G/TBT/W/532  
 
5 June 2018  
(18-3440) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
STANDARDS AND TECHNI CAL REGULAT IONS: A GENDER -BASED DISCUSSION  
EIGHTH TRIENNIAL REV IEW 
Submission from Canada  
The following submission, dated 5 June 2018, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Canada . 
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  Canada , as part of its overall priorities,  is advancing a comp rehensive feminist foreign p olicy. 
The objective is to apply a feminist lens across international policies and programs in trade, 
security, diplomacy and international assistance. The focus of t his policy is to support women and 
girls as equal decision -makers, and to promote and protect their rights.   
1.2.  Applying a feminist lens is an effective way to ensure th at gendered barriers  are not 
perpetuated in policies and  programs, and that  conditions are  created to achieve  gender equality. 
To this end, Canada is undertaking gender based analysis plus (GBA+ ) on all of its new programs, 
policies and initia tives, including trade policies. GBA+ seeks to assess how diverse groups of 
women and men experience po licies and helps in the identification and development of strategies 
to mitigate impacts and enhance positive effects. Canada has also adopted a "Progressive Trade 
Agenda " (PTA), with an emphasis on inclusion, including women's economic empowerment and 
gender equality .  
2  BACKGROUND  
2.1.  Canada's Progressive Trade Agenda (PTA) reflects and promotes domestic and international 
policy priorities to support economic growth that benefits everyone and maintains confidence in an 
open, rules -based trading system. The PTA includes an informed and inclusive approach to trade 
policy -making; progressive content in trade agreements; and international engagement to 
advance support for progressive trade initiatives. For example, Canada is seeking to include a  
dedicated chapter on  "Trade and Gender " in several of its  ongoing FTA negotiatio ns. 
2.2.  In terms of international engagement, at the WTO MC11 in December 2017, 118 WTO 
members and observers endorsed the Buenos Aires Joint Declaration on Trade and Women 's 
Economic Empowerment, which seeks to  remove barriers to, and foster,  women 's economic 
empowerment. There are now over 120 signatories to this Declaratio n. The Declaration was 
championed by the governments of Canada, Iceland and Sierra Leone, as well as the International 
Trade C entre. Canada is committed to sustaining the momentum behind the Joint Declaration and 
recently delivered (on 16 March  2018), the fi rst workshop at the WTO on Trade and Gender Based 
Analysis  under the Declaration.  G/TBT/W/532  
 
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  2.3.  Canada also wishes to bring to the attenti on of delegates the UNECE -led "Gender -Responsive 
Standards Initiative ", under the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization 
Policies with broad participation from governmental authorities, intergovernmental organizations, 
national, region al and international standard s bodies, academia, civil society as well as partner UN 
organizations.  
2.4.  The goals of the UNECE initiative are:  
a. To challenge the perception that standards and technical regulations are "gender 
neutral ". 
b. To enhance the contributi on of standards in reaching Sustainable Development Goal 5 on 
"Empowering Women and Girls ".  
2.5.  Concrete actions under the initiative include:  
a. promoting the participation of women in standard -setting and processes related to the 
development and implementatio n of technical regulations;  
b. developing and sharing best practices on how to take into account biological and cultural 
differences in standards development and implementation;  
c. developing gender indicators and criteria that can be used in standards development;  
d. identifying and undertaking actions to ensure that standards contribute to gender 
equality.  
2.6.  The initiative works on the basis of monthly or bi -monthly webinar meetings an d yearly 
physical meetings and welcomes input from all WTO Member States. At the time of writing, UNECE 
as part of the initiative had developed a draft "Pledge " document that outlines action that 
standards bodies can take in order to make their activities more gender responsive.  
3  PROPOSAL  
3.1.  In light of the above, Canada recommends that the Eighth Triennial Review include a 
workshop or thematic session on how gender plays, or can play a role in the development of 
standards and technical regulations. The objecti ve of such a workshop or thematic session would 
be to encourage an exchange of experiences by governments and standards development 
organizations and to dis cuss ongoing work in this area. 
 
 
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