G/SPS/GEN/1360  
 
2 October 2014  
(14-5594)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
GCC STANDARDIZATION ORGANIZATION (GSO) 
The following communication, received on 30 Septem ber 2014, is being circulated at the request 
of the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO). 
 
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1  ABOUT GSO 
1.1.  Inspired by the objectives of the charter of  the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the 
Gulf aiming at achieving coordination, integration and interconnection between them in all areas 
leading to their unity, GSO is: 
 a not-for-profit organization that serves as an "umbrella organization" for the GCC 
standards, metrology, conformity assessment, and accreditation. 
 a regional standardization organization (a sub-regional organization by ISO designation) that 
works under the umbrella of the Gulf Cooperat ion Council (GCC) for the Arab States of the 
Gulf. 
 GSO Members are: United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 
Oman, Qatar, the State of Kuwait and Yemen. 
 GSO assumed operation in May 2004, and superseded the Gulf Standardization and 
Metrology Organization GSMO (1984-2003). 
 Its headquarters are in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and it has administrative and 
financial autonomy. 
1.2.  GSO has good working relationships with the following international entities: 
 International Organization for Standardization (ISO); 
 Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO); 
 International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC); and 
 Codex Alimentarius Commission. 
2  GSO STRUCTURE 2.1.  The Board of Directors comprises the Mini sters in charge of standardization in member 
states. The Technical Council comprises the presidents or officials of the standardization 
organizations of the member states or their representatives. The Steering Committee of Standards 
comprises the directors of standards of the members' national standardization bodies. A Secretary General is appointed for a three-year terms, nominated by member states. Technical Committees 
are comprised of members from national standardization bodies in GSO and are focused on 
separate sectors. 
3  OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES 
3.1.  GSO aims at helping GCC achieve the objectives set forth in its charter and in the GCC 
Economic Agreement by unifying the various standardization activities, and following up G/SPS/GEN/1360 
 
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  application and compliance of the same in cooperation and coordination with the standardization 
bodies in the member states in an endeavour to develop the production and service sectors, foster 
the intra-GCC trade, protect consumers, the environment and public health, and encourage GCC industries and agricultural production that would enhance the GCC economy, maintain the 
achievements of the member states and minimize the technical trade barriers as envisaged by the 
objectives of the Customs Union. 
4  GSO ACHIEVEMENTS 
4.1.  Based on its strategic plans and main obje ctives, GSO accomplished many achievements in 
different areas. 
4.1  Standards 4.2.  GSO follows a specific Guide for the process of developing GSO standards and technical 
regulations. The guide is inspired by ISO Guide 21 and meets the requirements of GSO. 
4.3.  Through GSO technical committees/sub-co mmittees, GSO managed to develop standards and 
technical regulations for the past years and achieved a remarkable increase in the number of 
publications per year. These standards/technical regulations are a response to market demands 
and comply with consumer protection an d environmental and health requirements. 
0200040006000800010000120001400016000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014GSO Standards & Technical Regulations
 
 
4.2  Metrology 
4.4.  Based on GSO objective to setup a unified regional measurements system in coordination 
with national standards bodies of GCC States, GSO has constituted the Calibration and Measurement Steering Committee and assigned it th e responsibilities of updating the current 
metrological legislation in the GCC States and coming up with common metrology law. 
4.5.  GSO organized many symposia to introd uce the importance of metrology and reached a 
consensus agreement on the importance of creati ng a Regional Metrology Organization (RMO), 
with a vision of establishing a self-sufficient and sustainable internationally recognized RMO. This 
RMO (GulfMet:  http://www.gulfmet.org ), officially established in June 2010, has many 
achievements to its credit: 
 GulfMet established the following Technical Committees: the Technical Committee for Mass 
and Related Quantities, the Technical Committee for Electrical and Magnetism, the Technical 
Committee for Thermometry, and the Technical Committee for Quality; 
 Developed guidelines and procedures in different aspects of (QMS, Quality, …); 
 Provides training programmes in the metrology field; 
 Advises on an inter-laboratories comparison programme; 
 Advises on quality management review; and 
 Signed MoUs with international metrology institutes. G/SPS/GEN/1360 
 
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  4.3  GAC (GCC Accreditation Center) 
4.6.  GAC aims to achieve the following goals:  Building confidence in the results of services  provided by the organizations accredited by 
GAC; 
 Achievement of mutual recognition with th e international and regional bodies and 
organizations working in the accreditation field; 
 Providing the accreditation services regardin g the requirements and needs of conformity 
assessment bodies and all the bodies related to accreditation in the member countries; and 
 Safeguarding the interests of the a ccreditation services beneficiaries. 
4.4  Conformity Ce rtificate Scheme 
4.7.  The GSO Conformity Certificate is a self-declaration from the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, 
certifying the compliance of their vehicles with related GSO technical regulations. 
4.5  Technical Services 4.8.  The Technical Services Department focuses on process automation and provides professional 
services to all GSO clients in GCC, including software development that meets the demands of 
GSO departments. Furthermore, it provides the first point of contact for clients' inquiries. 
4.6  International Cooperation 
4.9.  GSO distributed an approved work-plan to all GSO Members to facilitate the maximum 
utilization of the memoranda of cooperation that GSO signed with international organizations and other stakeholders. 
4.10.  GSO participated in events and signed a memorandum of cooperation with many 
organizations such as: 
ISO SMIIC 
IEC CAC 
BSI KATS 
NIST AIDMO 
ASTM/ANSI CEN/CENELEC 
TSE ASME 
4.7  Training 
4.11.  Technical training is paramount in technical staff capacity building, and increasing 
awareness of standardization importance and its impact on all aspects of society. 
4.12.  GSO provided training for member states covering all technical fields, such as: 
 Technical requirements for GSO standards and international standards; 
 Accreditation requirements for laboratories proficiency testing; 
 Inspection bodies; 
 Social responsibilities; 
 Technical regulation application; and 
 Technical committees guide. G/SPS/GEN/1360 
 
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720135218592800
2010 2011 2012 2013Total Trainees Count
Total Trainees Count
 
 
4.8  WTO Membership 
4.13.  All GSO member states are Members of the WTO. The following table shows the year each 
member state joined the WTO. 
 Member State Date 
1 United Arab Emirates 1996 
2 Bahrain, Kingdom of 1995 
3 Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of 2005 
4 Oman 2000 
5 Qatar 1996 
6 Kuwait, the State of 1995 
7 Yemen 2014 
 4.9  SPS Notifications 
4.14.  GSO member states notify the SPS Commi ttee about technical regulations related to SPS 
issues. To date, more than 400 notifications were submitted to the SPS Committee by GSO 
member states; 82 of them were submitted in 2014 alone. 
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