RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/M/43 
21 January 2008 
 (08-0293) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 9 NOVEMBER 2007  
 
Chairperson:  Mr. R.S. SIDHU (India)
  
 
Note by the Secretariat1 
 
   
I.
 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA ........................................................................................................2 
II. IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT ........................2 
A. S TATEMENTS FROM MEMBERS UNDER ARTICLE 5.2..................................................................2 
B. SPECIFIC TRADE CONCERNS .........................................................................................................3 
C. EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES .....................................................................................................24 
D. O THER MATTERS ......................................................................................................................30 
III. SIXTH ANNUAL TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MANDATED IN  PARAGRAPH 18 
OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF  THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ...........30 
IV. TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION ACTIVITIES AND UPDATING BY OBSERVERS ....35 
V. REPORT (2007) OF THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE ..35 
VI. DATE OF NEXT MEETING ............................................................................................................35 
ANNEX 1:  SUMMARY REPORT OF THE FIFTH SPECIAL MEETING ON 
PROCEDURES FOR INFORMATION EXCHANGE ..........................................................................36 
A. SESSION 1 - PUBLICATION PRACTICES .......................................................................................36 
B. SESSION 2 - NOTIFICATION PRACTICES ......................................................................................40 
C. SESSION 3 - THE USE OF ELECTRONIC TOOLS ............................................................................45 
D. SESSION 4 - TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND THE WORK OF ENQUIRY POINTS .........................50 
ANNEX 2:  REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN ON THE FIFTH SPECIAL MEETING ON 
PROCEDURES FOR INFORMATION EXCHANGE UNDER THE TBT AGREEMENT .......60 
 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. G/TBT/M/43 
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I. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA 
1. The Committee adopted the agenda contained in WTO/AIR/3086.   
II. IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT 
A. S
TATEMENTS FROM MEMBERS UNDER ARTICLE 5.2 
(i) Statements Received 
2. The Chairman  recalled that the latest list of Statements made under Article 15.2 of the TBT 
Agreement was contained in document G/TBT/GEN/1/Rev.6.  Since 1995, a total of 115  Members 
had submitted at least one such Statement.  Six Members had submitted their Statements of Implementation since the last meeting, held in Ju ly 2007.  These recent statements were from Malawi 
(G/TBT/2/Add.93), Niger (G/TBT/2/Add.95), Tanzania  (G/TBT/2/Add.94), the United Arab Emirates 
(G/TBT/2/Add.96), Botswana (G/TBT/2/Add.97), and Vietnam (G/TBT/2/Add.98).  In addition, Peru 
and Singapore had submitted revisions to previ ous statements (G/TBT/2/Add.29/Rev.1 and 
G/TBT/2/Add.25/Rev.1, respectively).  It was also no ted that the latest list of Enquiry Point contacts 
was contained in document G/TBT/ENQ/31.
2     
(ii) WTO Secretariat Workshop on the Statement on Implementation and Administration of the 
TBT Agreement under Article 15.2 (8 November 2007) 
3. The Secretariat  reported on the Workshop on the Statement on Implementation and 
Administration of the TBT Agreement under Article 15.2, held on 8 November 2007.  It was recalled 
that the Third Triennial Review stated that, in orde r to fulfil the obligation contained in Article 15.2, 
Members should seek assistance from other Members th at have done so to share their knowledge and 
experience.  This message was reiterated at the F ourth Triennial Review.  The Workshop, organized 
by the Secretariat, was an experience-sharing ev ent;  an opportunity for delegations to present and 
discuss different approaches to implementing the obligation contained in Article 15.2.3 
4. The Secretariat noted that one of the key me ssages in the presentations and the ensuing 
discussion was that the development of the 15.2 no tification necessitates collaboration between many 
different bodies and agencies within a country as well as consultations with other stakeholders.  For 
this purpose, Members established various consulta tive mechanisms such as  inter-ministerial bodies 
and national "TBT Committees" to advance their work .  This process of coordination had in and of 
itself led to increased involvement and awarene ss of governments about the TBT Agreement.  A 
further aspect was the importance of main taining and building on this awareness after  the notification 
was submitted and the appropriate legislation was in  place.  Discussions ranged over other aspects as 
well, such as: resource constraints and difficu lties related to participation in TBT Committee 
meetings, challenges of identifying  information needed for the 15. 2 Statement, and challenges of 
identifying possible assistance that could be made  available to help Members fulfil their 15.2 
obligation.  The Secretariat noted that it would con tinue to offer assistance in this area and encouraged 
Members who had valuable experiences to do likewise. 
5. The Committee took note  of the information provided. 
                                                      
2  Regularly updated information on Members' enquiry points is also available on the following TBT 
webpage: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/tbt_enquiry_points_e.htm  
3 The programme of the workshop, as well as the presentations can be obtained at the following TBT 
webpage: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/wkshop_nov07_e/tbt_article152_8march07_e.htm .   G/TBT/M/43 
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  B. SPECIFIC TRADE CONCERNS  
1. New Concerns 
(i) Argentina – Measures affecting market a ccess for pharmaceutical products (G/TBT/W/280) 
6. The representative of Colombia  introduced his delegation's concerns relating to the system 
applied by Argentina for the entry of pharmaceutical s into its market, specifically with regard to the 
classification of countries and the resulting applicatio n of conformity assessment procedures.  He was 
also concerned about the classification and applicati on of tariffs or fees for undertaking verification 
visits to plants located in the countries of origin of the pharmaceuticals.  Colombia was of the view 
that some of the measures could be considered c ontrary to the rights and obligations under the TBT 
Agreement, particularly those regarding the pr inciple of national treatment and transparency.4 
7. The representative of Chile  noted that her delegation had had similar difficulties with respect 
to market access for pharmaceuticals in Argentina and this despite the fact that Chile was included in 
Annex 1 contained in the Decree 177 (listing those countries whose sanitary system and pharmaceuticals are reliable).
5  For three years Chile had been asking for a review of its request with 
respect to the regulation at issue, yet nothing a ppeared to have been done.  Although she hoped that 
the issue could be dealt with within the relevant MERCOSUR bilateral group, to  date there had been a 
lack of response there as well.  Argentina was en couraged to review the situation and provide a 
response.  
8. The representative of Argentina  took note of the statements made. 
(ii) Moldova – quality and control measures for bottled, non-alcoholic beverages including 
mineral, natural water and soft drinks 
9. The representative of th e European Communities  was concerned about a measure adopted by 
Moldova on 15 August 2007 (Government Decisi on 934) which introduced new quality and control 
requirements for bottled, non-alcoholic  beverages including mineral, na tural water and soft drinks.  
This decision introduced a state registry for bottled non-alcoholic beverages, which required that, as 
of January 2008, all such products had to be labe lled with a special state commercial stamp or mark. 
She pointed out that the European Communities was a major exporter of these products to the 
Moldovan market and would be adversely affected  by this measure, if adopted. The European 
Communities considered that the entry into force of  this measure needed to be delayed until third 
countries had had opportunity to get acquainte d with it and submit formal comments.  
10. The European Communities requ ested Moldova to notify the decision to the TBT Committee 
and to fulfil the transparency obligations set out in  Article 2.9.2 of the TBT Agreement. In addition, 
there were a number of implementing measures, incl uding how the stamp had to be affixed and the 
size of the bottle, which had not yet been adopt ed. The European Communities hoped that these 
measures would be notified at a draft stage to the TBT Committee and that they would not be more trade-restrictive than necessary.  Any further in formation that Moldova could provide would be 
welcome. 
11. The Chairman
 noted that the concerns expressed by the European Communities would be 
conveyed to the appropriate Moldovan authorities. 
                                                      
4 The full statement detailing Colombia's concerns is contained in G/TBT/W/280.  
5 See G/TBT/W/280, para 2(a). G/TBT/M/43 
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  (iii) Norway – Proposed regulation concerning sp ecific hazardous substances in consumer 
products (G/TBT/N/NOR/17)  
12. The representative of the United States
 noted that the above-mentioned regulation would 
prohibit the use of 18 substances in a wide range  of consumer products. Several WTO Members and 
industry stakeholders had submitted comments to Norway's Enquiry Point. These comments 
questioned the technical justification, raised c oncerns that compliance would be overly burdensome 
and costly and noted the lack of viable alternativ e substances in many instances. In certain respects 
the proposed regulation appeared to be premature;   the United States understood that risk assessments 
were underway and close to completion on at least  two of the substances contained in the proposal 
(tetrabromobisphenol A  (TBBPA), when used as an additive and hexabromocyclododecane  
(HBCDD)). The United States hoped that Norway would reconsider any further action until the 
science-based assessments were complete. She noted that Norway's notification indicated a proposed 
date of adoption of 15 December 2007 and that the measure would enter into force on 1 January 2008. 
The United States was of the view that such a s hort implementation period would not give industry 
sufficient time to comply either with existing drafts or any future revision.   
13. The representative of Israel  echoed the concerns of the United States.  Israel was particularly 
concerned about two flame retardants affected by the proposed measure, known as TBBPA, when 
used as an additive, and HBCD – both of which we re produced in Israel. Although Israel was aware 
of Norway's legitimate concerns regarding the prot ection of human health and the environment, his 
delegation was of the view that the proposed restri ctions could not be justified based on available 
scientific information. Detailed comments concerning this  matter had been sent to Oslo and, in brief, 
the following points had been made.   
14. Israel considered that the proposed measure  was an unnecessary obstacle to international 
trade in the sense of Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreem ent.  Available scientific information within the 
context of an EU risk assessment process had estab lished that there was no risk to human health and 
that the environmental risk was limited and contro llable.  Moreover, the risk assessment process had 
not yet been concluded and risk reduction actio ns would be incorporated within the REACH 
regulation. Therefore the proposed restriction could not be justified with reference to the available 
scientific and technical information as required by  Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement.  As the 
proposed measure was more trade-r estrictive than necessary, Norway had to consider the adoption of 
less restrictive measures concerning the use of the tw o substances.  In additi on, the prohibition could 
not be justified under Article 2.10 because the nature  of the proposed ban did not concern any urgent 
problem.   
15. Finally, Israel was of the view that Norway 's decision to implement measures differing from 
those established in the European Union derogated from the principle of harmonisation of technical 
regulations referred to in Articles 2.6 and 2.7 of  the TBT Agreement. As a member of the EEA, 
Norway participated in the risk  assessment processes in accordance w ith EU rules and had therefore 
to afford mutual recognition to the conclusions reac hed by those assessments. In light of this, Israel 
objected to the implementation of the proposed restriction by Norway and urged Norway's authorities to consider its comments and proposed to fu rther discuss the issue on a bilateral basis. 
16. The representative of Japan
, like other delegations, recognized the importance of the 
protection of human health and environment in considering regulations.  However, Japan was 
concerned about the potential negative effects on in ternational trade of the above-mentioned measure. 
Japan had also submitted its comments to Norw ay (on 6 and 10 August 2007) outlining their 
concerns.  In essence, Japan was of the view that a risk assessment of the European Communities had 
concluded that tetrabromobisphenol A  (TBBPA), hexabromocyclododecane  (HBCDD) 
(diethylhexylphtalate  (DEHP) and BPA ( Bisphenol A ) did not pose serious risk.  Furthermore, the 
Japanese Government had also undertaken studies regarding the hazards of DEHA and BPA which  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 5 
 
