G/TBT/GEN/239  
 
20 November 2017  
(17-6332) Page: 1/7 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 ACTIVITIES OF THE AFRICAN ORGANISATION  FOR STANDARDISATION (ARSO ) 
RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE WTO TBT COMMI TTEE  
STATEMENT BY ARSO  
This document contains information provided by ARSO  at the TBT Committee meeting of  
8-9 November 2017  under Agenda Item 4 (Updating by Observers) .  
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1  The African TBT Continental Agenda  
1.1.  The African Union has embarked on perhaps what is one of its most ambitious developmental 
projects yet: establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area. The desi gn of a continental scheme 
to deal with Technical Barriers to Trade is one of the essential requirements for the success of the 
CFTA implementation. African countries and RECs have long recognized this and have established 
national and regional quality inf rastructures, including the establishment of the Pan African Quality 
Infrastructure (Comprising ARSO, AFRAC, AFRIMETS and AFSEC) in 2013 to address the technical 
barriers to trade and facilitate the harmonization of technical regulations, standards and 
conformity assessment procedures.  
1.2.  As per the WTO TBT Agreement, it is recognised that the Technical barriers to trade are 
necessary and acceptable if applied for justifiable reasons and implemented in accordance with 
international best practice. When impleme nted for protectionist reasons or in ways that defeat 
WTO fair trade principles, TBTs become unjustified obstacles to trade.  
2  ARSO – THE AFRICAN ORGANISA TION FOR STANDARDISA TION  
2.1.  ARSO, admitted as an Observer Organi zation of the WTO -TBT Committee in November  2015, 
is an intergovernmental Organisation established by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 
currently African Union (AU)) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in 
1977, with 21 African Governments.  
2.2.  The principal mandate of AR SO is to harmonise African Standards and conformity assessment 
procedures in order to reduce Technical Barriers to Trade to enhance intra -African and 
international Trade as well as industrialization and Integration in Africa.   
2.3.  Currently ARSO has 36 member States (Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote 
d'Ivoire, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, 
Guinea -Bissau, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, 
Nigeria, Rwanda, Se negal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, South Africa, Swaziland, 
Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with Zanzibar as an Observer member.   
2.4.  The ARSO Standardisation Agenda is driven by the global perspectives on Trade and Qual ity 
Issues and by the AU Decisions on specific areas of interest, the latest of which was the 
declaration on the year 2017 as African year of Quality Infrastructure by the 9th Ordinary Session 
of the AU Conference of Ministers of Trade of 1 –5 December 2014 , Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as an G/TBT/GEN/239  
 
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  emphasis on the importance of focusing on Quality Infrastructure as an enabler for both 
International and intra -African Trade and sustainable Economic development.  
2.5.  ARSO takes this opportunity to highlight the "Film – Quality  for Africa - how to trust the 
invisible " (https://www.ptb.de/candela/ ) made by PTB -Germany in collaboration with the Pan 
African Quality Infrastructure (PAQI) under the Africa -PTB project, upgrading of Quality 
Infrastructure in Africa, and in reference to the thematic year "African Year (2017) of Quality 
Infrastructure ". The film has been shared both in the PAQI and ARSO Websites, accordingly:  
 https://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=JGu4Yi69wBI  
 http://www.paqi.org/gallery/  
 http://www.arso -oran.org/publications/  
 
