G/TBT/GEN/191  
 
17 March 2016  
(16-1566)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
THEMATIC SESSION ON GO OD REGULATORY PRACTICE1 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON TO THE TBT COMMITTEE2  
This Report was delivered by the Chairperson of the WTO TBT Committee at the meeting of  
9-10 March 2016.  
 
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At the Seventh Triennial Review, Members agreed  to continue to hold thematic sessions in 
conjunction with regular meetings of the Committee,3 and agreed to dedicate the 8 March 2016 
thematic sessions to the topics of conformity asse ssment procedures and good regulatory practice. 
The thematic session on good regulatory practice  (GRP) included discussion of: (i) the extent to 
which RIAs could facilitate the implementation of  the TBT Agreement, considering the constraints 
facing developing Members in carrying out RIAs; and (ii) how trade impacts and TBT Agreement 
obligations could be taken into account in the preparation of RIAs. The presentations summarized below will be made available through the WTO website.
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1.  Mr. Shin Myung-chul  (Republic of Korea) spoke about the use of "Technical Regulatory 
Impact Assessment" (TRIAs) in Korea. He stre ssed that whenever technical regulations are 
developed (or amended) their appropriateness needs to be checked. This includes, for example, 
the need to analyze whether these are harmonized  with relevant international standards, and 
whether there is duplication and/or overlap. In general, the TRIA is expected to improve the 
quality of regulation. There are four main check- points for the TRIA: (i) ensuring the validity 
(rationale) of the technical regulation; (ii) its appropriateness (e.g. scientific basis); (iii) the use of 
conformity assessment (e.g., possible applicability of international schemes); and (iv) competitiveness factors. Looking ahead, Mr. Shin Myung-chul noted, among other things, that the 
TRIA would strengthen coordination among related ministries.
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2.  Mrs. Céline Kauffmann  (OECD) spoke about the use of Regulatory Impact Assessments 
(RIAs) to assess the trade impacts of regulation. She emphasized that OECD members have recognized the use of RIA, stakeholder engagement and ex post evaluation of regulation as good 
regulatory practice (GRP) in the 2012 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy 
and Governance. According to the 2015 Regulatory  Policy Outlook, almost all countries have 
enacted legal requirements to carry out RIA and stakeholder engagement when developing 
regulation. About two-thirds of OECD countries repo rt that they assess trade impacts as part their 
RIA processes. There is however considerable heterogeneity in the use of RIA to assess trade impacts. Challenges may be the lack of political commitment to RIA, the risk of a largely 
procedural use of RIA or of its overload, ill-defined methodologies to identify impacts of regulatory 
divergence on trade and the limited attention afford ed to trade frictions arising at the enforcement 
stage. While there are generic and trade-specific challenges, RIAs provide helpful tools in identifying and assessing the trade impacts of regulation and balancing them against expected 
benefits. RIA and GRP more generally preserve national sovereignty, support evidence-based 
policy-making, channel voices of affected parties and promote the creation of a non-discriminatory, and high quality regulatory environment in all countries. Countries may further 
                                               
1 The list of speakers, including their titles, is contained in document JOB/TBT/170. 
2 Alana Maria Lanza Suazo (Honduras). This Report is provided on the Chairperson's own responsibility.  
3 G/TBT/37, para. 8.3. 
4 https://www.wto.org/ english/tratop_e/tbt_e/tbt_e.htm  
5 The full presentation is contained in document in RD/TBT/131. G/TBT/GEN/191 
 
