WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/25 
22 December 2005 
 (05-6240) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
 
 
REPORT PROVIDED BY NORWAY AT THE TBT COMMITTEE MEETING OF 
2 NOVEMBER 2005 
 
 
Agenda item 5:  Technical Cooperation  
  
 The following report, dated 2 November 2005, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Norway
. 
_______________ 
  
I. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES FINANCED BY NORWAY: 
INFORMATION AS OF SEPTEMBER 2005 
 
A. S
OUTHERN AFRICA  
1. Norway supports the establishment of South African Development Community Accreditation 
(SADCA).  The South African National Accredit ation System (SANAS) is the only recognised 
accreditation body today.  Organisations in other Af rican countries have to approach SANAS or an 
overseas institution in order to become accredited. 
2. Cooperation between SANAS and SADCA shall meet the needs of those countries that do not 
want to or do not have the capacity to establish their own national accreditation bodies.  SADCA will make use of resources and competence in a network in the region.  The needs for training, organising and establishing new systems and infrastructure are considerable. 
3. SADCA is part of the SADC Standardisa tion, Quality Assurance, Accreditation and 
Metrology Committees, SQUAM, which aims to develop an internationally recognised accreditation 
system. 
4. Funds have been used for training, awarene ss building and development of a more formal 
cooperation, and to prepare the formal establis hment of SADCA.  The institutional partner is 
"Norwegian Accreditation".  Funding amounts to NOK 2.2 million for the period September 2003-
April 2006.  An additional allocation of NOK 500.000 has recently been authorized. 
5. Support to the establishment and implem entation of SADCA with approximately 
NOK 14 million is now under consideration.  The support to this second phase of the programme, if 
approved, will involve the funding of a headquarter for SADCA.  In addition,  national accreditation 
focal points will be set up in 14 member countri es, and technical assessors will receive training. 
6. When SADCA is established and gains internat ional recognition, one am ong several barriers 
to market access for goods from Southern Africa w ill be removed.  Together with other measures 
promoted by SADC SQAM, it will be possible to  document product properties in the manner 
demanded in the most important export markets. G/TBT/GEN/25 
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B. E
ASTERN AFRICA  
7. Norway financed, together with SIDA (Sweden development aid agency), a workshop on 
"Promoting exports through quality and product safety" which took place in Nairobi, on 9-
12 November 2004.  The workshop was carried ou t in cooperation with ARSO (African Regional 
Organization for Standardization).  The workshop highlighted the different requirements from the 
TBT and SPS agreements.  Participants were mini stry officials, managers and professionals of 
standardisation bodies, food safe ty/SPS and institutions of quality infrastructure, and exporters and 
their organisations from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Rwanda. 
8. More information on this project is available on www.norad.no   (English pages). 
C. SOUTH -EAST ASIA (VIETNAM , LAOS AND CAMBODIA ) 
9. Norway supports the Mekong Delta Regional project for Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam.  
The objective of the project is to "facilitate indus trial development and export capabilities (and 
consequently spurring economic growth and employment opportunities) of the assisted countries by 
reducing technical barriers to trade through the st rengthening of standards, metrology, testing and 
quality institutional structures and national capaciti es" (SMTQ).  The three countries have varying 
assistance needs and the project has paid due attention to this fact. 
10. This first phase of the project focused on in frastructure mapping and needs assessment for 
laying the foundation of SMTQ infrastructure in the three countries.  Resulting from the identified 
inadequacies, implementation has been concentrated in the areas of policy development, awareness 
creation and knowledge enhancement. 
11. The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) supported the Mekong 
initiative with approximately 1 million USD and carried out an independent review of this support.  
Continued support will be considered base d on the conclusion from this review. 
D. SOUTHERN ASIA (BANGLADESH , NEPAL , BHUTAN AND THE MALDIVES )  
12. Norway supports a UNIDO project in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives (within 
the framework of SAARC) entitled "Market Access and Trade Facilitation Support for South Asian 
LDC’s through Strengthening of Institutional and Na tional Capacities related to  standards, metrology, 
testing and quality ("SMTQ").  NORAD has su pported the initiative with approximately 
1 million USD.  This initiative also aims at developing the capacity within ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and 
HACCO. 
E. PAKISTAN  
13. Cooperation between Accreditation Council of Norway (NA) and Pakistan National 
Accreditation Council (PNAC) was established in 2003, and covers travel support to exchange 
experts, to carry out fact finding missions etc. 
14. The framework agreement "Institutional Cooperat ion" between Norway and Pakistan opens 
up for institutional co-operation between NA and PNAC.  The project cooperation and competence 
building between the two institutions aims at certifyi ng laboratories according to ISO standards, and 
at helping PNAC to receive internationally rec ognized accreditation standard.  These projects are 
defined as "430 other multi-sector aid" according to DAC. 
F. SRI LANKA  
15. Norway supports the UNIDO Integrated Industrial Project, aiming at the following:   G/TBT/GEN/25 
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(a) National strategy for standardisation, qua lity assurance and metrology development; 
(b) ISO 14000 Environment Management system improvement; 
(c) Metrology operations of Sri Lanka Standardisation Institute (SLSI); 
(d) Improving institutional capacity & management information of SLSI; 
(e) Establishing chemical testing laboratories covering sub-sectors of textile, leather, 
rubber, paints, paper & plastics; and, 
(f) Accrediting microbiology laboratory. 
16. The laboratories of Industrial Technology Institu te (ITI) in Colombo have been upgraded to 
the international standards and implement a quality certification system in accordance with 
ISO/IEC 17025. 
17. With the present metrology and testing capacity , Sri Lanka has the capability to engage in the 
global markets for trade in certain areas.  Many exporters in the country can now conform to the 
international standards required by  both foreign and domestic market s.  Total Norwegian allocation to 
this project amounts to 2.78 million USD. 
18. Furthermore, Norway through its Embassy in Colombo, is considering the possibility of 
financing the UNIDO project "Strengthening Intern ational Certification of  Social Accountability 
Standard and Food safety in Sri Lanka," with a total budget of NOK 4.8 million. 
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