 
  had concluded that the endocrine-dis rupter effect was not present.  Norway was therefore requested to 
take into account pre-existing research and explai n why its interpretation of the risk differed 
substantially from those arrived at by other WTO Members. 
17. The representative of Jordan  noted that his country was one of the major producers in the 
world of tetrabromobisphenol A  (TBBPA) and elemental bromine which was an input material for 
hexabromocyclododecane  (HBCDD).  Hence, Jordan – as well as other producers – would suffer 
direct negative consequences through the reduction in  TBBPA sales and indirectly through reductions 
in elemental bromine sales to other TBBPA and HB CDD producers worldwide.  Jordan had also sent 
official comments to the Norwegian authorities requesting Norway to exempt TBBPA and HBCDD 
from the above-mentioned ban and to further examin e the health and environmental risk of these 
products.  In Jordan's view, available risk assessmen ts did not offer sufficient basis to impose a ban. 
Therefore, Jordan considered that the prop osed restriction was an unnecessary obstacle to 
international trade.  
18. The representative of Norway  noted that in May 2007, Norway had sent the proposed 
regulation for a public hearing and the deadline for comments had been 1 September 2007.  The 
comments received in the public hearing were bein g evaluated by the Norwegian Pollution Control 
Authority.  The Ministry of the Environment w ould subsequently assess the recommendation from the 
Pollution Control Authority as well as the comments received in the international hearing before a 
final decision on the prohibition was made.  She in formed the Committee that Norway had a goal to 
reduce emissions of several hazardous substances s ubstantially by 2010 and to eliminate use and 
emissions before 2020. These targets were stated in a White Paper from 2006 and in this document on 
Norway's Chemical Policy, Norway had devoted special attention to consumer affairs and, inter alia,  
the need to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in  consumer products.  In respect of the process, 
Norway had received 80 comments.  Due to the subs tantial amount of work involved in scrutinizing 
these, the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority w ould not finish this work as early as had been 
anticipated.  Hence, the regulation would not be implemented on 1 January 2008.  A decision would 
take place at a later stage.  Naturally, the proposed regulation would be evaluated in light of the WTO 
rules as well as the EEA.   
(iv) United States – Proposed Rule on Labelling and  Advertising of Wines, Distilled Spirits and 
Malt Beverages (G/TBT/N/USA/290 and Add.1) 
19. The representative of Argentina  raised a concern regarding the above-mentioned measure 
affecting alcohol products.  In his view, the incl usion of mandatory information on labels stating 
alcohol content as percentage of alcohol by volum e, as well as statements on calories, carbohydrates, 
fat and protein and other nutritional information was contrary to Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement in 
that it could restrict trade more than what was necessary to achieve the legitimate objective sought.  
There  were other ways to minimize risk that had not  been considered and that could be efficient and 
appropriate to achieve the legitimate objective.  The United States had mentioned chronic diseases 
that were common to the population and excessive c onsumption of alcohol;  however, there were no 
new aggravating circumstances that could justify the new measure or that could show that the 
information currently provided to the consumer  was insufficient. To provide the additional 
information to the consumer would imply higher cost s for the adaptation of the printing equipment of 
the labels, re-design of labels and the costs for equipping laboratories to enable them to undertake 
necessary  tests.  All this would have negative c onsequences on market access.  The United States 
needed also to consider relevant international or ganisations, especially in the wine sector.  None of 
these organisations contemplated this type of nutriti onal labelling for wines.  In fact, no other Member 
of the WTO had a similar requirement in place. 
20. The representative of the United States  took note of Argentina's statement and indicated that 
his delegation would review it and provide a response. G/TBT/M/43 
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  (v) Chinese Taipei – Amended Hygiene Standards for Alcohol Products (G/SPS/N/TPKM/64 and 
Add.1) 
21. The representative of the European Communities
 drew the Committee's attention to a measure 
notified by Chinese Taipei to the SPS Committee in G/SPS/N/TPKM/64.  In the view of the European 
Communities, the measure needed also to be notifie d to the TBT Committee as important elements of 
the standard fell under the scope of the TBT Agreemen t, in particular those relating to labelling and 
additives. The European Communities was concerned that the proposed standard would cause serious 
problems for exporters of alcohol and spirits due to the fact that certain a dditives which were allowed 
in the European Communities – as well as under the re levant Codex standards – had not been included 
in the proposal. The European Communities was not aware of any scientific justification that would 
support the exclusion of such food additives from the proposed authorised list.  She urged the 
delegation of Chinese Taipei to notify the measu re to the TBT Committee and to provide an 
exhaustive list of the approved additives together with  an explanation, where relevant, for exclusions. 
22. The representative of Chinese Taipei  took note of the statement made. 
2. Previously raised concerns 
(i) European Communities - Regulation on the Regi stration, Evaluation and Authorisation of 
Chemicals (REACH) (G/TBT/N/EEC/52, Add. 1-4 and Add.3/Rev.1) 
23. The representative of Argentina  reviewed the process of the development of the REACH 
regulation and noted that, despite all the notifica tions made by the European Communities (addenda 
and revisions) the information was not complete:  in particular some annexes and guidelines were 
incomplete and the determination of certain dead lines had not been done.   Hence, although the 
REACH regulation had entered into force in June 2007, there was significant uncertainty about how it 
would work in practice.   In particular , it was stressed that REACH constituted a restriction  on trade 
in chemicals; it was not only about registration and authorization.  This could be seen as an 
unnecessary barrier to trade. 
24. The representative of Argentina was concerned th at although the regulation originally notified 
to the Committee had been subject to many successive changes to clarify and to define certain aspects, 
expressions such as "adequate justification" or "equ ivalent concern" remained and these were open to 
subjective interpretation.  The intrinsic complexity of the regulation with its 17 annexes made it very 
difficult for those concerned to understand it.  Ambi guous concepts could lead to arbitrary decisions 
when applying the regulation in prac tice;  this situation was aggravated by the number of bureaucratic 
requirements and the need to meet various deadlines that – in some cases – had yet to be set.    
25. For the Argentinean industry this caused many serious problems.  In particular, REACH 
established a mandatory registration system the cost  of which was very high and would have to be 
borne by all the producers and users of these products, whether or not from the European Communities. This meant that products which were not registered could not be produced within or 
imported into the European Communities.  Arge ntina was of the view that the costs would 
disproportionably affect producers in developing co untries exporting to the European Union, putting 
them at a disadvantage over their competitors, esp ecially in developed countries.  REACH required 
that a product be registered after various tests that ha d to be carried out exclusively in EC laboratories 
and thus the costs were listed in Euros; this was cl early disadvantageous for third country producers.   
Moreover, the producer or importer into the Europe an Union had to go through an Agency that had 
been created in the European Union.  Thus, the exporter was subordinated to a EC client unless he 
decided to designate his own representative for that purpose, which, in turn, would add to the costs of 
registration.  The representative noted that the e xports from Argentina to the European Communities 
were relatively limited in terms of  size and value and absorbing the cost of the registration made  G/TBT/M/43 
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  Argentina's presence on the European market unviab le. Other countries with a greater level of 
production and investment would continue to export to  the European Union leading to a distortion of 
conditions for competition.  
26. Argentina was of the view that the situation was even more difficult for Small and Medium 
Sized Enterprises (SMEs), which in Argentina ge nerally produced a large variety of chemical 
products at low volumes.  Since REACH required i ndividual registrations per product and on a case-
by-case basis, the cost would be outside the possi bilities of SMEs in Argentina which had very low 
profit margins and difficulties in accessing new tec hnologies.  There was little capacity to carry out 
the sophisticated studies that were necessary in this  regard.  It was difficult to estimate the actual 
value that had to be added to the product to ab sorb the additional costs and this introduced more 
uncertainty which affected competitiveness.  Th e investment and development of products in 
Argentina for export solely to the European Comm unities would therefore be seriously affected by 
this drastic change in the conditions of market access.  
27. The representative of Argentina concluded by st ressing that the regulation not only lead to 
uncertainties with respect to procedure but also with  respect to costs.  These costs would have severe 
consequences both for EC producers and for expor ters, particularly exporters from developing 
countries.  The structure of REACH was so complex and difficult to understand that it worried not only the chemical industry but also users of chemi cals and preparations containing such chemicals.  
While Argentina was not of the view that registratio n needed to eliminated, it needed to be done in a 
way that did not create unnecessary obstacles to trad e:  REACH needed to become much less trade 
restrictive.  The European Communities was requested  to clarify the regulation and provide technical 
assistance to developing countries as current clarif ications and guidance provided on the webpage was 
not sufficient. 
28. The representative of the United States
 noted that while his delegation supported the EC 
objective to protect human health and the envi ronment, concerns remained that the REACH 