3  UPDATE ON ARSO ACTIV ITIES  
3.1.  In response, ARSO has been engaged, under its 2012 -2017/ 2017 -2022 Strategic Plans, in 
the following activities, to address the TBT issues in Africa:  
3.1  Policy Initiatives  
3.2.  During 2017, ARSO continued to engage the African Leadership in pushing for policy 
initiatives for mobilising reso urces and strengthening Quality Infrastructure in Africa.  
3.3.  Plans are underway for the ARSO Council members to make a visit to the African Union 
Chairman His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda in 2018 at the AU 
Headquarters to push f urther for policy interventions on Quality Infrastructure in Africa.  
3.2  Launching of the ARSO 2017 – 2022 Strategic Plan.  
3.4.  In June 2017, at the 23rd ARSO General Assembly events, Ouagadougou, Burkina  Faso, ARSO 
launched its 2017 – 2022 Strategic Plan, transit ing from the 2012 -2017 strategic plan.   
3.5.  The ARSO 2017 -2022 is focusing on ARSO Programmes meant to:  
i. Facilitate the implementation of the Continental Free Trade Area and Africa's 
industrialisation and Integration  
ii. Strengthen Quality Infrastructure in Africa through the PAQI Forum and cooperation 
with African Union, UNECA, RECs and development Partners.  
iii. Increased Harmonisation and implementation of African Standards and relevant 
international standards.  
iv. Strengthen the Conformity Assessment to serve the interes t of African industries, 
farmers, producers and consumers.  
v. Promote greater implementation of the WTO TBT Committee Agreement in Africa to 
respond to the challenges of global trade.  
vi. Ensure that national and sub -regional policy and decision -makers have suffi cient 
understanding of the available policy instruments for technical harmonisation and the 
crucial role of standards in particular  
vii. Ensure that major economic actors in strategically important sectors of national and 
sub-regional economies are aware of tra de related benefits of regionally and 
internationally harmonised standards  G/TBT/GEN/239  
 
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  3.3  Standards Harmonisation through the ARSO Technical Harmonisation Committees 
(THCS)   
3.6.  ARSO, through its Technical Standards Harmonisation Committees, comprising African 
Experts schedu led and held various standards Harmonisation meetings based on the WTO TBT 
Agreement guidelines, Annex 3 on Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and 
Application of Standards:   
i. ARSO -THC 02 – Agriculture and Food Products, 25 –28 April 2017, Na irobi, Kenya  
ii. ARSO -THC 03  – Building and Civil Engineering, 7 –9 June 2017, Kigali, Rwanda  
iii. ARSO -THC 02 – Agriculture and Food Products, 26 –29 September  2017, Nairobi, 
Kenya  
iv. ARSO -THC 12 -1 – Service/Finance -17–20 October 2017, Nairobi, Kenya  
v. ARSO -THC 05 – Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 28 -30 November 2017, 
Nairobi, Kenya  
vi. ARSO -THC 03  – Building and Civil Engineering, 05 –07 December 2017, Nairobi, 
Kenya  
3.7.  Partners include: African Union, African Development Bank, PTB -Germany, United  Nations 
Economic Community for Africa (UNECA). The Experts are drawn from the Public and Privates 
Sectors, Academia and NSBs from all African Countries.  
3.4  Conformity Assessment  
3.8.  There are sustained efforts, within the International Conformity Assessment Best Practices, to 
strengthen the ARSO Conformity Assessment Programme (ARSO CACO) that is focusing on 
harmonisation of the Conformity Assessment Procedures and encouraging Mutual Recognition 
Arrangement Agreements among African countries. The latest meeti ng was held on 4 -6 October 
2017 in Swakopmund, Namibia, where relevant documentations, guides and training manuals were 
reviewed.  
3.9.  The Participating Countries are - Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, DR. Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, 
Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, N igeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, 
Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.   
3.5  African Ecolabelling Mechanism (AEM)  
3.10.   The ARSO AEM project is being implemented by ARSO, in cooperation with the AU, UNECA, 
ARSCP, UNEP AND the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), as one of the key activities 
identified under the 2005 African 10 Year Framework Programme and the  Fourth African 
Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption  and Production (ARSCP -4) to expand the market access 
of Africa n Products in regional and international markets by improving their environmental profiles.   
3.11.   Four sustainability standards (ARS -AES) have been harmonised covering four sectors 
(forestry, tourism, fisheries and agriculture) and the Transfer of the ECOMARK A frica Label from 
GIZ-Germany to ARSO is underway.  
 G/TBT/GEN/239  
 
