. /. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/ACC/TON/14 
21 July 2005 
 (05-3266) 
Working Party on the 
Accession of Tonga Original:   English 
 
 
ACCESSION OF TONGA 
 
Implementation of the Transparency Provisions of the Agreement on  
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)  
 
 
 The following submission, dated 20 July 2005, is being circulated at the request of the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga.   
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 WT/ACC/TON/14 
Page 2 
 
 
 This note provides information on the way in which Tonga will implement the transparency 
provisions of the TBT Agreement, wh ich relate to: notification to in form other Members about new or 
changed regulations and conformity assessment pr ocedures that affect their trading partners; 
answering reasonable enquiries; and publishing relevant information. 
Under the TBT Agreement, countries are require d to designate a single government authority 
responsible for implementing its no tification provisions and an enquiry point or enquiry points to 
answer reasonable enquiries.  In order to minimi ze the impact on financial and physical resources, 
Tonga has decided that the one body will operate  both its Notification Authority and its single 
Enquiry Point. 
Name of Institution: National TBT Notif ication Authority and Enquiry Point: 
 Address: Ministry of Labour, Commerce & Industries, P.O. Box 110, Nuku'alofa, 
Kingdom of Tonga 
 Phone:  + (676) 23688  Fax:  + (676) 23887  Email:  secretary@mlci.gov.to
 
The National TBT Notification Authority and Enquiry  Point can already answer reasonable enquiries. 
The Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Commerce & Industr ies is the officer responsible and it is staffed 
by one official. 
The Notification Authority will be responsible for:  ensuring that proposed technical regulations and 
conformity assessment procedures are published early in order to allow for comments; notifying other 
countries through the Secretariat using the agreed format; providing copies of proposed technical 
regulations and conformity assessment procedur es on request; and ensuring that comments are 
handled correctly.   
The responsibilities of the Enquiry Point will be to: answer all reasonable enquiries from other 
Members and interested parties in other Member s and provide relevant documentation regarding: 
technical regulations, standards and conformity assess ment procedures adopted or proposed within its 
territory; membership and participation of Tonga, or of relevant bodies within its territory, in 
international and regional standardizing bodies and conformity assessment systems, as well as in relevant bilateral and multilateral arrangements. 
The resources at the disposal of the Notification Authority and Enquiry Poin t will be adequate for 
these purposes: it will use existing office infrast ructure and services and have word-processing 
capability (typewriter or computer), a photocopier, and access to postal faci lities, telephones, fax, 
electronic mail. 
When applying the transparency provisions of th e TBT Agreement, the staff of the Notification 
Authority / Enquiry Point will be guided by the Background Note by the WTO Secretariat of 
16 February 2005 on the Transparency Requirements and Procedures. 
Prior to Tonga’s accession to the WTO, responsib le government officials will receive additional 
training to ensure that, as from the date of accessi on, they are fully conversant with the requirements 
of the TBT agreement (including the definition of TBT measures and the distinction between TBT 
measures and SPS measures as set out in Box 3 of the WTO Secretariat Handbook: How to Apply the 
Transparency Provisions of the TBT Agreement), th e procedures for notification to the WTO, and the 
steps to be taken when comments are received on a notified TBT measure.  
All notifications will be made in English.  Tonga will only charge the same cost for the documents as 
it would for its own nationals plus the cost of delivering the documents.   
 
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