regulation appeared to be overly expansive, poten tially discriminatory and trade restrictive. The 
United States as well as other WTO Members and a la rge number of other stakeholders continued to 
raise questions and concerns with regard to th e REACH regulation and its implementation, including 
about: the potential for differential enforcement across the member States; continued uncertainty 
regarding the scope and applicability of the provi sions relating to articles; potential differential 
treatment with respect to phase-in substances; the is sue of monomers and polymers; the chilling effect 
of having a substance placed on the authorisati on candidate list; transparency issues in the 
development of the REACH implementation proj ects; the protection of business proprietary 
information; the new registration fee schedule and the potential trade ramifications caused by the shortage in existing capacity of laborat ory facilities and "only representatives".   
29. The representative of the United States noted th at many of these issues had been discussed at 
a recent meeting between members of the APEC Chem ical Dialogue and EC officials in Brussels, an 
event which had been attended by representativ es from business and governments from nine WTO 
Members and held at the Embassy of Malaysia. At that meeting, the APEC delegation had noted the 
substantial trade effects that REACH was having on global supply chains and that there were several 
areas where additional information on the REACH implementation would need to be provided. 
Regrettably, the EC response was that the REAC H process had been transparent and that current 
efforts to explain the implementation process had been largely sufficient.  The United States hoped 
that the European Communities would reconsider its  position and give sincere consideration to the 
broad expressions of concern which had been register ed by its trading partners and other interested 
parties and ensure a meaningful opportunity to re flect views of non-EU governments and stakeholders 
in the process. The United States would continue to study the REACH regulation and to closely 
monitor the implementation process. G/TBT/M/43 
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  30. The representative of Korea
 emphasized two points in respect of REACH.  First, SMEs 
continued to express that there was a lack of  information regarding REACH and a need for 
clarification.  Second, on the guidelines, it was noted  that the Korean Government was willing to join 
the process of establishing new guidelines;  participa tion in this process was seen as an important and 
useful way for industry to become more familiarised with REACH. 
31. The representative of Japan  reiterated his delegation's hope that there would be adequate 
opportunities for firms from outside the European Communities to have their views taken into account in a transparent manner – with respect to the development of guidance documents on the actual 
implementation of REACH.  Also, although Japan h oped that the "only representatives" provided for 
in Article 8 of the Regulation would become a us eful mechanism for firms established outside the 
European Communities, on behalf of the Japanese industry, Japan asked the European Communities 
to ensure that there would be sufficient number of adequately qualified "only representatives" to meet 
the needs of these foreign firms.  Japan also asked the European Communities to explain its 
understanding of Article 33, Clause 2 of the Regulati on, and, in particular, the meaning of "available 
to the supplier" – a point which had led to some confusion and where clarification could help better 
prepare the Japanese industry for compliance.  
32. The representative of Canada
 concurred with the points already raised and wished to stress 
one in particular.  Canada was interested in hearing from the European Communities whether more 
technical guidance documents were being developed and whether or not these would be notified. In 
the spirit of transparency and considering the unprecedented level of interest among WTO Members 
on REACH, the representative of Canada reiterated he r delegation's earlier request that all technical 
guidance documents in support of RE ACH implementation be notified while at the draft stage with an 
opportunity for Members to provide comments as they were being developed.   
33. The representative of Chinese Taipei  joined other speakers in their concerns about REACH, 
particularly with respect to implications for SMEs.  He asked if the European Communities had 
developed any plan or mechanism to assist SME's in resolving problems resulting from 
implementation of REACH and how such assistance could be accessed.  The representative also noted 
that the definition of "only representative" in th e REACH regulation was now limited to legal entities 
or natural persons located within  the European Union and asked that this be changed to allow for such 
legal entities or natural persons in other Members to  become the "only representative". This would be 
particularly important to SME's outside the European  Union and especially in the chemicals industry. 
In addition, it was noted that the European Communities had set up several Help Desks within 
member States.  From a technical assistance point of view, and based on the principle of national 
treatment, Chinese Taipei requested  that the Commission provide similar arrangements to other WTO 
Members so as to enable these Members to respond to  problems in a timely and efficient manner.  
34. The representative of Chile  reiterated her delegation's c oncern about the impact the 
Regulation would have on exports from Chile and developing countries in ge neral.  Chile's export 
sector had voiced increasing concerns and confus ion regarding the REACH regulation and Chile 
therefore underlined the need for clarification. Mo reover, regarding the actual application of REACH, 
Chile still considered it difficult to follow the discussion on the Internet regarding the REACH 
guidance documents.  Also, Chile remained concerned about possible differences in the application of 
REACH in different member States of the Europ ean Union.  In addition, Chile did not have a 
complete list of substances that needed authorisa tion as set forth in the Annex 14.  Similarly to the 
point raised by others, Chile wished to benefit fro m technical assistance so as to better understand the 
application of REACH. It would be particularly useful if an expert from the European Commission 
could travel to Chile and provide some training in this area. 
35. The representative of China  noted that his delegation had raised concerns both at the WTO 
and in bilateral consultations.  He  urged the European Commission to pay attention to the impact of  G/TBT/M/43 
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  REACH on international trade, especi ally the impact on chemicals tr ade of developing countries.  
Developing countries' level of technological devel opment in the chemicals industry was low and the 
data needed for registration of chemicals was held  mostly by companies in the developed world.  
Therefore, firms in developing countries would have  to pay high fees for such data for registration 
leading to increases in costs in chemical producti on and trade.  Moreover, the cost of importing 
chemicals from the European Communities would also  rise.  REACH also impacted on exports from 
SME's differently compared to bigger companies;  SMEs had a severe lack of technical capacity to 
deal with REACH.  The representative of China re iterated the need for the European Communities to 
take these concerns into account in the pr ocess of the Regulation's implementation. 
36. The representative of Mexico  reiterated the importance of e xpert advice and information on 
the details about REACH.  She informed the Commi ttee that the European Union had sent an expert 
who had clarified and addressed concerns voiced by  the Mexican industry. Hence, the chemical 
industry was, to a certain extent, better informed regarding the way in which the system was to be 
applied.  Mexico welcomed this technical cooperation as extended by the European Union. 
37. The representatives of Australia , Brazil  and Thailand  shared concerns expressed by other 
delegations on REACH.   
38. The representative of the European Communities  stressed the efforts made by the 
Commission to ensure the utmost transparency in th e development of the REACH regulation.  Part of 
the legislative process had led to changes in the pr oposed regulation – the one notified in 2003 was, 
naturally, not the final one.  In this process comment s of trading partners had been taken into account.  
He stressed that there had been, throughout the process, bilateral and multilateral meetings between 
the experts, the most recent one for APEC countries as had been mentioned by the US delegation. 
39. Regarding guidance documents and the point ra ised by Canada, the European Communities 
was of the view that these documents were technical guidance  documents and, as such, were neither 
technical regulations nor conformity assessment proce dures.  Therefore, they had not been notified.  
Nevertheless, they were availabl e for public consultation and to interested stakeholders on the 
Internet.6  In addition, third parties were involve d in the REACH implementation project which 
notably included the drafting of these guidance doc uments. There was, moreover, a possibility for 
third countries to be involved in the "stakehol der expert groups" for the REACH implementation 
projects if they had specific expertise.  
40. Regarding testing and costs for manufacturers, especially SME's, the representative of the 
European Communities pointed out that their importers  located in the European Union or their "only 
representatives" which they had appointed within the European Communities would become part of 
the so-called "substance information exchange fora" af ter the pre-registration of all chemicals.  This 
meant that the toxicological and eco-toxicological tests need not be carried out by each and every 
company; instead they could participate in the in formation-sharing procedure which would reduce the 
over-all costs of the required testing. The "substance information exchange fora " would take stock of 
all existing data, identify gaps and propose a tes ting strategy to the European Chemicals Agency.  
This entailed that the costs for the required testing would be shared and this would be of particular 
benefit to SMEs, including SMEs outside the European Communities.  On laboratories, it was noted that REACH required that toxicological and eco-toxicological tests be carried out in compliance with the Good Laboratory Practices as set out in Directive 2004/10/EC which was based on OECD 
guidelines. Therefore, any such tests had to come from laboratories – also outside the EU – that had 
obtained a certificate indicating that th ey applied Good Laboratory Practices.  
                                                     
