican industry, almost none of the countries 
from which Ecuador receives imports have bodies accredited to assess the conformity 
of products covered by RTE INEN No. 088, because the sanitary regulations are met through registration or notification. Mexico therefore requests information as regards 
compliance with all the provisions of  Article 5.2 of the TBT Agreement. 
2.  In view of the foregoing, Mexico submitted its formal comments on 24 February 2014, along 
with the following requests: 
a. To give consideration and respond to all the comments made by Mexico regarding 
compliance with the provisions of the TBT Agreement. G/TBT/W/405 
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  b. To explain or justify the urgent problems wh ich arose or threatened to arise for Ecuador 
that led it to adopt this "emergency" technical regulation and to disregard the transparency obligations laid down in Ar ticles 2.9 and 5.6 of the TBT Agreement, 
respectively; and in the light of the risk of not immediately applying RTE INEN No. 088, 
to consider providing for a transitional period to allow for comments and a possible 
adjustment of foreign suppliers to  the measures finally adopted. 
c. To clarify the rationale for imposing these labelling requirements, which differ from those 
contained in Andean Community Decision 706 and its regulations. 
d. To provide information as regards compliance by the bodies accredited to assess 
conformity of the products covered by RTE INEN No. 088 with the provisions of Article 5.2 of the TBT Agreement. 
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