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  enhance their use of RIA by better integrating th e ex-ante evaluation process with stakeholder 
consultations and ex post evaluation (to capture not only the expected but also the realized impacts), by giving more systemic consideration to international standards in the development of their regulations and by ensuring greater qualit y control and transparency of RIA. WTO members 
may moreover reflect about the potential of multilateral RIA to assess trade impacts of regulation.
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3.  Mr. Tim Ward  (Australia) spoke about implementing best practice in RIAs in Australia with a 
particular emphasis on the importance of tran sparency and public consultation. Out of 10 
principles for policy makers that are set out by the Australian Government Guide to Regulation, 
four are specifically about consultation and tran sparency. These include the principles that policy 
change has to be the subject of a "Regulation Impact Statement" (RIS); that policy makers need to consult with affected businesses, community organisations and individuals – as well as with 
each other (to avoid creating cumulative or overla pping regulatory burdens); and, that information 
upon which policy makers base their decisions has to be published at the earliest opportunity. Mr. 
Ward put particular emphasis on consultation: this is not just a single event in development of a 
RIS, it informs all elements of the RIS. Also, it helps the id entification of viable policy alternatives, 
confirms the accuracy of data, ensures that there are no unintended consequences and helps increase understanding amongst affected stakeholders.
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4.  Dr. Eliza Mojduszka  (United States) spoke about the US approach to RIAs and international 
trade with a particular focus on how RIAs are used by US government agencies. It was noted that the use of RIAs is based on a requirement set out in two Executive Orders
8 for "economically 
significant" regulations.9 The basic objective is to show whether regulation maximizes net benefit, 
or at least ensures that net benefit justifies the costs. An RIA also helps show whether a regulation 
promotes economic efficiency (by addressing ma rket failure) and increases transparency of the 
regulatory process. Dr. Mojduszka stressed the importance of establishing the rationale for 
regulation, and the need to evaluate alternatives (including measures other than regulation). On 
international trade, she said that agencies have an obligation to consider trade impacts in RIAs and that it is important to evaluate carefully concerns that new US rules could act as NTBs. In 
summing up she said that good RIAs have the following characteristics: they are transparent, 
clear, have a logical structure, use good science , are well documented and include a discussion of 
sources and the magnitude of uncertainty.
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5.  Dr. Yuhua LIU  (China) presented China’s Trade Policy Compliance Mechanism (TPCM). Since 
China’s accession to the WTO, China had been engaged in making trade policy measures compliant 
with WTO rules. Numerous laws and regulation s have been amended and optimized and China 
carefully considered comments on trade policies by other Members that promoted reform. In 2014, 
the State Council issued a circular on “Further Strengthening Trade Policy Compliance”, launching 
China’s trade policy compliance mechanism. For this purpose, MOFCOM developed a working procedure that covered a wide range of areas including technical measures. Until the end of 2015, 
more than 1,000 policies by the central and local governments have been reviewed, and training 
programmes have been initiated. Also, more than 150 officials have been trained into proficient 
teams, and brochures diffused.
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6.   Mr. Fabrizio Sacchetti  and Mr. Pablo Neira  of the European Commission introduced how 
trade impacts and TBT Agreement obligations ar e taken into account in the preparation of 
regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) in the EU. They explained the basic "Policy Cycle" of Better 
Regulation (preparation, adoption, implementation and application, monitoring and evaluation); it 
was noted that the Commission has the right of initiative on regulatory proposals. RIAs are carried 
out on all regulatory and policy initiatives with significant impacts. An open stakeholder consultation is built into the RIA process. The key analytical steps of RIAs are: to identify the 
problem; assess the need for EU-level intervention; define the objectives; develop policy options; 
analyse the impacts of the options; compare the options; and, outline policy monitoring and evaluation. In general terms, following the pack age of improvements adopted in May 2015, the 
Better Regulation policy involves: greater transp arency throughout the policy cycle; better RIA 
                                               
6 A background document is contained in RD/TBT/134 and the presentation is available in RD/TBT/133. 
7 The full presentation is available in RD/TBT/135. 
8 Executive Orders 12866 and 13563. 
9 Those that have an economic impact of over 100 million USD expressed in 1994 USD (approximately 
equivalent to USD140 million today). 
10 The full presentation is available in RD/TBT/136. 
11 The full presentation is available in RD/TBT/139. G/TBT/GEN/191 
 
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  tools and guidelines; enhanced scrutiny in the Commission; and, more focus on implementation 
and ex-post evaluation. One significant improvemen t is more involvement of stakeholders in the 
process. The EU delegates also stressed the import ance of considering trade impacts of regulatory 
initiatives, including compliance with international trade obligations. For instance, it is important to 
consider: impacts on all economic agents throughout the value chain and on developing countries, 
in particular the least developed ones; how to increase, when possible, regulatory convergence 
with the EU's main trade partners; and, how to reduce any potential negative impacts on 
international trade where there is scope for this without affecting the overall achievement of the 
public policy objectives being pursued.12  
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12 The full presentation is available in RD/TBT/140.