G/TBT/GEN/187  
 
1 February 2016  
(16-0678)  Page: 1/1  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
UPDATE ON UNECE ACTIVITIES  
STATEMENT BY THE UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE 
This document contains information provided by the UNECE at the TBT Committee meeting of  
4-6 November 2015 under Agenda Item 4 (Update by Observers). 
 
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1.  UNECE would like to recall that its Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and 
Standardization Policies develops and shares best practice in the area of technical regulations, 
standardization policies, and policies related to quality infrastructure as well as conformity 
assessment and market surveillance. The Workin g Party also supports regulatory cooperation 
among members in specific sectors, such as the equipment used in installations with a high risk of explosion.  
2.  Last year, the Working Party held a Confer ence on "Safer products and workplaces, safer 
communities" during its annual session. The proceed ings of the Conference have been published 
as part of the session report 
(http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/tra de/wp6/documents/2 014/WP6_2014_2E.pdf ). They 
point to the need for stronger cooperation among authorities, both within a single country, and at 
regional and international level, to curb the pr oliferation of substandard and dangerous products 
on the market. 
3.  The next session of the Working Party is coming up from 2 to 3 December back-to back with 
the World Standards Cooperation (WSC) workshop (link: http://www.wsccaworkshop.com/) on Conformity Assessment. Both events will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. At the 
workshop, experts will present and review best practice on how to avoid multiple certifications and 
protect users from frauds and hazards. At the Annu al Session of the Working Party, there will be a 
discussion on how standards and technical regulations contribute to the Agenda 2030 for 
Sustainable Development. Another important item on the agenda will be the revision of the 
"International Model for Technical Harmonization", which is the main focus of the Working Party's Recommendation L.  
4.  Just this week, a joint ITU-IEC-UNECE event on "Standards and regulations" was held at the 
Palais des Nations on 2-3 November, with participation by many of those present here today. It 
was a unique opportunity to connect national and international policymakers with standards developers, as well as United Nations agencies. All presentations from the event are already 
available on the UNECE website. We at UNECE hope that more such activities, which are key for 
making full use of the expertise of standards bodies as well as the WTO in the realization of the SDGs, can be organized also at regional and national level.  
5.  Another area of activity that is relevant to members of this Committee are the UNECE studies 
on regulatory and procedural barriers to trade which identify and recommend ways of reducing and or eliminating technical and procedural barriers to regional and international trade. Currently, two studies based on this methodology – on Belarus and on Kazakhstan which are not WTO 
Members have been completed. Another study on a recently accessed country, Tajikistan was 
published in the second half of 2014 and that on Kyrgyzstan in August 2015 
(http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/P ublications/ECE_TRADE_412E-Kyrgyzstan.pdf ). 
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