 
6 http://ecb.jrc.it/reach/ and http ://echa.europa.eu/home_en.html. G/TBT/M/43 
Page 10  
 
  41. Regarding Japan's questions on third party par ticipation in the implementation of REACH, it 
was – as had been mentioned – possible for third parti es to take part in the st akeholders expert groups.  
On the issue of the choice of "only representatives" , this was a contractual relationship between the 
manufacturer from outside the European Communities and the company it chose within the European 
Communities.  Under the current chemicals legisl ation, the "only represen tative" was called "sole 
representative" so this was not a new concept;  it was the continuation of the cu rrent system as applied 
under REACH.  The Commission could not interfere – or ensure – the number of "only representatives" because this was left to the mark et forces.  Regarding the uncertainties Japan had 
mentioned on Clause 33, Paragraph 2 ("... on re quest by consumer, any supplier of an article 
containing a substance meeting the criteria of Article 57 [registration] shall pr ovide the consumer with 
sufficient information available to the consum er to allow safe use of the article, including as a 
minimum the name of the substance ..."), the last part of the sentence (in italics) made it sufficiently 
clear what ultimately would be required from the supplier.  
42. Regarding equal enforcement throughout the Eu ropean Union, the representative of the 
European Communities pointed out that REACH was adopted in the form of a regulation which was 
directly applicable in the whole Union. The Eu ropean Commission as "guardian of the EC Treaty" 
was responsible to ensure coherent appli cation of EU law by the Member States. 
43. The representative of the European Commun ities reiterated that, according to its own 
assessment, REACH was not discriminatory since it treated both EC manufacturers and importers and third country manufacturers in the same way.  Also , the European Communities was of the view that 
REACH was not overly restrictive, especially as it took into account the objectives which were 
pursued by REACH:  a high protection of the c onsumer, of human health and life, and of the 
environment.  He encouraged stakeholders to make use of the REACH Help Desks which were 
operational at the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki and in member States.  Questions could be forwarded by e-mail to these Help Desk s and they would be responded to. 
(ii) Belgium and The Netherlands – Seal products (G/TBT/N/BEL/39 and G/TBT/N/NLD/68) 
44. The representative of Norway
 reiterated her delegation's c oncerns about restrictions 
implemented in Belgium and the Netherlands to  ban imports on seal products.  As had been 
previously stated in the Committee, Norway rega rded these measures, as well as possible plans to 
impose measures by other EU member States, to be  inconsistent with obligations under the WTO 
TBT Agreement and the GATT 1994.  Norway noted w ith interest that Canada on 25 September 2007 
had requested consultations under Dispute Sett lement Understanding (DSU) and stated her 
delegation's intention to follow the development of those discussions closely.  
45. Norway was deeply concerned by declarations made by the European Parliament calling on 
legislation to ban trade in seal products across th e board in the European Communities. Any such 
legislation would be reviewed with regard to WTO consistency.  The representative reiterated that her 
delegation could not see how, and to what extent, the appropriate assessments regarding available 
scientific and technical evidence had been made by Belgium and the Netherlands in the case at issue. 
Norway had provided factual information on seal hun ting to Belgian and Dutch authorities as well as 
to the European Commission pointing out that the No rwegian seal hunt was strictly regulated and was 
both sustainable and humane.  
46. It was noted that the European Commission ha d given the European Food Safety Authority 
(the EFSA) the task of reviewing the methods used  in seal hunts. Norway was confidant that EFSA 
would have the best information available befo re submitting the report to the Commission;  the 
deadline had been set to 15 December 2007.  Th e Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety 
had been asked to contribute to EFSA's work and the best qualified experts in this field had been 
selected.    G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 11 
 
 
  47. Norway considered that the measures implemen ted by Belgium and the Netherlands as being 
premature and regretted that the European Co mmission had not taken action to discourage EC 
member States from proceeding with the ban.  Th e representative of Norway reiterated that seal 
quotas were set on the basis of scientific advice and the state of seal populations was well within the 
boundaries of sustainable management. Moreover, th e seal populations in question were currently not 
endangered and were therefore not  listed on the Convention on Inte rnational Trade in Endangered 
Species (CITES). In addition, Norway had demonstr ated that humane harvesting methods used in 
Norwegian seal hunting compared favourably to those used on domestic livestock.   
48. In conclusion, the ban on seal products was not an animal welfare issue, it was not a 
conservation issue and it was not a management is sue. It was a public opinion issue and from the 
Norwegian point of view, this w as unsubstantiated and unjustified a nd set a dangerous precedent for 
trade in animal products that were harvested in a sustainable and humane manner. Norway continued 
to reserve its right to take any appropriate action to defend its in terest under the TBT Agreement and 
other relevant WTO Agreements.  
49. The representative of th e European Communities  took note of the comments raised.  Given 
the fact that the Belgian and Dutch measures woul d be examined under the context of the Dispute 
Settlement Understanding, her dele gation did not consider it appropriate to discuss the issue any 
further in the TBT Committee.  The European Communities was nevertheless open to continue 
bilateral discussions with Norway and provide an y information that it considered appropriate.  
(iii) Korea – Fish Heads 
50. The representative of New Zealand , supported by Norway  and the European Communities , 
noted that edible hake heads which were ca ught in New Zealand waters and processed by New 
Zealand boats were prohibited from entering the Re public of Korea while hake heads caught in New 
Zealand waters and processed by Korean boats we re allowed entry. Thus New Zealand was again 
raising the matter in the TBT Committee. The re presentative was pleased that some progress on this 
issue had been signalled by Korea with the announcemen t of their intention to add hake heads to their 
national Food Code and that this had been notified to the SPS Committee and that this issue had been 
considered by the Korea Food and Drug Administra tion Food Sanitation Council. However, further 
unexpected delays meant that changes to the Ko rean Food Code were unlikely to happen in 2007 as 
had been previously stated. Therefore, New Zealan d asked Korea to ensure that the required changes 
to the Korean Food Code were made swiftly so  that the matter could finally be resolved. 
51. In addition, the representative of the European Communities  expressed her delegation's 
disappointment that, since the last meeting of the Committee, no progress had been made on the 
signature of a Memorandum of Understanding.   
52. The representative of Korea  was of the view that considerable progress had been made on a 
bilateral basis.  He noted that specific legisla tion had been notified to the SPS Committee and that 
Korea was now in the process of establishing the sp ecific regulation.  Because this was a sensitive 
issue, dealing with human health, Korea needed to consult with experts.  After the domestic processes 
had been completed, Korea would take due and ap propriate action to conclu de consultations with 
New Zealand.  Regarding the signing of the MoU with the European Communities, probably both 
parties were ready to conclude on this matter.   Nevertheless, Korea would convey the concern 
expressed by the European Communities to the releva nt ministry to expedite to process.  Also, 
regarding the concern which was raised by No rway, the representative urged Norway to make 
bilateral contacts with relevant  persons and contact points within the Korean government.  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 12  
 
  (iv) United States – Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) (G/TBT/N/USA/25, G/TBT/N/USA/83 
and Corr.1, G/TBT/N/USA/281) 
53. The representative of New Zealand
 recalled that her delegati on had outlined New Zealand's 
concerns at the last meeting of the Committee, in  July 2007 and a formal submission on the issue had 
been made in August.  She hoped that the US domestic process would take its submissions into 
account in the final outcome.  New Zealand contin ued to oppose the imposition of mandatory COOL 
on the basis of its likely trade-restrictive effect, its irrelevance to food safety requirements and the 
high implementation costs involv ed.  She stressed that a policy allowing for voluntary COOL would 
be far less trade restrictive and would not impose the same potential barrier to international trade.  In 
New Zealand's view it was preferable to leave c ountry of origin labelling to be implemented on a 
voluntary basis by industry and not to impo se it by way of prescriptive regulation.  
54. The representative of Canada  also expressed concern with the US mandatory country of 
origin labelling, as prescribed in the 2002 Farm Secu rity and Rural Investment Act.  As had been 
stated at the last meeting of the Committee (July 2007), Canada remained of the view that current 
requirements for fish and shellfish needed to be repealed and that plans for mandatory country of 
origin labelling for remaining commodities should be abandoned. 
55. The representative of the United States  noted that there was currently legislation in the US 
Congress that would amend the COOL Law which had been in place since 2002, including adding a new provision that would address the labelling of pr oducts with multiple countries of origin. As the 
timing and outcome of the legislative process was uncertain, the United States was unable to provide additional information at the current time.  An upda te would be provided at the next meeting of the 
Committee if there was a change in status.  
(v) Canada – Compositional requirements for cheese (G/TBT/N/CAN/203) 
56. The representative of New Zealand
 reiterated her delegation's c oncerns about Canada's draft 
regulations governing compositional standards fo r cheese.  In August 2007, New Zealand had 
provided a formal submission to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency outlining its concerns with the 
proposed new standards.  New Zealand was interest ed to know more about the results of Canada's 
domestic process.  
57. The representative of the United States  underscored her delegation's concerns also raised at 
the last meeting of the Committee regarding the pr escriptive nature of Canada's proposed amendment 
to its compositional standards for cheese, as well as the potential adverse market access impact on milk protein concentrates. In response to Cana da's notification, the United States, along with 
numerous other Members and interested parties, ha d provided comments. The representative of the 
United States asked Canada when it intended to provide responses.  
58. The representative of Australia
 joined in the concerns expressed by New Zealand and the 
United States noting that its delegation too had made comments on the proposed regulation and was 
looking forwards to a response. 
59. The representative of the European Communities  reiterated his delegation's concerns.  It was 
noted that detailed comments had also been submitted  to the Canadian enquiry point in the end of 
August 2007.  In particular, the European Commun ities was concerned that the proposal, if adopted, 
would effectively reduce EC exports to Canada of both cheeses and basic products such as milk 
protein concentrate. The European Communities fa iled to understand the nature of the legitimate 
objective that was being pursued in the amendm ent and why Canada considered it necessary to 
deviate from the relevant international standard set  out by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  The 
European Communities was also concerned that there would be a breach of the national treatment  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 13 
 