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4  AWARENESS CREATION O N QUALITY INFRASTRUC TURE/STANDARDISATION  ISSUES  
4.1.  1–4 April 2017 at the Elephant Hills Hotel, Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe, ARSO held the 2nd 
ARSO President Forum and the Made in Afric a Conference and Expo 2017 under the theme: Made 
in Africa as A Pillar for African Economic Integration, Industrialisation and Transformation Agenda, 
in an event attended by Sixteen (16) African countries (Benin, Botswana, DR Congo, Gabon, 
Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, 
Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Observer Missions (ACP -EU-TBT Programme, UNECA, RECs (ECOWAS) 
and Zimbabwe Companies.   
4.2.  11–14 April 2017 ARSO Council members visited th e ARSO Goodwill Amba ssador, 
Her Excellency Mrs. AMEENAH GURIB -FAKIM, GCSK, CSK, PHD, President the Republic of Mauritius 
to create more awareness on the for Policy interventions among African leaders in favour of better 
Quality Infrastructure in African Countries.  
4.3.  23-25 May 2017 at Serena Hotel, Rwanda, during the 2nd East African Manufacturing 
Business Summit, ARSO shared standardization experience and benefits for harmonizing standards 
and conformity assessment systems for African countries.   
4.4.  28–30 June 2017, at the 23rd ARSO General Assembly attended by ARSO Delegates from 
ARSO member States, the African Union, UNECA, African RECs and Standardisation Bodies  (AFRAC 
AFRIMETS AFSEC ECOWAS UEMOA), International Community (AFNOR, BSI, CEN -CENELEC, 
DNVGL -France, HKI IEC, INBAR, I ntertek, ISO, ITC, KAS/KATS/FITI, PTB -Germany, QCI -India 
RNF, SMIIC, TSE, UNIDO) ARSO held its 5th African Day of Standardisation and Made in Africa Expo 
under the theme on the Benefits of Quality Infrastructure for Trade and Economic Development, 
and its 4th Standardisation Essay Competition award giving and recognition ceremonies.  
4.5.  2 August 2017, ARSO President and SAZ Director General, Dr Eve Christine Gadzikwa 
Delivers A Keynote Address at the SADC Industrialisation Week and Made in Africa Conference at 
the Core Shopping Centre, Sunning hill Johannesburg, South Africa, emphasising the need for 
Quality Infrastructure for African Industries. SADC had launched its industrialization strategy & 
road map 2015 -2063 at an extra ordinary summit hosted in Zimbabwe in April 2015.   
4.6.  2 August 2017: Dr Hermogene Nsengimana, PAQI Chairperson and ARSO Secretary General 
Delivered a Keynote Address at the AFRIMETS Africa Quality Day. The AFRIMETS Quality Day was 
one of the series of the celebrations by the Pan African Qualit y Infrastructure (PAQI) Institutions 
(AFRAC, ARSO, AFRIMETS and AFSEC) in the celebrations of the 2017 as Year of African Quality 
Infrastructure.  
G/TBT/GEN/239  
 
