WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/895/Rev.1 
12 November 2009 
 (09-5645) 
  
  
REPORT (2009) OF THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
 
Revision 
 
  1. The Committee held its forty-eighth to fiftieth  regular meetings on 18-19 March, 25-26 June 
and 5-6 November 2009, under the Chairmanship of  Ms Xueyan Guo (China) and Mr. Aldo (Ami) 
Levin (Israel).
1 
2. At each of the meetings in 2009, the Committe e heard statements from a number of Members 
informing the Committee of measures taken to ensu re the implementation and administration of the 
Agreement.  In total, since 1995, 118 Member s have submitted at least one Statement on 
implementation and administration under Ar ticle 15.2 of the TBT Agreement.   
3. New specific trade concerns were brought to th e attention of the Committee with regard to 
their potential adverse trade effects or inconsiste ncy with the Agreement, and the Committee heard 
exchanges on several trade concerns that have pr eviously been raised (G/TBT/GEN/74/Rev.3).  
4. During the reporting period, the Committee continued the exchange of experiences on issues 
arising from the operation and implem entation of the Agreement, incl uding:  good regulatory practice, 
conformity assessment procedures, transparency and technical assistance.  In particular, the TBT 
Committee explored, in 2009, the subject of standards.   With a view to deepening its understanding of 
how the use of international standards and conf ormity assessment systems facilitates the conduct of 
international trade, the Committee held, on 16-17 March 2009, a Workshop on the Role of International Standards in Economic Development.
2   
5. At its meeting on 18-19 March 2009, the Committee adopted its report of the Fourteenth 
Annual Review of the Implementation and Oper ation of the TBT Agreement under Article 15.3 
(G/TBT/25).  At the same meeting, the Committee ca rried out the Fourteenth Annual Review of the 
Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adopti on and Application of Standards.  This work was 
based on the following background documents:  a lis t of standardizing bodies that have accepted the 
Code in the period under review (G/TBT/CS/1/Add. 13), a list of standardizing bodies that have 
accepted the Code since 1 January 1995 (G/TBT/CS/ 2/Rev.15) and the Fourteenth Edition of the 
WTO TBT Standards Code Directory prepared by the ISO/IEC Information Centre. 
6. At its meeting on 5-6 November 2009, the Committee concluded the Fifth Triennial Review 
(G/TBT/26).  The Review addressed:  good regulat ory practice, conformity assessment procedures, 
standards, transparency, technical assistance,  and the operation of the committee.  The TBT 
Committee also carried out the Eighth Annual Tran sitional Review mandated in the Protocol of 
Accession of the People's Republic of China (G/TBT/27). 
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1 G/TBT/M/47-49. 
2 A report by the Secretariat (G/TBT/W/310) provides  a summary of key points and issues that arose 
from the presentations and discussions during the Workshop. The full presentations made by speakers are 
available on the WTO TBT Website ( http://www.wto.org/english/news _e/news09_e/tbt_16mar09_e.htm ).