 
  principle by allowing domestic producers to pr oduce light cheese using skimmed milk powder but 
that this exception would not be extended to imported products. The European Communities also remained concerned about the proposed licensing schem e which appeared to be more restrictive than 
necessary and thus potentially inconsistent with Ar ticle 5.1.2 of the TBT Agreement.  Finally, the 
representative asked Canada about the current state of play of the proposal and whether its 
implementation would be delayed to take into acc ount the numerous and serious concerns which had 
been voiced by third countries and industry.   
60. The representative of Canada
 noted that the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency was 
currently reviewing the numerous comments receive d and would take them into account. At the 
current meeting, she did not have any new informati on – if such information was available by the next 
meeting this would be shared with the Committee. 
(vi) Sweden – Restrictions on the use of  Deca-bromo diphenylether (deca-BDE) 
(G/TBT/N/SWE/59) 
61. The representative of Israel  reiterated his delegation's con cerns about the above-mentioned 
measure.  The measure, which had entered into  force on 1 January 2007, had already affected 
negatively Israeli exports to Sweden.  Israel was of the view that the Swedish prohibition was an 
unnecessary obstacle to trade in breach of Article 2. 2 of the TBT Agreement.  Although Sweden 
invoked the protection of human health and the protec tion of the environment, the existence of a risk 
had not been demonstrated.  Moreover, since, unde r the TBT Agreement, there was no recourse to the 
precautionary principle, it was Israel's view that Sweden could not claim that the substance posed a 
potential risk to the environment and human heal th.  In accordance with Article 2.2 of the TBT 
Agreement, available scientific information and tec hnical information needed to be considered in 
order to take account of the risks.  However, in this case there was no scientific basis for the 
imposition of such a measure.  In fact the Europ ean Union had itself undertaken a comprehensive risk 
assessment and concluded that there was no need for risk reduction measures to be imposed on the substance decaBDE or products containing that substa nce, beyond those that were already in place.  
Israel urged Sweden to consider the adoption of l ess trade restrictive measures concerning the use of 
decaBDE, similar to those adopted in the Europ ean Union, for example: an emissions reduction 
programme and bio- and environmental monitoring.  Sweden, being a member State of the European 
Union, participated in risk assessments in accord ance with EU rules and had to afford mutual 
recognition to the conclusion reached by such assessments. The representative urged the European 
Commission and Sweden to provide an update. 
62. The representatives of Jordan
 and Japan  echoed the concerns raised by Israel and recalled 
that, at the last meeting, the EC representative had informed the Committee that consultations 
between Swedish authorities and the European Comm unities were ongoing.  They asked for an update 
on the results of these discussions. 
63. The representative of the United States  noted that her delegation had also submitted 
comments on Sweden's draft regulation regarding d ecaBDE and continued to have serious concerns 
with the measure.  She stressed the importance accorded to the use of available scientific and 
technical information in assessing risk under the TB T Agreement and was concerned that Sweden's 
partial ban ignored the results of a comprehensiv e EU risk assessment of decaBDE which did not 
identify any risk to health or the environment.  In fact, Sweden's draft regulation could encourage the 
use of alternatives on which there was less scientific information on the potential health and 
environmental risks.  Also the United States placed great importance on the protection of human 
health and the environment and continued to belie ve that the good regulator y practices embedded in 
the WTO TBT obligations were the best way to achieve those objectives.  The US Environmental 
Protection Agency had conducted its own risk assessment on decaBDE and remained willing to 
discuss its findings with appropriate offi cials of the Government of Sweden. G/TBT/M/43 
Page 14  
 
  64. The representative of the European Communities
 noted that the Commission had initiated 
formal discussions with Sweden in respect of the adopted measure.  As the bilateral discussions were 
ongoing, she was not in a position to disclose any further information.  Nevertheless, it was pointed out that the European Communities was giving serious  consideration to the comments that had been 
made by third countries and she hoped that a solution would be found in the near future.  
(vii) Norway - Restrictions on the use of  Deca-bromo diphenylether (deca-BDE) 
(G/TBT/N/NOR/6, Corr.1 and Add.1) 
65. The representative of Japan
, supported by Israel , Jordan  and the United States , reiterated his 
delegation's view regarding the proposed prohib ition on decaBDE by Norway.  Although Japan was 
grateful for having received a written response to  comments on a bilateral basis from Norway, his 
delegation was of a view that there remained a wide  discrepancy on both sides' interpretations of the 
available scientific evidence.  The Japanese industry remained, therefore, deeply concerned about the 
draft regulation.  
66. The representative of Norway  informed the Committee that the proposed regulation had not 
yet entered into force and the Norwegian Minist ry of the Environment was considering comments 
from Members as well as from other stakeholders with regard to the possible ban on decaBDE.  
Developments in the European Union would also be  taken into account.  She noted that Norway had 
set a target to substantially reduce emissions fro m a number of environmentally hazardous chemicals, 
including with respect to brominated flame retardants. 
(viii) Turkey - Product-tracking system for t obacco products and al coholic beverages 
67. The representative of the United States  recalled that at the last meeting, his delegation had 
raised the issue of Turkey's strip stamp regime.  Follow-up discussions had been held with Turkish 
authorities in September 2007.  The United States understood, from discussions with the Government of Turkey, the purpose of the strip stamp regime and welcomed the commitment made by Turkey to clarify the strip stamp system so as to ensure  no less favourable treatment for imported products. 
Specifically, Turkey had indicated that importers were  now able to apply the strip stamps at their tax 
warehouses inside Turkey and that the price for t hose stamps was the same for like domestic products. 
These changes could potentially benefit other WTO Members seeking to export distilled spirits and 
other covered products to Turkey.  The United St ates understood that a circular describing those 
changes had been published in Turkey's official gazette and indicted its intent to review it. 
Nevertheless, the United States remained concerned about certain aspects of the strip stamp system, 
including potential changes to the strip stamps th at Turkey appeared to be considering.  The 
representative of the United States noted that his au thorities would continue to monitor the situation 
closely and urged Turkey to notify any further revisions to its strip stamp system to the WTO.  
68. The representative of Turkey
 stressed that the purpose of the system was to stop tax evasion 
by ensuring that the products were produced and/or imported legally in to Turkey. Following some postponements requested by the industry, the system  had become operational on 24 July 2007. Since 
then, Turkey had neither received any complaints on the implementation of the system nor requests 
for further consultation from interested parties. As  of 5 November 2007, the system had become fully 
operational with the beginning of the mandatory appli cation of the strip stamps for products produced 
or imported before 24 July 2007.   
69. In respect of the notification, Turkey recalled that the general communiqué for the product 
tracking system did not lay down any product charact eristics or their related processes and production 
methods.  Moreover, the strip stamps did not provide  information to consumer s on particular aspects 
of the product.  Accordingly, Turkey neither c onsidered the communiqué as a technical regulation nor 
the strip stamps as a label within the meaning of the TBT Agreement. Therefore, although Turkey was  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 15 
 
 
  willing to continue working with interested parti es in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the 
system and eliminate any possible concerns they might have, Turkey reiterated its position that its 
product tracking system for tobacco products and al coholic beverages did not fall under the scope of 
either the TBT Agreement, nor the work of the TB T Committee. If this system were to evolve to 
include additional quotes with the strip stamps th at would contain specific features of the products, 
depending on the characteristics of the new system, Tu rkey would consider its notification obligation 
under the TBT Agreement. 
(ix) New Zealand – Ban on the Importation of Trout 
70. The representative of Canada  recalled that her delegation had raised concerns over New 
Zealand's ban on the commercial importation of tr out on numerous occasions at the TBT Committee. 
The ban had been put in place in December 1998 as an interim conservation measure under an order 
entitled "Customs and Import Prohibition Trout Or der 1998".  In June 2005, New Zealand had 
informed the TBT Committee that its officials had been tasked with finding alternative measures to 
extending the ban prior to its expiry – which was,  in fact, a repetition of the statement New Zealand 
had made during the TBT Committee meeting of N ovember the year before. Despite this, and a 
number of years later, New Zealand had informed Canada on 6 November 2007 that the ban would be 
extended for a sixth time, until 8 November 2010. Canada expressed its disappointment with this 
decision. As had been stated in the past, Canada  did not believe that the ban was scientifically 
justified, nor had Canada rece ived any evidence from New Zealand demonstrating otherwise. 
Additionally, Canada was of the view that the ban might not be consiste nt with New Zealand's 
obligations under the TBT Agreement.  The re presentative of Canada asked New Zealand for 
information about the measures that its officials had identified and that could be considered as 
alternatives to the ban, and that it inform the Commi ttee why an extension of the ban had been chosen 
over these alternative measures.  
71. The representative of New Zealand  confirmed that on 8 November 2007, New Zealand's 
Customs Import Prohibition Order had been extende d for a further three years, until November 2010. 
In reconsidering the issue, including the various options available, the New Zealand Cabinet had 
decided that extending the custom order for a fu rther three years would be the most effective 
mechanism to achieve the legitimate policy objectiv e behind the order. The order did not prohibit the 
importation of trout into New Zealand as imports of trout in non-commercial quantities for personal 
consumption were allowed and this  ensured that both domestic and im ported trout were subject to the 
same treatment.  It was emphasized that there was no commercial production of trout allowed in New 
Zealand. Hence, the Customs Import Prohibition Orde r was neither discriminatory nor protectionist, it 
addressed legitimate objectives consistent with New Zealand's international obligations.  
72. The representative of Canada  noted that her delegation did not consider allowing commercial 
imports for personal use as adequate;  Ca nada was seeking full commercial access.  
(x) Israel – Infant Formula 
73. The representative of the United States  noted that since the July 2007 meeting of the TBT 
Committee, when the United States had first raised the issue, the United States had held two meetings 
with Israeli officials to discuss Israel's infant form ula requirements and its failu re to provide copies of 
its regulations.  The United States understood the sensitivity of the issue in Israel and welcomed 
Israel's recent effort to provide the written guidan ce document used by the Israeli Ministry of Health 
to regulate imported infant formula and to clarify that there were no regulations currently in place. 
Regrettably, the information provided by Israel had served to confirm the problems the US industry 
was facing in the Israeli market.  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 16  
 
