G/TBT/10.7/N/121  
 
7 February 2013  
(13-0648)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 AGREEMENT REACHED BY A MEMBER WI TH ANOTHER COUNTRY OR COUNTRIES 
ON ISSUES RELATED TO TECHNICAL REGULATIONS, STANDARDS 
OR CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES 
NOTIFICATION 
 Under Article 10.7 of the Agreement "Whenever a Member has reached an agreement with 
any other country or countries on issues related to technical regulations, standards or conformity 
assessment procedures which may have a significant effect on trade, at least one Member party to 
the agreement shall notify other Members through the Secretariat of the products to be covered by the agreement and include a brief description of the agreement."  The following notification under Article  10.7 has been received. 
 
1. Member notifying:  EUROPEAN UNION  
2. Title of the bilateral or  plurilateral Agreement:  Protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean 
Agreement establishing an association be tween the European Communities and their 
Member States, of the one part, and the State of Israel, of the other part, on Conformity 
Assessment and Acceptance of Industri al Products (hereinafter "ACAA")  
3. Parties to the Agreement:   European Union and Israel  
4. Date of entry into force of Agreement:  19 January 2013  
5. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading):  The purpose of this Protocol is to facilitate the elimination by the Parties of 
technical barriers to trade in respect of certain industrial products, listed in the Annexes 
to this Protocol. At present, one sector is included - good manufacturing practice (GMP) for pharmaceutical products (Annex on mutual acceptance of industrial products). More 
Annexes may be concluded in the future.  
6. Subject matter covered by the Agreement (technical regulations, standards or 
conformity assessment procedures): Conformity assessment procedures G/TBT/10.7/N/121 
 
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  7. Description of measures of Agreement:  The ACAA provides for an extension of 
certain benefits of the Internal Market in sectors already aligned.  It facilitates market access by eliminating technical barriers to trade with respect to industrial products. For 
this purpose, the ACAA provides for two mechanisms, first, for the recognition of 
equivalence in technical regulation, standardization and conformity assessment for industrial products subject to equivalent regulation in EU law and the national law of the 
partner country, and second, for the mutual acceptance of industrial products that fulfil 
the requirements to be lawfully placed on the market in one of the Parties. Under the 
first mechanism, mutual recognition of products operates on the basis of the acquis 
communautaire  that has been transposed by the partner country, in the same way as it 
would apply to products placed on the market of a Member State. It allows industrial products covered by it and attested as compliant according to the procedures of the European Union to be placed on the Israeli market without having to undergo any 
further approval procedures, and vice versa. At present one sector is included: good 
manufacturing practice (GMP) for pharmaceutical products. Israel has taken over the EU technical legislation in the sector covered by the Annex to the Protocol and participates 
in the European organisations in the sector covered by it. The second mechanism, i.e., 
the mutual acceptance of industrial produc ts not commonly regulated, confirms that 
Articles 16 and 17 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement with Israel apply without other 
restriction in the product sectors covered by it. That is, annexes applying this 
mechanism will provide that where no European technical regulations exist, industrial products listed under such annexes lawfully traded in the market of either Party (i.e. on the territory of Israel or that of one of the Member States of the EU) may be lawfully 
traded in the other. No annexes making this mechanism operational are at present 
included. Link to the text of the ACAA:  "http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:001:0002:0012:EN:PDF " 
8. Further information available from:   
European Commission 
Paul de Lusignan DG Trade, Unit F.3 Rue de la Loi, 170  
B-1049 Brussels - Belgium 
Tel.:  +32 2 29 66189 E-mail:  paul.de-lusignan@ec.europa.eu  
 
European Commission Evelyne Hania 
DG Enterprise and Industry, Unit C.1  
Rue Belliard, 100 B-1049 Brussels - Belgium Tel.:  +32 2 29 90083 
E-mail:  evelyne.hania@ec.europa  
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2013/tbt/EEC/13_0448_00_e.pdf