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  4.7.  4–6 October 2017, The Pan African Quality Infrastructure (PAQI) held its Consultative 
meeting in Cairo, Egypt focusing on the TBT ISSUES IN Africa and the TBT chapter of the 
continental free trade area negotiations. The Meeting reviewed and approved the PAQI document 
on the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Policies of African 
Regional Economic Communities (RECs).  
5  INFORMATION DISSEMIN ATION  
5.1.  Under the ARSO Documentation and Information Networks (ARSO DISNET) ARSO through 
the support of the ACP -EU-TBT Programme continues to develop the Africa Trade Web Portal as a 
tool for informa tion dissemination on Trade and TBT/SPS requirements of various African Products 
to facilitate Trade (http://trade.arso -disnet.org/).  
5.2.  Under the new ARSO Strategic Plan 2017 -2022, ARSO will initiate the ARSONET as 
information network for the African NSBs l ibraries and Information centres, and in cooperation 
with the National enquiry points, for active dissemination of standardisation and trade information.  
5.3.  ARSO Newsletter  - ARSO published its June 2017 -September 201 7 Newsletter Edition that 
covers issues on: Quality Infrastructure within the celebrations of the 2017 as year of Quality 
Infrastructure; elaborating the government responsibilities in establishing and maintaining a 
National Quality Infrastructure; the prom otion of African products through the ARSO Made in Africa 
Expos; ARSO standards Harmonisation activities; Highlights of ARSO member States Activities; 
and photo gallery on some milestones within the 2017 Year.  
5.4.  14 October 2017, World Standards Day 2017 on the theme "Standards make cities smarter " 
ARSO published an article titled "Relevance of the Theme to Africa with  regards to Africa 's 
Urbanization Challenges and the role of ARSO -THC 03 on Building and Construction " 
http://www.arso -oran.org/standards -make -cities-smarter/  
6  BILATERAL MEETINGS A ND AGREEMENTS  
6.1.  29 June 2017, at the 23rd ARSO General Assembly Events, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 
ARSO Signed an MoU with INBAR. The MoU focuses on r aising awareness among African countries 
on the role of bamboo and facilitate the development and harmonisation of bamboo and rattan 
standards for Africa as well as to enable African states to participate in International Organisation 
of Standardisation (I SO) through the ISO TC 296 – Bamboo and Rattan, ISO TC 165 –Timber 
Structures, and ISO TC89 – Wood Based Panels.  
6.2.  29 June 2017, at the 23rd ARSO General Assembly Events, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 
ARSO Signed and MoU with HKI (Helen Keller International). The MoU aims at facilitating the 
implementation of joint activities related to regulatory and standardization issues, particularly 
those of  a regional nature, in order to substantially improve the health and nutrition of the 
vulnerable population and children in the African region, tapping from the ISO 22000 food safety 
principles.  
6.3.  11 October 2017, ARSO signed an MoU with Underwriters Laborat ories Inc (UL), USA to 
facilitate new cooperation and to strengthen the relationship between two organisations. The MoU 
promotes the spirit of Collaborative Standards Development System (CSDS) that provides for 
transparency, openness, inclusiveness between  the different stakeholders and promotes efforts to 
develop and implement effective safety standards in Africa as well as fight counterfeit products.  
6.1  ARSO KATS/FITI Cooperation.  
6.4.  ARSO and KATS/FITI Testing and Research Institute are collaborating in strengthening the 
Quality Infrastructure in Africa, through the Korean International Standards Infrastructure 
Cooperation Program (ISCP). A feasibility study was concluded (September – October 2017) in 
four African Countries, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethi opia, and a workshop is scheduled for 
28-29 November 2017 to map out potential areas for interventions in advancing national quality 
infrastructure in those countries.   G/TBT/GEN/239  
 
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  6.5.  Under this cooperation framework, officials from ARSO members (Cameroon, Ghana, Rwanda 
and Zambia) will participate in a lecture on Standardisation, Conformity Assessment and Legal 
Metrology on 21 –28 October 2017 in Yeoksam Silla Stay, Seoul, Korea, where other participants 
from developing countries, across the world are expected.  
6.2  ARSO -SIS/ Sida Coopera tion 
6.6.  Through the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency/Swedish 
Standards Institute (SIS), ARSO is involved in a joint ARSO -SIS project, started in June 2016, 
meant for effective involvement of relevant stakeholders  in ECOWAS region in participation in ISO 
and ARSO standards setting and to strengthen the capacity of the ECOWAS region to make use of 
ISO and ARSO standards.   
6.3  ARSO -ASTM International (USA)   
6.7.  The two organis ations  are continuing in engaging in standardisa tion cooperation. One ARSO 
Staff will be participating in the ASTM International's 2018 Standards Expert Program (SEP), 
scheduled to take place during the November or December 2018 ASTM International Committee 
Week events occurring in Washington, DC. The S EP enhances communication and understanding 
between ASTM and its MoU partners.  
6.4  ARSO -ANSI (USA) collaboration 2017  
6.8.  Under the African Year of Quality Infrastructure , ARSO and ANSI are scheduling different 
roundtable/conference between African stakeholders  and other regions stakeholders on NTBs - 
focusing on TBT and SPS issues with regards to economic integration and market access, under 
the theme "Beyond the CFTA – Africa/USA roundtable: overcoming TBTs for market access ".  
6.9.  For the ARSO Conformity Assessmen t Programme ARSO and ANSI have initiated 
collaboration on certification for sustainability in Agriculture and are scheduling trainings on 
Conformity Assessment with regards to Sustainability standards in Agriculture, using the 
LEONARDO ACADEMY 's (LEO) Amer ican National Standard for Sustainable Agriculture – ANSI/LEO -
4000, published jointly with ANSI. Already, ARSO has a certification programme for Sustainability 
in Agriculture and the collaboration will be an opportunity of benchmarking.  
6.5  ARSO -ISO Cooperatio n  
6.10.   ISO and ARSO continued to enjoy greater cooperation with ISO on standardisation 
activities. On 30 June 2017, at the at the 23rd ARSO General Assembly Events, Ouagadougou, 
Burkina Faso, ARSO and ISO held a joint ISO -CEOs Forum. The CEO Forum as a unique platform 
for Chief Executives of National Standards Bodies (NSBs), members of ISO and ARSO, to discuss 
issues and share experience related to the day -to-day management of their organizations. 
Through presentations, information sharing and roundtable discus sions, the purpose of the Forum 
was also to strengthen the dialogue at the regional level, and with ISO.   
6.11.   The Regional Standardization Organization 's Workshop at the ISO GA 2017, September in 
Berlin Germany, is further highlighted.   
6.12.   The ARSO Secretary General, Dr. Hermogene Nsengimana, will be a guest speaker at the 
ISO Regional workshop on standards and public policy -- Ghana 15 -17 November 2017.  
6.6  ARSO -CEN CENELEC Cooperation  
6.13.   ARSO and CEN are currently engaging with the European Com mission (DG DEVCO) in the 
discussions on the CEN/CENELEC support to ARSO and the AU on the implementation of the CFTA 
with regards to standards harmonisation and implementation AND best practices. There are efforts 
on Developing of ARSO/CEN CENELEC common approach for the EU -Africa Summit in November 
2017 on standardisation and trade issues. The two organis ations  held a side meeting during the 
ISO GA in Berlin, Germany in September 2017.  G/TBT/GEN/239  
 
