G/TBT/W/436  
19 January 2016  
(16-0367)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: Spanish  
 
  ECUADOR - DRAFT TECHNICAL REGULATION OF THE ECUADORIAN STANDARDIZATION 
INSTITUTE (RTE INEN) NO. 111: ENERGY EFFICIENCY. CLOTHES DRYERS. LABELLING. 
RTE INEN NO. 111; RTE INEN NO. 077; RTE INEN NO. 072; RTE INEN NO. 094; 
RTE INEN NO. 124; RTE INEN NO. 109; RTE INEN NO. 110; 
RTE INEN NO. 112; RTE INEN NO. 117; RTE INEN NO. 122; 
RTE INEN NO. 123; AND RTE INEN NO. 133 
STATEMENT BY MEXICO TO THE COMMITT EE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
4-6 NOVEMBER 2015 
The following communication, dated 15 January 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Mexico. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
1.  On 5 June 2015, Ecuador's contact point sent replies to the formal comments submitted by 
Mexico on 24 February 2014 on this technical regulation. Those replies neither clarified nor 
resolved the concerns expressed, and Mexico th erefore wishes once again to submit a trade 
concern regarding Ecuadorian Emergency Technical Regulation (RTE INEN) No. 111 entitled "Energy Efficiency. Clothes Dryers. Labelling", which was notified by means of document G/TBT/N/ECU/152 on 28 January 2014. 
2.  This concern was first raised at the November 2014 Committee meeting, and reiterated in this 
forum at this year's March and June meetings. On 8 May 2015, we circulated the "Statement by Mexico to the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade at its meeting of 18-19 March 2015" 
concerning this technical regulation, which was published on 11 May as document G/TBT/W/409. 
3.  Mexico's concerns relate to the following points: 
a. First of all, Mr Chairman, Mexico did not find in the regulation any specification or 
reference concerning unexpected events of an urgent nature that might have justified its 
issuance on an emergency basis. Moreover, Mexico reiterates that the Ecuadorian Government took no account of the formal comments transmitted to Ecuador 
on 24 February 2014. 
b. Mexico also considers that the technical regulation could imply a violation of the 
proportionality principle established in Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement by defining 
excessively high ranges of energy efficiency which would limit the access of products to the Ecuadorian market (only ranges "A" and "B" are admitted). According to information 
from industry sources, there are no precedents for such a measure at international level, 
since even under schemes such as that of  the European Community, the eco-design 
directive for clothes dryers still permits the marketing of range "C" products. In this 
connection, Ecuador is requested to supply information providing justification for these 
requirements in the light of the legitimate  objective pursued by Technical Regulation 
RTE INEN No. 111. 
4.  Therefore, Mexico requests Ecuador: 
a. To give consideration and respond to all the comments submitted by Mexico with respect 
to compliance with the TBT Agreement. G/TBT/W/436 
- 2 - 
  b. The Government of Ecuador is requested to provide information regarding the risk that 
might arise from not achieving the legitimate objective pursued, by adopting the restriction laid down in point 10.4 of RTE INEN No. 111. 
5.  Ecuador is requested to explain or justify the urgent problems which arose or threatened to 
arise for Ecuador that led it to adopt this "e mergency" technical regulation and disregard the 
transparency obligations laid down in Articles 2.9 and 5.6 of the TBT Agreement, respectively. 
6.  Mexico would also like to express its concern about some specific requirements included in the 
technical regulations applicable to other household electrical goods: 
a. Technical Regulations RTE INEN No. 036 (compact fluorescent lamps), No. 072 
(air conditioners), and No. 077 (washing machines), provide for certification model 5 or models 1a and 5. According to information from the Mexican industry, the difference 
between the two models is unclear and it is considered better to replace 
models 1a and 5 with model 1a. 
b. Technical Regulation RTE INEN No. 005 (gas heaters) provides for batch certification 
(1b). However, the products covered are subject to an existing conformity assessment 
procedure which provides for other certification models, i.e.: market surveillance 
(M7 + M2); factory surveillance, market surveillance, and factory and market surveillance (M7 + M4); factory surveillance, market surveillance, factory and market 
surveillance, and QMS (M7 + M5); batch-by-batch (M8) and Special Certification. It is 
therefore not clear whether or not the conformity assessment procedure still applies. It would be better to follow the certification options for the other products, that is, 
models 5 and 1a. 
c. Technical Regulations RTE INEN No. 109 (gas water heaters), No. 047 (metal cable tray, 
electrical conduit and trunking systems), No. 091 (switches), and No. 196 (lighting 
chains) provide for certification models 1b (batch-by-batch) and 5. Ecuador is requested to replace batch certification (1b) with type certification (1a), as has started to be done in other technical regulations. 
d. Furthermore, despite the fact that certificates and test reports on the technical 
regulations are submitted in Spanish, Ecuador has maintained the requirement that they be authenticated by apostille. Ecuador is requested to provide information justifying this requirement in the light of the principles co ntained in Article 5.1 of the TBT Agreement. 
e. In the case of Technical Regulation RTE INEN No. 117 (television sets), we have been 
informed that two requirements have been in cluded in addition to the test report and 
product certification: 
i. Attestation of the maintenance of certification issued by the product certification 
body and which can be verified. This implies that certification bodies must issue a letter every time products are imported into Ecuador, when in fact the certificates 
themselves contain an indication of their validity. 
ii. Evidence of conformity with energy efficiency marking and labelling requirements, 
issued by the product certification body. This requirement seems redundant, as the laboratory testing of all products entails an evaluation of conformity with marking 
requirements and of eligibility for certification. 
7.  Technical Regulation RTE INEN No. 072 (air conditioners) stipulates that the tests are carried 
out under Ecuadorian Technical Standard NTE INEN No. 2495, which in turn refers to 
ISO 5151:2010, "Non-ducted air conditioners and heat pumps. Testing and rating for 
performance". The ISO standard is not considered the most suitable for assessing the performance of some types of air conditioner, for example "inverter" air conditioners. 
8.  Mexico would be grateful if Ecuador would give consideration to these requests and envisage 
the relevant changes in accordance with the provisions of the TBT Agreement. 
__________