  74. Principally, this was about a lack of transp arency and differential treatment. There was no 
published information on nutrient composition standa rds or Ministry of Health requirements for 
issuing import approvals or licences for infant formula.  Moreover, the United States was of the understanding that these requirements often changed. In addition, Israel maintained discriminatory 
testing requirements, fees, and labelling rules for infa nt formula in favour of domestic producers.  For 
instance, it was the US understanding that each batc h of imported infant formula had to undergo 12 
different laboratory tests in an Israeli governme nt laboratory whereas domestic producers could 
perform their own tests, only needed to do so once ea ch quarter, and could self declare the test results 
to the Ministry of Health.  Furthermore, while Israeli authorities had to approve all labels with 
nutritional claims on imported products, no pre- marketing approval was required for domestic 
products and there was no real pos t-market surveillance in place.  US infant formula manufacturers 
were willing to comply with regulations that were published, treated all producers in the same way, 
were clear and consistent and based on sound science.   The representative of the United States urged 
Israel to continue and expand its dialogue with in terested parties as it deve loped its regulations on 
infant formula, and to notify any proposal to the WTO.  
75. The representative of Israel
 informed WTO Members that up until two years ago there had 
been no particular treatment of imported infant food and the authorities relied on quality certificates 
issued by the exporting countries. Due to specifi c and grave health problems caused by deficient 
imported infant formula, the Israeli Ministry of Hea lth had been forced to rethink the import system in 
order to ensure the health and safety of infant food.  The regulation which the US delegation was 
referring to was being finalized by Israeli health au thorities. Following the concern expressed by the 
United States, Israel had provided the United Stat es on 16 October 2007 with a document containing 
guidelines for importers so as to make the im port process predictable and transparent.  
(xi) Thailand – Labelling Requirement for Snack Foods (G/TBT/N/THA/215 and Add.1) 
76. The representative of the United States  recalled that his delegation had expressed concerns 
regarding Thailand's proposed labelling requirements fo r selected food categories.  The United States 
welcomed the actions from Thai authorities in respon se to these concerns since the last meeting of the 
Committee, including the postponement of the implementation and the issuance of a revised 
regulation which had been notified in an a ddendum. Although the United States appreciated 
Thailand's efforts, the key US concern had still not  been addressed.  While Thailand had withdrawn 
the "traffic light" scheme, the regulation required su ppliers to affix a special label on the same items 
covered by the initial proposal. The label would urge consumers to c onsume less of those items and to 
exercise.   
77. Assuming that the objective of the revised regulation was to promote a healthy lifestyle, it did 
not appear that this labelling scheme would be an ef fective means to do so and in fact it could create 
additional consumer confusion. As with the initial regulation, no explanation was provided as to why 
the labelling requirement was only limited to certa in product categories. The United States would 
appreciate if Thailand could explain the scientific and/or technical criteria it used for determining 
which products required warning la bels and which did not, as well as the criteria the Public Health 
Minister would use in adding other food categories to  the list. The labelling requirement also appeared 
to apply equally to all items in these categories irr espective of their nutritional profiles.  For example, 
in the case of popcorn, in the revised proposal no- sodium, butter-free popcorn had to bear the same 
warning label as buttered-salted popcorn. The propo sed label also provided no information on portion 
size. In sum, the revised regulation did not appear to provide consumers with information that would 
help them make informed decisions for developing a healthy and balanced diet. Instead, it appeared to 
demonise certain products that might have a more he althy nutritional profile th an other products that 
were not subject to labelling requirements.   G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 17 
 
 
  78. The United States was of the view that there were more effective and less trade restrictive 
ways to promote a healthy lifestyle than singling out certain food categories to bear warning labels. 
For example, Thailand could focus its regulations  on guideline daily amounts which provided tools 
for consumers to determine their consumption of food products in the context of their daily needs. The 
United States urged Thailand to discuss the labelling issue with the many stakeholders that had 
expressed concerns with both the initial and revised regulations. 
79. The representative of Australia  was concerned that the warning message to be included on all 
packages to consume less and exercise for health might be misunderstood by consumers.  Australia 
was of the view that there could be alternativ e, non-mandatory schemes that informed consumers 
about nutritional choices, such as contribution to daily intakes. 
80. The representative of Canada  noted that her country, like Thailand, was also concerned about 
the growing problem of obesity and shared Thaila nd's goal of promoting healthy eating habits among 
its citizens. Nevertheless, the Canadian i ndustry had expressed conc ern over the labelling 
requirements proposed for the five snack foods id entified. In a letter da ted 1 November 2007, the 
Canadian industry had questioned the scientific merit of the proposed regulation and argued that it 
discriminated against snack foods.  The represen tative of Canada asked Thailand to provide 
information on alternative regulatory and non-re gulatory instruments it had considered when 
designing the proposed labelling requirements, as well as on the analysis that had led Thailand to 
focus only on five snack foods. 
81. The representative of the European Communities  joined the concerns expressed by the 
previous delegations regarding the Thai measure. While her delegation also shared the objectives of 
the measure (improving consumer information on nutritional facts so as to promote a healthy and 
balanced diet) the European Communities faile d to understand on what basis the five product 
categories which were subject to mandatory labe lling requirements had been chosen and how limiting 
the scope of this measure to certa in products would be sufficient to fulfil the objective that was being 
sought. The European Commission encouraged Thailand to review the proposal to take into account 
the comments made and in particular to ensure th at the measure was scientifically based, proportional 
and not arbitrary. 
82. The representative of Thailand  took note of the comments made. 
(xii) European Communities - Dangerous Chemical  Substances - Draft Commission Directive 
amending Council Directive 67/548/EEC  (G/TBT/N/EEC/151) 
83. The representative of Turkey  expressed his delegation's concern with the above-mentioned 
EC measure affecting borates.  His authorities had studied the draft and provided the European 
Communities with detailed comments in July 2007.  Unfortunately, the recent reply was not to 
Turkey's satisfaction.  In particular, the represen tative of Turkey was concerned about the proposed 
amendment's classification of borates as toxic to human  health.  In the view of Turkey, all decisions 
on classifications needed to based on normal hand ling and use criteria which had not, in this case, 
been applied properly. The classification was not b ased on available scientific and technical data;  it 
did not consider intended end-users of borates and had the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to trade and a disguised restriction on international tr ade.  The results had been obtained from high-dose 
feeding of laboratory animals although normal hu man exposure to these substances was through 
inhalation or dermal exposure.  The eating of borat es by humans could only be considered abnormal.  
Moreover, oral intake would induce vomiting via an  auto-reflex action long before the toxic effect 
arose. Therefore, the use of data obtained from or al administration was neither relevant for humans 
nor related to normal handling and use of borates.  Turkey considered the argument used by the 
European Communities as a misinterpretation of the science criteria in Article 2.2 of the TBT 
Agreement.  Moreover, his dele gation failed to see how the European Communities had taken his G/TBT/M/43 
Page 18  
 
  delegation's comments into account as required by artic le 2.9.4 of the TBT Agreement.  It was noted 
that the European Communities ha d stated their intention to delay the implementation of the 30
th 
Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP) and to respond to the concerns raised. 
84. The representative of the United States  noted that his delegation had just received the 
European Communities' replies to comments submitte d.  Since his delegation had not yet had the 
opportunity to thoroughly review them, the present remarks were of a preliminary nature;  written 
reactions would be provided after the meeting.  He  asked the European Comm unities to confirm that 
issuance of the 30th and the 31st ATP would be delayed until at least late December 2007.  The US 
representative associated his delegation with many of  the concerns that had been raised by other 
Members at the last meeting of the TBT Committ ee and at the current one regarding the proposed 
classification of nickel carbonates as a Categor y 2 substance under the dangerous substances 
directive.   
85. In September 2007, US and EU officials had met in Brussels to discuss the proposed EC 
classification of borates as a Category 2 reprotoxin under the Dangerous Substances Directive (DSD).  Despite that meeting and the document recently su bmitted by the European Communities, the United 
States continued to have serious c oncerns with both the rationale for the classification itself as well as 
the downstream effects of such a classification. To  support its findings about exposure under normal 
handling and use, the European Communities, in  its explanatory memorandum (lines 201 through 
202), asserted that a study regarding occupational exposure in borate mines provided sufficient evidence that borates had severe he alth effects under normal handling and use. However, neither the 
explanatory memorandum nor the EC reply explaine d how exposure in a mine related to normal 
handling and use of borates or borate-containing products. Furthermore, it was the US understanding 
that the mine study cited by the European Communities had not found any reprotoxic effect from inhalation.  
86. In addition, the representative of the Unite d States pointed out that the explanatory 
memorandum had referred to studies of rats that we re force-fed large quantities of borates. However, 
human end-users would not and in fact could not consume such large amounts of borates.  Moreover, 
the European Communities maintained  that the objective of the measure was to provide information 
to borate users enabling them to use the substan ces safely. But the European Communities failed to 
consider alternative less burdensome ways to provide such information;  the United States had offered 
to discuss possible alternatives.  
87. The European Communities appeared to dismiss the commercial impact of the labelling itself. 
The skull and crossbones label would deter the pr oduction and use of products containing borates and 
encourage substitution. No producer would want  a product it manufactured or used in its 
manufacturing process to bear that label or carry the stigma of a Category 2 classification. Instead, producers would seek out alternatives if such existe d. In fact, some companies had policies against 
using products that were classified as Category 2. The European Communities had not done a full cost 
benefit analysis that balanced the risks with the burden on trade the regulation would impose.  
88. The representative of the United States noted that the European Communities 
mischaracterized the downstream consequences of  the classification. For instance, under the 
Cosmetics Directive, there would be a total ban on the use of borates in cosmetics irrespective of 
concentration level. The European Communities re sponse had been that there was some room for 
manoeuvre but the Directive appeared clear on this po int. Under the Marketing and Use Directive, the 
use of Category 2 substances was restricted. The EC response that such restrictions were not 
automatic was misleading since such restrictions we re standard practice. The United States had asked 
the European Communities to provide examples wher e such restrictions were not triggered by the 
Marketing and Use Directive.   G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 19 
 
