WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/CTD/W/32 
6 April 2010 
 (10-1791) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Special Session Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
NEGOTIATIONS ON SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT 
 
Communication from Cuba  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 19 Marc h 2010, has been received from the delegation 
of the Republic of Cuba.  
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I. GENERAL REMARKS 
1. Transfer of technology is one of the most re levant issues when examining ways of making 
special and differential treatment operational in the WTO.  Hence, it is necessary for the Committee to examine new proposals that would enable us to fu lfil our mandate in this important area, which, 
furthermore, lies at the heart of the Doha Agenda. 
2. Access to technology would appear to be subject - although it is not so in fact - to rules that 
aim to contribute to increasing flows of technology to the developing countries through trade that is free of barriers or arbitrary distortions and unfair practices.  Among these rules are a number of provisions with different objectives, scopes and m odes of implementation, that expressly address 
technology transfer. 
3. The developing countries are doubly affected at this time by the global economic crisis that 
broke out two years ago, with deleterious effects on trade that have been and will remain tangible.  
Therefore, every measure that could help mitigate su ch effects to the greatest extent possible will need 
to be taken. 
4. At the same time, the entire Membership will ha ve to rise to the challenges posed by global 
warming.  Accordingly, we are resolved in some way or another to initiate processes of adjustment to 
climate change
1 and mitigation of this phenomenon.  In orde r to be able to implement such processes, 
the developing countries will require access to technology and financing. 
5. Fifteen years after the creation of the WTO, it is time to return with some fresh thinking to a 
number of facts that have been overlooked: 
(a) "Best endeavours" commitments on technol ogy transfer and dissemination in the 
WTO Agreements are not real commitments fo r the developed countries.  Very often, 
the governments of these countries are prev ented from taking measures to encourage 
their private sectors to transfer clean technologies to the developing countries; 
                                                      
1 Under the Kyoto Protocol, it was agreed that the developing countries would conduct these processes 
on a voluntary basis. TN/CTD/W/32 
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  (b) the rules laid down in the TRIPS Agreement, which purportedly are meant to 
contribute to and promote decisions to tr ansfer technology, have, when applied, 
actually become barriers preventing the developing countries from implementing measures which in the past proved strategic for what are now the industrialized countries at the time when they were on the path to development. 
6. Consequently, there can be no further delay in r esponding to the developing countries' request 
that the new rules should encourage rather than obstr uct the transfer to their territories of, and real 
access to, new knowledge, innovations and technologi es.  The paragraphs below analyse and assess 
application of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) and the 
WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary  and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). 
II. TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE, SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY 
MEASURES AND THE TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY:  DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 
7. Technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phyt osanitary measures have now overtaken tariff 
barriers.  Developed countries as a rule apply them to their imports by means of technical regulations, 
mandatory standards, conformity assessment proce dures, or sanitary and phytosanitary prescriptions, 
through which they set technical requirements citing as grounds for the quality assurance of the 
products they are importing, protection of the lif e and health of persons and animals or the 
environment, prevention of misleading practices or protection of essential security and trade interests. 
8. Although technology transfer is of the utmost importance for the developing countries, neither 
the TBT Agreement nor the SPS Agreement afford treat ment that is suited to or commensurate with 
the difficulties faced by these countries, considering th e role that technology transfer could play in 
avoiding or containing technical barriers to trade and in helping the developing countries to comply with sanitary and phytosanitary prescripti ons with which they have difficulties. 
9. Article 11 of the TBT Agreement refers to technical assistance to Members, especially the 
developing country Members.  In practice, the provision of such assistance by developed country 
Members is on occasion so cumbersome, complex and slow a process that it, in fact, turns into a 
major trade barrier for products from the developing c ountries or the least developed countries.  In the 
SPS Agreement, Article 9 regulates technical assi stance matters, and here too there are similar 
difficulties in practice. 
10. Article 12 of the TBT Agreement establishes special and differential treatment for developing 
country Members.  However, it has beco me clear that expressions such as " shall give particular 
attention ", "shall take into account " or " shall bear in mind ", which imply some unspecified duty and 
not an obligation, arouse little interest among devel oped Members in seeking concrete solutions to the 
problems of the developing world.  As to the SPS Agreement, special and differential treatment is 
governed by Article 10, which deals with this important principle in much the same way. 
11. Current practice shows that the developed countri es issue technical regulations in which they 
set mandatory technical requirements and testi ng methods for specific products, compliance with 
which requires technology that the developing  countries exporting the products do not have. 
12. The most relevant examples of difficulties met in applying the technical regulations, standards 
or conformity assessment procedures of developed countries are: 
(a) Lack of equipment or technology for the requisite testing and/or the absence of any 
accredited national body to carry out the testing;  TN/CTD/W/32 
 Page 3 
 
 
  (b) high cost of the equipment or technology needed for the requisite testing and no 
possibility of purchasing it within a reasonable period of time; 
(c) high cost of equipment or technology that involves adapting industrial processes in 
order to meet the requirement in question; 
(d) the existence of plans that are cumbersome  and very detailed for infrastructures that 
are not well developed, which imply additional production costs; 
(e) proliferation of private standards that set higher requirements than the internal 
provisions of the consumer market. 
13. For the developing and least developed countries,  situations such as these mean a loss in 
export earnings, a limitation on the expansion and divers ification of their exports and/or the partial or 
total loss of destination markets, mostly in the developed countries. 
III. PROPOSALS TO INCREASE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO THE DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES 
14. It is necessary for the WTO to contribute actively to promoting the flow of technology to the 
developing countries as a means of responding effectivel y to their problems, which are a reflection of 
the lack of clear commitments by the developed countries in the various Agreements. 
15. The TBT Agreement and the SPS Agreement are among those that need stronger provisions 
on technology transfer from the developed to the de veloping countries so that such transfer really 
contributes to enhancing the developing countries' partic ipation in international trade, in keeping with 
their economic development needs, rather than being a barrier that limits or bars such development, as 
is increasingly the case. 
16. In view of the foregoing, we propose that th e Committee should hold a discussion with a view 
to adopting the following decision: 
(i) Developed Members will transfer on preferential terms2 to the developing and least 
developed countries the equipment and tec hnology needed to apply the technical 
regulations, standards or conformity assessment procedures and the sanitary and 
phytosanitary prescriptions to be met for access to their markets, if these countries 
lack such equipment and technology or ar e unable to acquire them for financial 
reasons and if such lack would limit significan tly or preclude their participation in the 
market in question.  Where infrastructur e problems are an obstacle to compliance 
with the requirements, financial assistance should also be considered.  Such requests 
could be addressed bilaterally or by means of joint projects or in any other manner 
that Members may suggest. 
(ii) To facilitate implementation of the foregoing proposal, it is important to ensure that 
the developing countries exporting the product that will have to comply with the 
technical regulation, standard or conformity assessment procedure or the sanitary and phytosanitary prescriptions, are consulted directly at an early stage
3 so that full 
account can be taken of the status of their technology and infrastructure in the 
                                                      
2 Cost-free for LDCs that so request. 
3 As soon as the developed Members embark on their internal consultations to prepare any TBT or 
SPS requirements, and not after the consultations have concl uded, as is currently the case.  This will always be 
before official notification of the relevant Committee. TN/CTD/W/32 
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  preparation of the requirements to be met, in order to explore solutions which neither 
restrict nor preclude the developing countries' participation in the market in question.  If this is not possible, it is important from this stage on to ensure effective ways to 
supply technology to these countries, as outlined in the previous paragraph. 
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