. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/35 
21 June 2006 
 (06-3027) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE AT THE 
MEETING OF THE TBT COMMITTEE ON 7 – 9 JUNE 2006 
 
Agenda Item 4:  Technical Cooperation
 
 
 
 The following statement, dated 7 June 2006, is being circulated at the request of the 
International Trade Centre (ITC).  
 
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I. MOVING TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED ASEAN COSMETIC MARKET - A NEW 
ASIA TRUST FUND PROJECT TO HELP REGULATORS AND INDUSTRY STAY 
ON TRACK  
1. ASEAN is rapidly moving towards an integrated  market. But market integration is about 
more than simply cutting or removing trade tariffs . ASEAN countries must ensure that non-tariff 
barriers are removed, including those created by standards, technical regulations and conformity 
assessment. 
2. The European Commission and the ITC, under th e Asia Trust Fund, are sponsoring a project 
to help strengthen the technical competency of re gulators and cosmetic industry personnel in selected 
ASEAN countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR,  Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). 
Regulators and industry personnel will focus on Post-Market Surveillance (PMS) and Good 
Manufacturing Practice (GMP), as well as increasing their ability to transfer acquired knowledge to 
stakeholders.  
3. A series of workshops are underway to help  ensure the continuity of the EC-ASEAN 
Regional Economic Cooperation Prog ramme and other national projects on standards, quality and 
conformity assessment.  The objective is to impr ove the capability of regulators and the cosmetic 
industry in ASEAN member countries to impl ement the Agreement on the ASEAN Harmonized 
Cosmetic Regulatory Scheme (AHCRS).  
II. COLLABORATION BRINGS HARMONIZATION  
4. For years, the ASEAN cosmetic industry has faced  the challenge of having to re-test and re-
register products before they could be marketed  in each individual member country, resulting in 
delays and higher costs.  Cosmetic  regulators and the industry reali zed that harmonized standards and 
technical regulations to ease the movement of goods within the region was a vital first step towards 
creating an integrated market.  They have been  working together since 1997 to address technical 
barriers to trade. 
 G/TBT/GEN/35 
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  5. As a result of this collaboration, the AHCRS was signed on 2 September 2003.  The AHCRS 
lays down the requirements for cosmetic produc ts for all signatory ASEAN member countries 
beginning 1 January 2008.  Under the agreement, a product produced or marketed in any signatory 
country that meets the requirements of AHCRS would be able to enter other signatory countries.  The 
AHCRS is the first harmonized technical regulation in ASEAN.  Its successful implementation is 
expected to serve as an example and guide for other sectors. 
III. SUPPORTING IMPLEMENTATION 
6. The European Union has been helping ASEAN member countries implement this harmonized 
scheme by providing significant assistance at regional  level in the area of Standards, Quality and 
Conformity Assessment under the EC-ASEAN Re gional Economic Cooperati on Programme.  During 
the last two years, the programme offered traini ng activities and consultancy services for regulatory 
authorities and industries.  It also devel oped a number of training modules on post-market 
surveillance and good manufacturing practice.  Howe ver, due to time restriction, the Programme was 
not able to provide comprehensive and advanced tr aining on the use of these  modules.  In addition, 
there are still a number of constraints and challenges that ASEAN need to overc ome to ensure that the 
single regulatory system for cosmetics is implemented by the agreed timeframe.  
IV. BUILDING ON THE MOMENTUM 
7. The new Asia Trust Fund (ATF) project – “U pgrading selected ASEAN Member Countries’ 
capability to implement the ASEAN Harmonized Cosm etic Regulatory Scheme” – consists in the 
following training activities: Four-day Advanced Re gional Training of Trainers on PMS, seven two-
day National Follow-up Training Courses on PMS, two three-day Semi-Regional Follow-up Training 
Courses on PMS, one four-day in-depth Regional Training of Trainers on GMP and five two-day 
National Follow-up Training Courses on GMP.  The en tire training programme will be completed by 
the end of 2006. 
8. The methodology of conducting the training activ ities (regional, national training and follow-
up) is aimed to put in place a follow-up and mentori ng mechanism, to ensure that the trainees after 
attending regional “train the traine r” workshops would be able to cascade training at both national and 
regional level.  
9. Before the end of 2006, the project will contribute to train a minimum of 140 persons among 
regulators and key players in the cosmetic i ndustry and 14 experts on Po st-Market Surveillance 
(PMS) and a minimum of 100 persons among regulators and key players in the cosmetic industry and 
10 experts on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). 
10. The project was officially launched on 8 May 2006 on the occasion of the first training event 
of the project titled “Advanced Regional Training on  Cosmetic Post-Market Surveillance” that took 
place from 8 to 11 May 2006 in Manila, the Philippin es.  More than 40 participants from regulatory 
authorities and the cosmetic industry from the ASEA N countries attended the events.  The workshop 
focused on helping member countries build a strong network of experts in pos t-marketing surveillance 
from 2008 onwards.  The training programme was or ganized to provide participants with an 
opportunity to learn theory and apply it in practice through several audits at manufacturing premises and market places.  These experts have already started to serve as trainers in their own countries in the 
May-June series of national follow-up training sessi ons on PMS for other regulators and industry.  
Supervision and support to the new trainers has be en provided by an international consultant and 
designated ASEAN experts. 
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