G/TBT/2/Add.34/Rev.2  
 
22 October  2018 
(18-6626) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
IMPLEMENTATION AND A DMINISTRATION OF THE  AGREEMENT  
ON TECHNICAL BARRIER S TO TRADE  
COMMUNICATION FROM EGYPT  
Revision  
The following communication under Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade , 
dated  10 October 2018, has been received from the delegation of Egypt .  
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, the Agreement on Technical 
Barriers to Trade, (hereinafter referred to as the TBT Agreement) after having been accepte d by 
the presidential decree No 72 of 1995, and approved by the E gyptian People's Assembly on 
16 April 1995, came into  force for the Arab Republic of Egypt on 30 June 1995, and were 
incorporated into the domestic law . 
2  EGYPTIAN WTO/TBT ENQ UIRY POINT  
2.1.  The Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (hereinafter referred to as EOS) 
has been designated as the Egyptian WTO/TBT Enquiry Point.  The address, telephone, fax and e -
mail of the enquiry point are as follows:  
16 Tadreeb El - Modarrebeen St., Ameriya, Cairo – EGYPT  
Telephone: + (202) 22845522 ; + (02) 22845524  
Fax: + (202) 22845504  
E-mail: eos.tbt@eos.org.eg , eos@idsc.net.eg     
Website : www.eos.org.eg  
Chairman : Head of the EOS, Eng. Ashraf Ismail Mohamed Afifi.  
 
2.2.  The principal responsibilities of the Egyptian WTO/TBT Enquiry Point include responding to 
technical enquiries regarding technical  regulations, standards,  conformity asse ssment procedures 
and fulfilling notification obligation s under the TBT Agreement.  
3  TECHNICAL REGULATION S  
3.1.  Technical regulations based on standards are submitted to the Minister of Trade and Industry 
for approval and publication. There are other Ministries involved in the preparation, issuance and 
implementation of specific technical regulations, such as the Ministry of  Environment , the Ministry 
of Hea lth and Population , the Ministry of Electricity and Energy and  the Ministry of Agriculture .  
3.2.  The texts of the new adopted technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures and 
all legal acts falling under the scope of TBT Agreement are published in the Egyptian official 
Gazette.  G/TBT/2/Add.34/Rev.2  
 
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  3.3.  The e xpected length of time for presenting  comments on draft technical regulations or 
conformity asse ssment procedures by other WTO M embers is 60 days, unless otherwise is 
provided.  
4  STANDARDS  
4.1.  EOS is the sole authority responsible for issuing standard s in the Ar ab Republic of Egypt.  
a. EOS has accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and 
Application of Standards;  
b. The work programme on draft standards is available at EOS website and is also available 
at ISO website (WTO ISO Standards Informati on Gateway); and can be submitted upon 
request;  
c. All Egyptian standards are harmonized with international standards according to ISO/IEC 
Guide 21 .  
d. The reference for Egyptian Standards are internation al standards (e.g., ISO, Codex ) or 
any other regional sta ndards or domestic s tudies may be added;  
e. List of adopted standards are published in the Egyptian official Gazette , the EOS 
magazine , on the EOS website as well as  in the EOS standards catalogue . 
4.1  EOS t echnical committee  
4.2.  EOS has about 140  technical committees comprising professors of univ ersities and research 
centres, private and public production sectors along with trade, health and agriculture sectors 
besides representatives of the industrial and commercial federations and businessmen so cieties 
(from 7 to 15 members) to  guarantee impartiality and the  participation of all concerned 
stakeholders in developing the standard.  
4.3.  The main functions of EOS technical committee:  
a. The formulation of Egyptian standard;  
b. Participation  in the preparation o f the annual plan of the EOS Working Program 
(Issuance of Egyptian Standards);  
c. Study  the received comments and suggestions on the draft standards and carry out the 
required amendments according to the comments received  from inside Egypt or from 
WTO M embers  (outgoing notifications).  
5  CONFORMITY ASSESSMEN T PROCEDURES:  
5.1.  The basic technical infrastructure for conformity assessment procedures in the Arab Republic 
of Egypt is:  
• Testing labs : (Governmental, Private).  
• Certification : (Product -Governmental (EOS), Priva te) (System –Private).  
• Inspection : (Private, Governmental GOEIC (General Organization for Export and 
Import control)).  
• Metrology:  (Scientific, Industrial, Legal), (National Institute of Standards (NIS) and 
EOS).  
• Accreditation:  (Governmental (EGAC) Egypt Accreditation Council).  
 
6  MEMBERSHIP IN INTERN ATIONAL AND REGIONAL  ORGANIZATIONS:  
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO);  
• International Organization for Legal Metrology (OIML);  G/TBT/2/Add.34/Rev.2  
 
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  • Codex Alimentarius  (CODEX);  
• African Regional Organization for standardization (ARSO);  
• Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO);  
• European Organization for Quality (EOQ);  
• International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO);  
• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM intern ational);  
• European committee for standardization (CEN) as an affiliated member;  
• Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries (SMIIC).  
 
7  THE EGYPTIAN TBT NAT IONAL SUB -COMMITTEE   
7.1.  Egypt  has established the TBT National Sub -Committee in 2003 unde r the auspices of the 
Supreme national committee headed by the Minister of Trade and Industry. The subcommittee is 
comprised of all the relevant governmental and non -governmental stakeholders. The sub -
committee chairman is the head of the Egyptian organiza tion of Standardization and Quality, and 
the Technical Secretariat is the Central Department for World Trade Organization Affairs.  
7.2.  The main functions of the TBT Sub -committee include inter -alia:  
• Monitoring Egypt’s rights and obligations under the WTO TBT agreement;  
• Discussing TBT trade concerns both on the import and export sides;  
• Ensuring appropriate coordination among all Egyptian entities involved in 
formulating Egypt’s TBT measures.   
• Making recommendations to the Minister of Trade and Industry concern ing TBT 
matters of interest to Egypt.  
 
7.3.   Key agencies involved in TBT matters in Egypt include inter -alia:  
• Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (EOS) ;  
• General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOIEC);  
• The Egyptian accreditation  Council (EGAC);  
• Federation of Egyptian Industries;  
• Ministry of Health;  
• Export Councils;  
• Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation;  
• Ministry of Environment;  
 
7.4.  Recognizing the importance of transparency and predictability, Egypt has devised a national 
coordination mechanism established by the Prime Minister Decree No. 2489/2007 to ensure 
enhanced transparency on Egypt’s TBT measures and addressing other WTO members TBT 
notifications. This mechanism has in fact enhanced the procedures to notify all Egyptia n TBT 
related new measures as well as draft and modified ones, as evident from the increase in number 
of notifications.  
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