WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/GEN/133 
8 October 2012 
 (12-5430) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
 
 
 
INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES OF THE ITC  
 
 
 The following information was provided by the ITC (International Trade Centre) at the 
TBT Committee meeting of 15-16 June 2012. 
 
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 I. PROJECTS 
A. EIF
 - SECTOR COMPETITIVENESS AND EXPORT  DIVERSIFICATION IN THE GAMBIA (2012-2015) 
1. The EIF-funded project, approved in April 2012, with ITC as Executing Agency, aims at 
responding to some of the trade related developm ent priorities of The Gambia as identified in its 
Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS).  The pr oject's development objective is to reduce poverty 
through activities that (a) strengthen targeted sectors competitiveness, (b) promote new business 
opportunities in domestic, regional a nd international markets and (c) generate additional incomes and 
create employment.  The project targets are: 
(a) Agri-sector specific support for cashew nuts, groundnuts and sesame. Key focus will 
be on finding new export opportunities, pr oduct diversification, improved value-
addition, quality enhanc ement and strengthened sector support institutions 
(Component A). 
(b) Provision of cross-cutting assistance in the areas of trade information (Component B) 
and inclusive tourism (Component C). 
2. The Quality Enhancement component of th e project will address product food safety and 
quality issues and address technical barriers hindering market access of Gambian exports of 
groundnuts, cashew nuts, and sesame by im plementing activities which will include: 
- Upgrading NARI's lab testing capacity and r ecognition at internatio nal level (aflatoxin); 
- Developing standards for groundnuts, cashew nuts and sesame; 
- Providing training and tools for enhanced qua lity segregation of groundnuts by quality control 
inspectors; 
- Enhancing food safety of groundnuts through implementation of HACCP1 and pre-requisites 
such as GAP2 and GMP3; 
- Developing a Quality Assurance Fr amework for cashew nuts and sesame; 
- Enhancing farmer capacity to grow groundnuts,  cashew nuts and sesame of better quality and 
higher productivity through Farmer Field School Approach. 
                                                      
1 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. 
2 Good Agricultural Practice. 
3 Good Manufacturing Practice. G/TBT/GEN/133 
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  II. OTHER ITC PROJECTS OF INTEREST 
A. TRADE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (T4SD) 
3. ITC's Standards Map allows users to compare pr ivate standards with regards to, for example, 
social, environmental and economic criteria, ge ographic and product-related scopes, compliance 
policies and requirements for implementation.  Comp liance to these standards is not legally required 
by governments or regulations, but it could lead  to more sustainable social and environmental 
practices and improved comp etitiveness for exporters.  
4. As of June 2012, Standards Ma p covers 75 private standards developed by non-governmental 
organizations, companies, multi-stakeholder coaliti ons and other private entities. The new standards 
loaded include SMETA Best Practice Guidance, Electronics Industry Code of Conduct (EICC), 
International Sustainability & Carbon Certific ation (ISCC), Primus GFS, TerraChoice and Food 
Justice Certified.  The team is working on additio nal 10 standards that will be loaded on the website 
by the end of August 2012, including Global Repor ting Initiative (GRI), Global Social Compliance 
Programme (GSCP) and The European Ecolabel, among others.  The T4SD team also published 
several papers in the past months, among which a paper series on the impacts of private standards in 
global value chains (part 1), on producers level (par t 2) and on the interplay of public and private 
standards (part 3).  The three papers are accessible at: http://www.standardsmap.org   
5. In a collaboration with the Sustainable Agri culture Initiative (SAI) Platform, the Dutch 
Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) and IMD's Corpor ate Sustainability Management Platform (CSM) 
the team is also developing a business guide for sust ainable sourcing.  This guide will lay-out the key 
issues companies need to take into considera tion when planning and implementing a sustainable 
sourcing strategy, with particular focus on developi ng a sustainable supply chain.  Illustrating the 
main challenges in developing sustainable supply ch ains, this guide will develop a set of concrete 
actions and strategic responses to support businesses in dealing with sustainability issues along the 
supply chain.  The final publication is expected in December 2012. 
6. We aim to have approximately 110 standards fu lly loaded on the website by the end of 2012.  
Should you be interested in a live demonstration of the website or in a webi nar, please contact Joseph 
Wozniak, Program Manager ( wozniak@intracen.org ). 
B. NON-TARIFF MEASURES (NTM) PROJECT  
7. ITC NTM report for Morocco has been published and released to the public and is now also 
available on ITC's website at:  " http://www.intracen.org/maroc-perspec tives-des-entreprises-serie-sur-
les-mesures-non-tarifaires ." 
8. At the request of the WTO Secretariat and the Mission of Barbados in Geneva, a presentation 
of ITC's NTM programme was made at the sm all and vulnerable econom ies (SVEs) Strategic 
Brainstorming on Non-Tariff Trade Measures held at the WTO on 10 May 2012.  A number of SVEs 
are beneficiary of the programme, including Jam aica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Mauritius.  
9. ITC also successfully launched the non-tariff measures (NTM) survey in two more countries 
(Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea) during the period Ma rch - June 2012.  Upcoming countries include 
Indonesia and Tanzania. 
10. For more information about ITC's NTM project, please contact Ms Poonam Mohun, NTM 
Market Analyst, Market Analysis and Research, ITC. Tel: +41 22 730 0277 - Fax: +41 22 730 0577 - 
Email: mohun@intracen.org.   G/TBT/GEN/133 
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  11. For more information contact Ludovica Ghizzoni, ITC Adviser on Export Quality 
Management, Tel:  +41 22 730 06 38 - Fax: + 41 22 730 05 7,  Email:  ghizzoni@intracen.org, 
Website: http://www.intracen.org/exporters/quality-management/ , Email: 
mailto:quality@intracen.org . 
 
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