G/TBT/GEN/365  
 
7 December 2023  
(23-8315) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
AGENDA ITEM 3: TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES  
UPDATE BY ANSI ON ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE TBT COMMITTEE  
 STANDARDS ALLIANCE BRIEF COVERING PERIOD: NOVEMBER 2022 TO OCTOBER 2023  
This document contains information provided by the United States  at the TBT Committee meeting 
of 8-10 November 2023 under Agenda Item 3.  
 
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1.  The United States takes our commitment to capacity building seriously. As such, we would call 
member  attention to our continued efforts to support the understanding and implementation of the 
TBT Agreement through the Standards Alliance program. The Standards Alliance is a public -private 
partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (U SAID) and the American 
National Standards Institute (ANSI), which coordinates with developing and least developed 
countries to identify and prioritize areas for technical assistance.  
2.  The Standards Alliance was established in 2013 with a focus on the imple mentation of the TBT 
Agreement in 10 country/regions and was expanded in 2016 to include West and Southern Africa. 
The first phase of the Standards Alliance came to a close in September 2021; however, the program 
was renewed for a second phase in 2019. Pha se 2 of the Standards Alliance remains active and 
builds upon the successes and measured impacts of first phase to provide targeted technical 
assistance to developing countries. The second phase focuses on support related to the development 
and implementat ion of National Quality Infrastructure and Good Regulatory Practices that are rooted 
in the principles of the TBT Agreement. In late 2022, the Standards Alliance Phase 2 (SA2) was 
extended beyond its original 5 -year term and will now conduct activities thr ough mid -2026. The SA2 
will focus the new activities that will be developed from 2024 to 2026 in the critical minerals, 
sustainability, agribusiness, automotive, digital infrastructure, water and sanitation, and medical 
devices sectors.  
3.  Standards Alliance  activities between November 2022 to October 2023 have included the 
following highlights:  
• In response to the COVID -19 pandemic, the Standards Alliance continues to support technical 
capacity in the medical devices sector, while also helping participating n ations identify 
technical and regulatory barriers to trade. This activity, the "COVID -19 Medical Device 
Regulatory Convergence (MDRC) project", builds the capacity of partner countries to 
effectively implement standards and conformity assessment procedures  related to medical 
devices; remove technical barriers to trade for medical devices; increase patients' access to 
needed high -quality Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other medical technologies in 
response to COVID -19 and future global health crises ; and foster private sector engagement 
in the (medtech) regulatory space. The project countries of focus include Brazil, Colombia, 
Mexico, Peru, Indonesia, Vietnam, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.  
During the past year, the MDRC developed a stronger presence in Africa via a dedicated Africa 
Liaison, outreach with key stakeholders, critical meetings, and the signing of MoUs with key 
government stakeholders in Kenya. MDRC also developed a global medica l device curriculum 
approved by local industry and government on the continent. The curriculum will be a Global 
Medical Technology Alliance (GMTA) and International Medical Device Regulators Forum 
(IMDRF) contribution. Leveraging partnerships with Africa C DC, AUDA -NEPAD and ARSO, the G/TBT/GEN/365  
 
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  MDRC expanded the reach of its technical assistance to the continental level in the Africa 
region.  
• Utility Management Standards Training for Water Sector Utilities  
The American Water Works Association (AWWA) is an internationa l, nonprofit, scientific and 
educational society dedicated to providing total water solutions assuring the effective 
management of water. Effective management of water sector utilities is crucial to providing 
reliable and water supply and sanitation servic es, and a well -managed utility can be a driver 
to promote economic development. The use of standards, such as AWWA 's Utility Management 
Standards, assists water sector entities in addressing these challenges by improving utility 
management and performance over time, increasing utility efficiency, reliability, consistency, 
and providing safer water to the general public. In this project, which is now complete, the 
Standards Alliance has introduced AWWA Utility Management Standards to established India, 
Lesot ho, Malawi, and Zambia water sector utilities though a series of in -person and virtual 
workshops. The workshops were conducted in India in 2022, and altogether trained 
representatives of 25 water utilities across India. In Africa, workshops held between 
October 2022 – April 2023 trained representatives from 17 utilities in Lesotho, Malawi, and 
Zambia.  
• Increase the Flow of WASH Services  
Access to improved drinking water and sanitation is one of the most fundamental issues facing 
the global community. The cha llenges surrounding improving access to water and sanitation 
services are systemic and related to poor governance, inadequate infrastructure and supply 
chains, poor system maintenance, skilled worker shortages, and transforming cultural or social 
norms rel ated to sanitation. The International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials 
(IAPMO) will address these issues to pave the way for increased trade and exports of related 
technologies and services. In Indonesia, IAPMO is assisting the National Stand ardization 
Agency of Indonesia (BSN) to develop and adopt a new national standard related to water 
faucets and to provide technical assistance to relevant ministries on its adoption and 
enforcement. As the final endpoint of water delivery systems, this new  standard will ensure 
that these products meet basic levels of safety and efficiency. Standardization and 
enforcement in this area is critical to protecting the performance and health of drinking water 
systems for Indonesian 's citizens. IAPMO helped to coo rdinate BSN Technical Committee 77 -
02 meetings to support national adoption of this new standard, and in early 2023 the BSN 
formally adopted the new national Indonesian standard. Work is continuing in 2023 and 2024 
to promote implementation of the new stan dard by working with government ministries and 
private sector on appropriate certification schemes and regulatory options.  
• Plumbing The Legal Depths — Creating a Pipeline Between Legal Enabling and NQI  
There is a need to accelerate citizen 's access to wate r and sanitation services and facilitate 
the improvement of National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) as related to the water, sanitation, 
and hygiene (WASH) sector. Laws, regulations, policies, and standards create the foundation 
for achieving universal acces s to safely managed water and sanitation services and for a 
vibrant, open market in WASH products. By assessing existing laws, regulations, policies, and 
standards, we can understand how the current legal environment creates or eliminates trade 
barriers to  safe, high quality WASH products and creates the commitment necessary to 
generate more widespread access to water and sanitation. This project coordinated by Center 
for Water Security Cooperation (CWSC) performs diagnostics of the existing legal, policy a nd 
institutional frameworks governing NQI related to the WASH sector in Ghana, Uganda, and 
Zambia. These diagnostics assess the enabling environment to increase access to drinking 
water and sanitation, support the adoption and application of international WASH standards, 
and enable the removal of WASH NQI barriers to trade in WASH products. Deskwork and 
interviews in each of the target countries have been conducted to support comprehensive 
diagnostic reports for each country, which are expected to be comple ted in early 2024.  
• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Harmonization of Petroleum 
Standards  
Led by international standards developing organizations, ASTM International and API, the 
project aims to support ECOWAS in its goal of harmonizing st andards for the petroleum sector. 
In 2022, training workshops were conducted in Ghana and Nigeria; and in 2023 the work 
culminated with a regional workshop hosted in Senegal, and a study tour to the U.S. During 
the study tour, experts from Ghana, Senegal, Cote d 'Ivoire and Nigeria took part in the G/TBT/GEN/365  
 
