G/TBT/W/409
11 May 2015
(15-2459)  Page: 1/2
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: Spanish
 
  ECUADOR – EMERGENCY TECHNICAL REGULATION OF THE ECUADORIAN 
STANDARDIZATION INSTITUTE (RTE INEN) NO. 111 (DRYERS) AND 
TECHNICAL REGULATIONS ON HOUSEHOLD ELECTRICAL GOODS 
STATEMENT BY MEXICO TO THE COMMITT EE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
AT ITS MEETING OF 18-19 MARCH 2015 
The following communication, dated 8 May 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Mexico. 
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1.  Mexico wishes to express a trade concern with  respect to Ecuadorian Emergency Technical 
Regulation (RTE INEN) No. 111, entitled "Energy Efficiency, Clothes Dryers, Labelling", which was 
notified by means of document G/TBT/N/ECU/152 of 28 January 2014. 
a. First of all, Mr Chairman, Mexico did not find in the regulations any specification or 
reference concerning unexpected events of an urgent nature that might have justified 
their being issued on an emergency basis. Moreover, Mexico notes that the Ecuadorian Government took no account of the formal comments transmitted to Ecuador on 
24 February 2014. 
b. Mexico also considers that the technical regulation could imply a violation of the 
proportionality principle established in Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement by defining excessively high ranges of energy efficiency which would limit the access of products to 
the Ecuadorian market (only ranges "A" and "B" are admitted). According to information 
from industry sources, there are no precedents for such a measure at international level, since even under schemes such as that of  the European Community, the eco-design 
directive for clothes dryers still permits the marketing of range "C" products. In this 
connection, Ecuador is requested to supply information providing justification for these requirements in the light of the legitimate objective pursued by Emergency Technical 
Regulation RTE INEN No. 111. 
c. We would be grateful to receive the information on RTE INEN No. 111 requested 
from Ecuador. 
2.  Accordingly, Mexico formally submitted comments to Ecuador on 25 February 2014, along with 
the following requests: 
a. To give consideration and respond to all the comments submitted by Mexico with respect 
to compliance with the TBT Agreement. 
b. The Government of Ecuador is requested to provide information regarding the risk that 
might arise from not achieving the legitimate objective pursued, by adopting the restriction laid down in Article 10.4 of RTE INEN No. 111. 
c. To explain or justify the urgent problems wh ich arose or threatened to arise for Ecuador 
that led it to adopt this "emergency" technical regulation and to disregard the transparency obligations laid down in Ar ticles 2.9 and 5.6 of the TBT Agreement, 
respectively. G/TBT/W/409 
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  3.  Mexico would also like to express its concern about some specific requirements included in the 
technical regulations applicable to other household electrical goods: 
a. Emergency Regulations RTE INEN No. 036 (Compact fluorescent lamps), No. 072 
(Air conditioners), and No. 077 (Washing machines), provide for certification model 5 or 
models 1a and 5. According to information from the Mexican industry, the difference 
between the two models is unclear and model 1a is considered better than models 1a and 5. 
b. Technical Regulation RTE INEN No. 005 (Gas heaters) provides for batch certification 
(1b). However, the products covered are subject to an existing conformity assessment procedure which provides for other certification models, i.e.: market surveillance (M7 + M2); factory surveillance, market surveillance, and factory and market 
surveillance (M7 + M4); factory surveillance, market surveillance, factory and market 
surveillance, and QMS (M7 + M5); batch-by-batch (M8) and Special Certification. It is therefore not clear whether or not the conformity assessment procedure still 
applies. It would be better to follow the certification options for the other products, 
that is, models 5 and 1a. 
c. Technical Regulations RTE INEN No. 109 (Gas water heaters), No. 047 (Metal cable tray, 
electrical conduit and trunking systems), No. 091 (Switches), and No. 196 (Lighting 
chains) provide for certification models 1b (batch-by-batch) and 5. Ecuador is requested to replace batch certification (1b) with type certification (1a), as has started to be done in other technical regulations. 
d. Furthermore, despite the fact that certificates and test reports on the technical 
regulations are submitted in Spanish, Ecuador has maintained the requirement that they be authenticated by apostille. Ecuador is requested to provide information justifying this 
requirement in the light of the principles co ntained in Article 5.1 of the TBT Agreement. 
e. Mexico would be grateful if Ecuador would give consideration to these requests and 
envisage the relevant changes in accordance with the provisions of the TBT Agreement. 
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