 
  89. Finally, a Category 2 classification also carri ed implications under REACH as Category 2 
substances were put on a candidate  list for authorization. The Eur opean Communities had noted that 
authorisation was not automatic but in effect it w as a blacklist for all substances contained therein. 
Moreover, the European Communiti es had acknowledged that it could ta ke decades to evaluate all of 
the substances on the candidate list. Producers woul d have a strong incentive to stop using substances 
contained in the candidate list, including borates.  Research and development activities on new borates 
applications would also be deterred.  
90. The representative of the United States noted th at several WTO Members had raised concerns 
with the proposed Category 2 classifications for both borates and nickel, as had representatives of producers and users. He urged the European Comm unities to consider carefully the comments and 
questions that had been raised by its trading part ners and other stakeholders  and consider less trade-
restrictive alternatives than a Category 2 classifi cation under the Dangerous Substances Directive.  
91. The representative of Malaysia
, having carefully considered the EC response of 
7 November 2007, strongly urged the European Co mmunities to confirm its postponement of the 30th 
Draft Commission Directive amending, for the purpose of its Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP) 
for the following reasons.  First, Malaysia – lik e the United States – was not convinced that the 
European Communities' late response had afforded  sufficient opportunity to be informed of the 
justifications and grounds for the Category 2 classifica tion of borates in particular.  In addition, in the 
response and the contents therein, the European Co mmunities appeared to contradict itself.  The EC 
response did not afford sufficiently robust scientif ic evidence to justify the grounds for pursuing a 
Category 2 listing of borates. In Malaysia's view  this was contrary to Article 2.2 of the TBT 
Agreement.  Moreover, Malaysia was also concerne d that the classification of borates under Category 
2 appeared to be based on the precautionary principl e;  this would mean that the measure was more 
trade-restrictive than necessary.   
92. The representative of Malaysia urged the Europ ean Communities to further consider the inter-
relation between the Category 2 classification of borates under Directive 67/548/EEC and other EC 
legislation, specifically REACH and in particular  EC Directive 76/769/EEC on the approximation of 
the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of  the member States relating to restrictions on 
marketing and use of certain dange rous substances and preparati ons.  Malaysia, again, was not 
convinced that downstream effects of these measur es was as limited as contended by the European 
Communities.  She also reminded the Committee that the European Communities had acknowledged 
its deviation from the original grounds it cite d to justify the Category 2 listing of borates.  
93. In light of the above, the representative of  Malaysia contended that the European 
Communities had not succeeded in providing suffici ent clarity to address the concerns raised by 
several delegations.  Due to unresolved legal issu es and uncertainties, Mala ysia supported all other 
delegations who had spoken in urging the Europ ean Communities to postpone its adoption of the 30th 
ATP and to reconsider its approach.  
94. The representative of Canada  concurred with the concerns ra ised by other Members regarding 
the proposed classification of borates under the ab ove-mentioned measure.  Canada had a systemic 
interest in ensuring that the assessment of substa nces was scientifically based and conducted in an 
appropriate manner.  Canada's prime concern regarding the 30th ATP Directive, was with the 
classification of nickel carbonates. Canada had raised  this matter at the previous meeting of the 
Committee and had submitted comments and detaile d questions to the European Communities on 
11 July 2007.   Canada would need more time to  determine whether her de legation's questions had 
been fully addressed.   
95. Regarding nickel, Canada remained concerne d that the European Communities' proposed 
classification was not based on sound scientific analys is and might set an inappropriate precedent. G/TBT/M/43 
Page 20  
 
  Canada was also concerned by reports from industry stakeholders that their offer to provide detailed 
data to assist in a scientific assessment of these s ubstances had not yet been accepted by the European 
Communities. Canada was not taking a position on the t oxicity or carcinogenicity of particular nickel-
based substances, rather, it was the process by which the European Commission had reached its 
conclusion that was of concern. Her delegation was concerned that inappropriate approaches could set 
a dangerous precedent for the large number of assessments to be performed under REACH.  As the 
world's second largest producer and exporter of ni ckel and related substances, Canada had a major 
trade interest in ensuring that th is measure did not represent an unnecessary barrier to trade.  Canada 
also insisted that such assessments had to be sc ientifically based and conducted in an appropriate 
manner.  
96. Thus, Canada strongly encouraged the Europ ean Commission to accept any industry offer to 
provide scientific data that would permit a more solid scientific basis for the assessment and classification of nickel carbonates and joined ot her delegations in requesting a delay of the 
implementation of the 30
th ATP until such time as it became cl ear that the numerous questions and 
concerns of WTO Members had been resolved.  In  addition, it was Canada's understanding that the 
31st ATP directive would contain further nickel cla ssifications proposals based in part on the nickel 
carbonates classification.  Canada hoped that the European Communities would notify the draft 31st  
ATP directive to the TBT Committee and allow suffi cient time for Members to review and comment. 
97. The representative of Australia  shared the concerns expressed, in particular with relation to 
nickel carbonates as Australia was a major produ cer thereof.  She questioned the non-testing 
methodology that had been used in the EC process and the scientific validity of the classification of 
nickel carbonates.  Australia too was concer ned that the classification in the draft 30th ATP Directive 
would be used as a reference for classifying additi onal nickel substances and that the "red cross" 
approach could be used as a model for furt her assessments under REACH.  Like Canada, the 
Australian delegation had received advice from its industry stakeholders concerning the science 
involved in the process.  Although Australia was not taking a position on the toxicity of the particular 
nickel-based substances, her delegation was concerne d with the need for opportunity to ensuring a 
sound science-based approach.  The European Commun ities was requested to defer consideration of 
the 30th ATP until such time as Member's concerns had been addressed.  
98. The representative of China  shared the concerns of previous speakers.  While her delegation 
appreciated the efforts made by the European Co mmunities for protection of the human safety and the 
environment, it was necessary to ensure that the consequent regulations did not create unnecessary 
obstacles to trade.  Bearing this in mind, Ch ina had submitted comments on the EC notification 
G/TBT/N/EEC/151 on 19 September 2007 where her de legation had emphasized, in particular, the 
issue of the classification and labelling of chemical s with nickel and borates.  China acknowledged 
receipt of the EC response on 7 November 2007 and would now proceed to analyze these. Her 
delegation expected that the 31st ATP would be notified to the WTO as soon as possible so as to allow 
Members a reasonable period of time for comments.  
99. The representative of Chile  also shared the concerns raised by other Members.  She recalled 
that during the last meeting of the Committee, her delegation had raised the issue of trade impact.  
Despite the fact that the European Communities did have the right to protect health and the environment, this could not be done in a way that  was more restrictive than necessary – as was the 
case with the classification provided for in the regula tion at issue.  Like other delegations, Chile had 
not yet had the time to consider the written response received from the Commission and would 
follow-up within the framework of bilateral agreements. 
100. The representative of Brazil
 reiterated the points made by others and stressed the need for a 
scientific basis for the classification of nickel compounds.  Like other delegations, Brazil was  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 21 
 
 
  concerned that the classification could be extended to other nickel compounds with possible impacts 
on the REACH system.  He sought confirmation that the 30th ATP would be suspended. 
101. The representatives of Argentina  and Japan  supported the points made by previous 
delegations.   
102. The representative of the European Communities  noted that an expert (DG Environment) 
from her delegation had intended to make a presentati on on borates at the current meeting but due to 
circumstances beyond control the European Commun ities was not in a position to do so.  She assured 
Members of the importance the European Communiti es attributed to the Committee process and noted 
that the adoption, which had been scheduled to take  place in September, had been delayed because of 
the numerous concerns received.  She invited dele gations to consider the response that had been 
provided and to submit any further comments in writing if that was considered necessary.  It was 
noted that the opening statement of the DG Envi ronment official was available on the Internet.7 
(xiii) European Communities - Fire Performance of Construction Products (G/TBT/N/EEC/92 and 
Add.1) 
103. The representative of Japan  raised his delegation's concern about the European Commission's 
decision regarding fire performance of construc tion products.  He acknowledged receipt of a written 
response on 27 October 2007 regarding his authority's comments on Commission Decision 2006/751/EC.  The response was being reviewed in detail and Japan expected to provide comments 
regarding the interpretation of scientific data.  
104. The representative of th e European Communities
 noted the very technical nature of the matter 
(regarding security criteria) and stressed that further comments from the Japanese authorities would 
need to be discussed among experts.  
(xiv) Brazil –  Registration requirements for medical devices 
105. The representative of the United States  wished to revert to an issue raised at the last meeting 
of the Committee in respect of medical device regist ration requirements in Brazil.  The United States 
regretted that Brazil had failed to notify the WT O of Resolution 185 on medical device registration 
which would have afforded Members the opportunity  to provide comments and have those comments 
taken into account.  The United States disagreed with Brazil's position that Resolution 185 did not 
need to be notified to the TBT Committee;  it wa s a registration system for medical devices and it 
appeared to contain aspects of both a technical regul ation and a conformity assessment procedure.  As 
had been noted in July 2007, the United States was concerned that the resolution did not seem to be 
related to an analysis of safety or efficacy of me dical devices; it appeared to be burdensome and 
unnecessary and could potentially disrupt trade in medical devices.   
106. The United States industry, in concert with Braz ilian counterparts, had raised concerns with 
Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária  (Anvisa)8 on these issues for the past 18 months. For 
example Brazil required suppliers wishing to regist er or re-register medical devices in Brazil to 
provide manufacturers pricing data from the country  of origin as well as from ten other enumerated 
countries. It was the US understanding that ther e existed no independent objective publication of 
product comparisons and no independent reliable s ource of comparative product prices in the medical 
device industry. The national anti-trust laws pr ohibited companies from contacting each other to 
acquire this information. It was therefore unc lear how it was possible for a medical device 
manufacturer to supply the pricing information require d by Brazil.  However, even if the data were 
                                                      
