G/TBT/GEN/146  
 
10 April 2013  
(13-1865)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY UNECE ON WP.6 ACTIVITIES 
 
 This document contains information provid ed by the UNECE at the TBT Committee meeting 
of 6-7 March 2013 under Agenda Item 5 (Update by Observers). 
 
 
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1.1.  The UNECE Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization policies is an 
intergovernmental group of experts that works to promote good practice in the development and implementation of technical regulations.  
1.2.  In particular, the WP. 6 elaborates recommendations and good practices on a variety of 
policy matters relating to technical regulations; standardization; conformity assessment (testing, 
certification, inspection, etc.); accreditation; market surveillance and metrology, along with other flanking issues.  
1.3.  A detailed presentation of GRP elaborated by the UNECE WP. 6 was made at the TBT 
Workshop on "Regulatory Cooperation between Members" (8-9 November 2011) ("http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/ DAM/trade/wp6/documents/ref-docs/WTO-TBT-Workshop-
RegulatoryCooperation.pdf "), and summarized in the secretariat report of that meeting 
(G/TBT/W/348, paras 45-46). Our activities are also mentioned in the Background Note by the 
WTO Secretariat "Compilation of sources on good  regulatory practice" (G/TBT/W/341). The most 
important examples of good practice developed by the UNECE WP. 6 are:  
a. Recommendation D  on "Reference to standards" that encourages regulatory 
authorities to use reference to national standards, to regional standards or preferably to international standards when they exist. 
b. Recommendation L  containing the "International Model for Technical Harmonization", a 
regulatory cooperation model, based on a "standards receptive regulatory technique" that could be the basis for regional integration aimed at aligning the technical 
regulations between the countries concerned. The number of countries involved in such 
arrangements could gradually be enlarged through a flexible "step-by-step" approach aiming at reducing the fragmentation of technical regulations at the global level. 
c. Recommendation R  on "Managing Risks in Regulatory Frameworks" shows how risk 
management functions can be incorporated into overall regulatory functions, in order to 
improve the proportionality between risks and regulatory response.  
1.4.  A recent UNECE Publication "Risk Management in Regulatory Frameworks" 
(http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/tra de/Publications/WP6_ECE_TRADE_390.pdf ) provides 
detailed guidance to all parties involved in regulatory work, on how to improve regulatory 
outcomes and ensure that it results in more effective protection of citizens and consumers from 
hazards, while at the same time promoting competitiveness and reducing barriers to trade. 
Guidance is directed not only to legislators but also standards-setting bodies, conformity assessment bodies, market surveillance authorities and business actors. Recent activities of the WP. 6 are focusing on the following priorities:  G/TBT/GEN/146 
 
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  a. Development of sectoral initiatives that promote regulatory convergence in specific 
sectors. In particular, the UNECE has published a common regulatory framework for the sector of "Equipment used in environments with an explosive atmosphere". The framework is based on IEC standards and on best practice in conformity assessment 
developed by the IECEX scheme for assessing conformity to standards, and can be used 
both by countries that have no regulations in this sector as a trade-friendly regulatory toolbox, or to approximate and converge existing regulations in major markets. A 
meeting of regulators in this sector, which is very important for safety as it is used in 
mines, in offshore oil rigs, as well as in many factories and plants, will be held in 
Fortaleza, Brazil, in September 2013. Regulators – in particular from countries of the Latin American region - will present regulatory  approaches in this sector, and will discuss 
how the UNECE proposed framework could be used to promote regulatory convergence.  
b. The revision of Recommendation D on refere nce to standards, which will take into 
account current developments and present way of addressing the need expressed by 
various stakeholders for increased availability of standards used in regulatory work. 
c. The development of a new area of work aimed at making education on standards-related 
activities an essential part of the curriculum at universities, higher-education 
establishments and vocational-training institutions. The Working Party adopted a 
recommendation on "Education on standards-re lated issues". It encourages governments 
to further and promote education and training on standards and standards-related issues, and organized a workshop with contributions from all the major standards-setting 
bodies, professors and deans of faculties from more than 20 countries. We are currently 
working on the development of practical t ools for use by universities and vocational 
institutions. A report of the workshop is available on our website 
("http://www.unece.org/tradewelcome/areas- of-work/working-party-on-regulatory-
cooperation-and-standardization-policies-wp6/sessions/wp6-
meetings/sessions/2012/tradewp622ndsession/docs.html ").  
d. The support of Approximation of Regulato ry Systems in the Sphere of Technical 
Regulation between the Customs Union and the European Union. 
 
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