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  6.7  ARSO and ECOWAS  
6.14.   ARSO and ECOWAS through the Swedish International Coo peration (Sida) and Swedish 
Standards Institute (SIS) are jointly implementing a project "Capacity building in international 
standards setting with ECOWAS region as a case study".  
6.8  ARSO -COMESA  
6.15.   ARSO and COMESA are engaging in a "COMESA Sanitary and Phytosa nitary (SPS) to 
enhance Regional Integration and Trade project being supported by the Trade ComII -ACP Trade 
Capacity Building Programme/COLEACP -Le Comité  de Liaison Europe -Afrique -Caraïbes-Pacifique, 
and targeting 19 countries within COMESA. On 9 –10 March 2017, ARSO held a meeting with 
COMESA and Trade ComII -ACP Officials at ARSO Central Secretariat in Nairobi to discuss the 
implementation of Project.   
7  ARSO OBSERVER MISSIO NS 
7.1.  ARSO is an observer organization of WTO since November 2015 . 
7.2.  ARSO is an observer member of CODEX Alimentarius . 
7.3.  ARSO is an observer member of ISO . 
8  CONCLUSION  
8.1.  Boosting intra -African trade and deepening regional market integration, through addressing 
the challenges of Technical Barriers to Trade in Africa, constitute a necessary response to the 
challenges facing Africa in the multilateral trading system and the global economy. The issues of 
Technical Barriers to trade as highlighted under the WTO TBT Agreement remains crucial and 
ARSO is open to more Technical Cooperat ion, based on article 11 of the WTO TBT Agreement to 
address the TBT issues in Africa and within the ACP region.   
8.2.  ARSO Appreciates the Goodwill Message from the WTO Director -general, Roberto Azevêdo, to 
the 23rd ARSO General Assembly (June 2017) on his res ponse to an invitation from ARSO to 
participate in the events.  
8.3.  For further Information please contact:   
ARSO Secretary General   
African Organisation for Standardisation   
(ARSO), ARSO Central Secretariat, 3rd Floor, International House  Mama Ngina Street,  
P. O. Box 57363 -00200, Nairobi, Kenya   
Tel. +254 -20-2224561/3311641/ 3311608.  
Email: arso@arso -oran.org , info@arso -oran.org , nhermo @gmail.com   
Website: www.arso -oran.org  
 
 
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