G/TBT/GEN/225  
 
30 May 2017  
(17-2890) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: Engl ish 
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS INDUS TRIAL DEVELOPMENT OR GANIZATION 
(UNIDO) RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE WTO TBT COMMI TTEE  
STATEMENT BY UNIDO  
This document contains information provided by UNIDO  at the TBT Committee meeting of  
29-30 March 2017  under Agenda Item 4 (Technical Cooperation Activities) . 
 
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1.1.  In late 2016, UNIDO published a "Guide for the Development of National Quality Policies". 
The Guide is designed as a reference document to help Government officials who wish to develop 
their Qua lity Policy in a way that  stimulates national, regional and international trade. A National 
Quality Policy is the basic Government instrument that sets out the objectives of the Quality 
Infrastructure system in relation to Metrology, Standardization, Accre ditation and Conformity 
Assessment, to build the foundation for effective trade. The guide is aimed at civil servants 
involved in policy development, implementation or review, but it will also be beneficial for anyone 
who needs to understand the policy -making process in governments as regards quality 
infrastructure and technical regulation.  
1.2.  Further building on this Guide, UNIDO -together with the Government of Finland, technical 
partners of the DCMAS Network (the network on Metrology, Accreditation and Stan dardization for 
developing countries), as well as the World Bank and the British Standards Institute - is in the 
process of developing a Quality Policy Framework. The Quality Policy Framework will address new 
challenges in line with the objective of making quality, standards  and compliance work for 
sustainable development and inclusive growth –as defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 
Development. Adopting a holistic approach to Quality Infrastructure development, the Framework 
will respond to a fast -changing international landscape of competitiveness, compliance and quality 
infrastructure, by addressing the requirements of the multilateral trading system, including the 
WTO's technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) and  the trade 
facilitation agreement. The framework will respond to the needs of, and engage various 
stakeholders such as governments, quality infrastructure institutions, related service providers, the 
private sector and consumers.  
1.3.  In West Africa, UNIDO cont inues supporting the ECOWAS Commission and the 16 West 
African countries to develop and strengthen their regional quality infrastructure: The West Africa 
Quality System Programme (WAQSP), funded by the European Union (2014 -2018, EUR 12 million) 
supports th e implementation of the ECOWAS Quality Policy (ECOQUAL):  All ECOWAS States (plus 
Mauritania) have now a National Quality Policy aligned with ECOQUAL. The ECOWAS Quality 
Infrastructure Scheme has been adopted, Regional Technical Harmonization Committees for  
Standardization are up and running (A first series of 42 standards have been adopted) and the 
creation of an ECOWAS Agency for Quality is underway; 12 countries are members of ISO; 
2 accreditation bodies have been created (Nigeria and UEMOA -covering 8 cou ntries) and, out of 
50 Conformity Assessment Bodies accredited in the region, 21 have been accredited under 
ECOWAS/EU/UNIDO Quality programmes; 20 others are expected to become accredited this year. 
National Quality Awards are operational in the 16 countri es and the first edition of the ECOWAS 
Quality Award will be organized this year. Furthermore, a  Regional product certification scheme is 
being adopted and ECOWAS product certification Mark being created. Beyond this programme 
(which ends in December 2018)  UNIDO will continue its support to ECOWAS under the West Africa 
Competitiveness Programme funded by the 11 EDF of the EU, with an explicit aim to strengthen G/TBT/GEN/225  
 
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  national and regional value chains through the operationalization of (i) the regional Quality 
Infrastructure system and (ii) the ECOWAS/UEMOA industrial, private sector and MSMEs 
strategies.  
1.4.  In southern Africa, UNIDO is supporting SADC countries in their efforts  to:  
a. Strengthen the laboratories in the SADC region to offer high quality and reliable tes ting 
services for enterprises and regulators to facilitate trade.  
b. Improve the availability of market -driven quality infrastructure services (testing and 
inspection) to support Trade Facilitation.  
1.5.  In Central Africa, UNIDO is implementing a Quality Infrast ructure Programme for Central 
Africa (PIQAC, as  per the French acronym). Funded by the European Union, PIQAC aims to build a 
regional quality infrastructure that creates a favourable business environment, while ensuring 
compliance with international trade rules and technical regulations.  
1.6.  PIQAC has three components including a regional quality policy component. A major 
milestone was achieved recently under that component when ministers from the seven beneficiary 
countries in voiced their determination to imp lement a regional strategy of norms standardization 
and quality policy, and create a regional quality award. During a meeting in Douala in November 
2016, ministers signed a common declaration validating a set of documents that will help create a 
coordinati on mechanism regarding standardization activities (called CEMACORM) and quality 
promotion in the region.  
1.7.  The documents were later approved on 16 February 2017 by 18 ministers representing the 
six member states of the Economic Union of Central Africa (UEA),  namely Cameroon, the Central 
African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The region can now 
move ahead with the implementation of a harmonized strategy of standardization and quality 
policy, as well as the organization of a  Regional Quality Award competition to reward enterprises 
using good practices with regards to quality infrastructure.  
QICA WORKSHOP HELD I N JAMAICA  
1.8.  In cooperation with the Quality Infrastructure Council of the Americas (QICA) UNIDO, 
together with the Jama ica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), the Bureau of Standards in 
Jamaica (BJS), and CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), organized 
a Regional Training Workshop for Quality Infrastructure Development in Kingston from 13  to 
17 March 2017. The regional training was aimed at encouraging systemic trade development along 
value chains and involved 25 participants from 14 countries of the Caribbean region.  
1.9.  Renowned international experts from the Inter -American Accreditation Co operation (IAAC), 
the Inter -American Metrology System (SIM) and the Pan -American Standards Commission 
(COPANT), the international legal metrology organization (OIML) and the Centre for International 
Development and Training (CIDT) from the University of Wo lverhampton shared best practices in 
quality infrastructure development and results based management. The training is part of UNIDO 's 
capacity building approach to promote economic growth through effective trade participation.  
 
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