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  meetings of ASTM Committee D02 on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants; which 
helped contextualize further the activity 's work within the petroleum standard development 
field. Through the technical com mittee meetings and associated site visits, the participants 
witnessed the standards development process in detail and in implementation.  
• Community Water Systems – Standards For Safety And Risk Management  
Quality of life can be reduced as a result of the b urden of disease from chemical and 
microbiological contaminants in community and household drinking water systems. NSF 
Drinking Water standards establishes minimum health effects and requirements for chemical 
contaminants and impurities that are directly i mparted to drinking water from components 
used in drinking water systems and chemicals used to treat drinking water. In this project, 
NSF Drinking Water standards on drinking water treatment chemicals and drinking water 
system components will be introduced  to stakeholders by NSF International to build consensus 
for standards that validate the safety and efficacy of materials, chemicals and water treatment 
devices that come into contact with drinking water systems. NSF Drinking Water standards 
will inform an d strengthen existing in -country efforts to better provide safe drinking water in 
Morocco and Brazil. Training events have been held to inform regulators, operators, 
manufacturers, NGOs, and other stakeholders about NSF Drinking Water standards. In Brazil,  
needs assessment and training workshops were completed by early 2023. In Morocco, NSF 
worked with in -country stakeholders to complete a needs assessment and subsequently 
completed training on NSF/ANSI/CAN Standards 60 and/or 61 with the support of the 
Moroccan Ministry of Health and National Water Committee.  
• Support for critical minerals standardization coordination  
This activity is new since the program extension was completed in 2022. In March 2023, 
ISO/TMB and the ISO Council approved and accepted the r eport of the Strategic Advisory 
Group (SAG) on Critical Minerals. The group 's mandate was agreed as follows: Undertake an 
analysis of existing and potential standardization work in the area of critical minerals from the 
point of initial extraction (mining and production of raw materials), and processing steps 
through to pre -cursor materials; and make recommendations to the TMB in this regard.  
The SA2 will support the work of the SAG on Critical Minerals and ISO TC 345 through activities 
such as:  
• Conducting awareness building to form a U.S. mirror committee (TAG).  
• With the input of the VTAG, support activities recommended by the SAG as next steps 
including dialogue with other ISO members in support of any new standards proposed or 
developed; training or aware ness-building activities that would enable developing 
countries to participate in standards development for critical minerals.  
• Standards for Bioethanol Household Energy in Africa (STAND4BE)  
In conjunction with Pivot Clean Energy and the Mozambique National  Institute for 
Normalization and Standards (INNOQ), the SA2 conducted training in September 2023 that 
provided an opportunity for bioethanol energy and standards experts from Mozambique and 
the United States to share international best practices and polici es for bioethanol standards 
development, both in the clean cooking and transportation sector.  
The workshop was designed to support the development of Mozambique 's bioethanol economy 
through blending mandates and other related goals stated by the government  and specific to 
the August 2022, Economic Acceleration Stimulus Package (PAE). The final objective of this 
activity is to create a clear pathway for adoption of the ASTM E3050 standard on bioethanol 
cooking fuel. Following the training, INNOQ has started the process and are eager to adopt 
E3050 by the end of this year.  
4.  More information regarding the overall Standards Alliance Phase 2 (2019 -2026) can be found 
here.  
 
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