WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/895 
12 October 2009 
 (09-4950) 
  
  
 
REPORT (2009) OF THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
1 
 
 
1. The Committee held its forty-eighth and fort y-ninth regular meetings on 18-19 March and 
25-26 June 2009, chaired by Ms Xueyan Guo (China) and Mr. Aldo (Ami) Levin (Israel).2 
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 b een previously raised (G/TBT/GEN/74/Rev.2).  
4. During the reporting period, the Committee con tinued the exchange of experiences on various 
horizontal issues arising from the operation and im plementation of the Agreement, including: good 
regulatory practice, conformity assessment procedur es, transparency and t echnical assistance.  In 
particular, the TBT Committee explored, in 2009, the subject of standards. With a view to deepening 
its understanding of the how the use of internati onal standards and conformity assessment systems 
facilitates the conduct of international trade, th e Committee held, on 16-17 March 2009, a Workshop 
on the Role of International St andards in Economic Development.3   
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. During the reporting period, representatives of the Codex, IEC, ISO, ITC, OECD, OIML, 
UNECE and UNIDO updated the Committee on activities relevant to the work of the TBT Committee, including on technical assistance. 
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1 The report has been prepared under the responsibility of the Chairman.  It covers the first two 
meetings of the TBT Committee in 2009 and will be co mplemented (by addendum) after the Committee's last 
meeting in 2009. 
2 G/TBT/M/47-48. 
3 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 ).