. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/W/251 
25 May 2005 
 (05-2126) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT (IPR) ISSUES  
IN STANDARDIZATION 
 
Communication from the People’s Republic of China 
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 23 May 2005, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of the People's Republic of China.  
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I. BACKGROUND 
1. WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (T BT Agreement) points out in its Preamble 
that international standards and conformity assessment  systems can make important an contribution to 
further the objectives of GATT 1994 by improving efficiency of production and facilitating the 
conduct of international trade. Meanwhile, Article  2.4 of TBT Agreement stipulates that "Where 
technical regulations are required and relevant inte rnational standards exist or their completion is 
imminent, Members shall use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for their technical regulations…". 
2. In the context of the TBT Agreement implem entation, especially the provision of the 
Agreement that Members shall adopt international standards as much as possible, it is necessary to 
ensure, in the process of international standards prep aration, the efficiency and quality of international 
standards and also to take into account the difficu lties Members may encounter in the application of 
international standards so as to facilitate Memb ers’ adoption of international standards and 
implementation of the TBT Agreement.  
3. International standardization bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization 
(ISO), the International Electrotechnical Committ ee (IEC) and the International Telecommunication 
Union (ITU) have already noticed that, to enhance efficiency and quality of international standards, 
relations between standards and t echnologies covered by IPR ought to be treated properly. Therefore, 
these bodies have established policies concerning IPR in standardization which encourage concerned 
parties to disclose IPR information related to  proposed standards in a timely manner. These 
organizations also recommended that IPR holders declare their acceptance of RAND principle, i.e., 
they would negotiate licensing terms with potentia l applicants in a reasonable and non-discriminatory 
manner. These have provided Members with a good technical base and a roadmap to follow for possible work of the WTO in this field. 
4. However, limited by their functions and due to th e complexity of the issue itself, there are still 
many issues which could not be solved efficiently w ith the above IPR policies in standardization. For 
example, standardization bodies declare that they shall not be responsible for concerned information 
about essential IPRs to be integrated into standa rds. There should be more concrete measures to 
encourage concerned parties to disclose related inform ation. If the interests of concerned parties could 
not be effectively coordinated, not only the process of standardization will be impaired, but also the G/TBT/W/251 
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 quality of standards will be negatively effected. Mo re effective measures, aside from withdrawing or 
redrafting standards, should be explored once intern ational standards preparation could not be carried 
forward due to divergence on IPR positions. Interpreta tions of related parties for RAND principles are 
inconsistent and therefore it is often difficult to achieve consensus among IPR holders and applicants, 
which increases uncertainty of in ternational standard adoption. 
5. International standard preparation should include technologies reflecting present technique 
development level in order to assure the quality of standards. Technologies protected by IPR in 
standards should be given sufficient and reasonable protection to safeguard IPR holder’s interests. 
IPR policies in standardization should help strike  a balance between standardization needs and IPR 
protection. 
II. PROPOSAL  
6. China is of the view that, IPR issues in prep aring and adopting international standards have 
become an obstacle for Members to adopt internationa l standards and facilitate international trade. It 
is necessary for the WTO to consider negative imp acts of this issue on multilateral trade and explore 
appropriate trade policies to resolve difficulties arising from this issue. 
7. The TBT Committee is not supposed to be respons ible for all of the above complex questions. 
However, the TBT Agreement encourages Members to adopt international standards, and those issues 
are significant not only for the efficiency and quality of international standards development, but also 
for Member’s standards adoption. The issue of IPR in  standardization is of cl ose relevance to the TBT 
Agreement.  
8. Therefore, China proposes that TBT Committe e should take advantage of the discussion 
nature of the Triennial Review and discuss this is sue so as to develop proper approaches and policies 
to promote the development and implementation of in ternational standards as well as more effective 
implementation of the TBT Agreement. 
9. IPR issue in standardization has important development implications. The TBT Committee 
should fully discuss this issue. This will help enha nce developing Members’ participation in the work 
of international standardization and in international trade. In this process, difficulties that developing 
Members may encounter and their needs for techni cal assistance and capacity building should be 
given sufficient consideration. 
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