7 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/ (under the TBT Notification G/TBT/N/EEC/151). 
8 www.anvisa.gov.br  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 22  
 
  available, it was not necessarily clear how a potenti al registrant was to determine which products 
would provide an appropriate price comparison.  The medical device industry included over 10,000 
different types of medical devices and new ones we re introduced every month. For each type of 
product there could be many different feature comb inations and other variations. These factors could 
make developing an appropriate price comparison extremely difficult.  
107. The United States appreciated the efforts of Brazil to meet with the United States recently and 
urged Brazil to meet with relevant stakeholders to  discuss their concerns as well, and to discuss their 
ideas for achieving a successful resolution of this matter.  Brazil had noted that its regulators had 
already adopted flexible interpretations of many of the provisions of Resolution 185 on an ad hoc  
basis.  The United States welcomed this devel opment and hoped that a stakeholder meeting would 
take place in the near future to clarify and doc ument these points of flexibility and resolve other 
outstanding concerns.  
108. The representative of the European Communities
 shared the concerns expressed by the US 
delegation regarding Regulation 185 of 13 October 2006 adopted by the Brazilian regulator Anvisa, 
the Brazilian health agency.  The European Communities also considered  that the measure had, at the 
very least, to be considered a conformity assessme nt procedure as defined in the Annex to the TBT 
Agreement that stated, inter alia , that registration procedures were conformity assessment procedures. 
The new requirements regarding the provision of high ly sensitive information was of great concern to 
the European industry which continued to seek dial ogue with the Brazilian regulator, so far without 
success.  It was regrettable that  the measure had not been notif ied to the Committee and the EC 
delegation therefore requested more  information about the measure.  
109. The representative of Switzerland  stated that reactions from the Swiss industry indicated that 
it was difficult to fulfil the data submission requireme nts of Resolution 185, especially because of the 
obligation to disclose confidential information.  She asked Brazil to clarify the legitimate objective of 
the measure and requested that it be notified to th e TBT Committee in order to give all Members the 
possibility to submit comments. 
110. The representative of Brazil  stated that his authorities had not notified the regulation because 
they considered it neither a technical regulation nor a conformity assessment procedure.  It was not an 
issue that needed to be discussed in the TBT Comm ittee.  The regulation in question required that 
companies provide some information regarding pric es in the process of registering medical products 
but this process of registration did not stop even if  the company did not provide the information.  
Nevertheless, Brazil wanted to ensure maximum tr ansparency and would remain open to discuss the 
matter bilaterally with interested Members. 
(xv) India - Pneumatic tyres and tubes for automotive vehicles (G/TBT/N/IND/20) 
111. The representative of th e European Communities  recalled an issue regarding pneumatic tyres 
that it had raised on several occasions in the TB T Committee.  The European Communities remained 
concerned that the mandatory application of the st andard would result in an unnecessary barrier to 
trade for manufacturers from outside India.  The European Communities was also concerned that the 
calculation of license fees discriminated agains t foreign producers.  The European Communities 
encouraged Indian authorities to engage in further bilateral consultations to provide clarification. 
112. The representative of the United States  echoed the concerns raised by the European 
Communities and reiterated his delegation's previous intervention encouraging continued participation 
by India in the UNECE WP29 discussions on a global st andard for tyres.  With respect to the new 
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) protocol for ty res, the United States asked for clarification on 
several issues, including the objective of the new protocol, the issue of whether the protocol was 
voluntary or mandatory, whether compliance testing at the central institute for road transport applied  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 23 
 
 
  to both imported and domestic tyres, whether forei gn and domestic tyres were subject to the same 
performance criteria for tyre specifications, and, l astly, why licensing fees were calculated differently 
for foreign and domestic companies. It was the US  understanding that the fees for foreign companies 
were based on sales invoiced to d ealers in India, whereas fees for domestic companies were based on 
units per tyres sold in India.  The US industry was raising this issue because the different fee 
calculation methodologies were resulting in much high er licensing fees for foreign tyre companies.  
113. The Chairman  noted that the EC and US concerns would be conveyed to authorities in India 
and that a more comprehensive res ponse would be forthcoming at the la test by the next meeting of the 
Committee. 
(xvi) India – Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 2007 
114. The representative of the United States , supported by the European Communities  reiterated 
his delegation's concern that India had not notif ied the above-mentioned amendment to the Drug and 
Cosmetic Rule 2007 to the WTO.  The United St ates had serious concerns over the amendment's 
potential negative impact on trade as the procedur es it appeared to introduce were unnecessarily 
burdensome and included a costly registration system  that appeared to discriminate against imported 
products. The United States had been unable to  ascertain how these procedures would increase 
product safety for consumers and wanted to ha ve a better understanding of the objectives and 
rationale of the new rules. Therefore, the Unite d States requested India to consider delaying 
enforcement of the amendment to allow a reasonable time for interested parties to provide comments 
and to afford suppliers a reasonable interval  to comply with the new requirements.  
115. The Chairman  noted that the US concern would be conveyed to authorities in India and that a 
more comprehensive response would be forthcomi ng at the latest by the next meeting of the 
Committee. 
(xvii)  Brazil – Mandatory certification of batteries 
116. The representative of Brazil  wished to follow-up on a con cern raised by the European 
Communities at the previous meeting of the Co mmittee regarding batteries.  He informed the 
Committee that this regulation, after the consu ltation process, had been approved by the national 
agency of telecommunications.  The measure was expected to enter into  force in February 2008.  He 
recalled that the European Commun ities had asked if it would be possible to obtain certification by 
means of a self declaration (Supplier's Declaration of Conformity - SDoC).  Although SDoC was not 
possible in this case there were some types of requ ired tests that could be performed in a foreign 
country and these types of tests generally were those that required more time.  This meant that if a 
company had adequately done those tests in a forei gn country, or in Brazil, it would also be necessary 
to do the more rapid tests which would facilitate the trade of the batteries.  
117. The representative of the European Communities  noted that this information appeared to be a 
positive step forwards – but she would need to  discuss it with experts before responding.  
Nevertheless, one concern that remained was th e requirement for third party certification.  
(xviii)  United States - Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions (G/TBT/N/USA/249) 
118. The representative of the United States  reverted to an issue raised by China at the last meeting 
of the Committee regarding a proposed regula tion from the Massachusetts Department of 
Environmental Protection.  The measure set out requirements for the control of volatile organic 
compound emissions from the use of consumer an d commercial products.  The Regulation had gone 
into effect on 19 October 2007 in the State of Massachusetts and China's comments had been 
considered in the Department's decision making process.  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 24  
 
  119. It was the US delegation's understanding from the comments submitted by China, and China's 
intervention at the last meeting, that China's pr imary concern was that the Massachusetts measure 
should be eliminated since it was more restrictive than current regulations of the US Environmental 
Protection Agency.  In this regard, it was pointed out that the TBT Agreement made provision for 
Members' ability to take into account fundamental cl imatic or geographical factors in the development 
of technical regulations. In this case, the US Clean Air Act required state-specific plans which were 
stringent enough to reduce the severity of air pollution in each US State. Areas with more severe 
ozone pollution such as in the North Eastern Unite d States where Massachusetts was located would 
probably adopt stricter requirements than states where the ground level ozone problem was not as 
severe. Many states, such as California, had done so already. The United States also noted that the city 
of Beijing had recently adopted compositional standards fo r fuel that were stricter than those used in 
the rest of China. 
120. The representative of China
 looked forward to receiving a copy of the Massachusetts 
regulation. 
C. EXCHANGE OF EXPERIENCES  
1. Good Regulatory Practice 
121. The Chairman  recalled that the Fourth Triennial Review Report contained recommendations 
for future work on good regulatory practice whic h focused on further sharing of experiences.9  The 
purpose of the Committee's work ahead was to deepen Members' understanding of the contribution 
good regulatory practice can make to the implemen tation of the TBT Agreement.  The Workshop on 
Good Regulatory Practice, to be held on 18-19 Ma rch 2008, was an opportunity for this.  The latest 
revision of the programme is contai ned in document JOB(07)/107/Rev.2.  
2. Conformity Assessment Procedures 
122. The Chairman  recalled that the Fourth Triennial Review Report set out three areas for 
continued sharing of experiences with a view to fu rthering the understanding of the implementation of 
Articles 5-9 of the TBT Agreement.10   These three areas were (i) approaches to conformity 
assessment; (ii)  the use of international standards, guides or recommendations in Members' domestic conformity assessment procedures; and (iii) rec ognition of conformity assessment results.  The 
Chairman encouraged Members to come forward w ith contributions or stat ements regarding their 
experiences on conformity assessment procedures. 
3. Transparency 
(i) The Committee's Fifth Special Meeting on Procedures for Information Exchange 
123. The Chairman
 reported on the Committee's Fifth Special Meeting on Procedures for 
Information Exchange (Annex 2, below). 11 
124. The representative of El Salvador  stressed the importance of capital-based participation at 
meetings such as the Special Meeting, as well as th e back-to-back regular Committee meeting itself.  
                                                      
9 G/TBT/19, paras. 19 and 20. 
10 G/TBT/19, para. 46. 
11 A detailed summary report of the event is contained in Annex 2 of this document.    More 
information, including the programme and presentations made, is available on the WTO TBT Website at the following address: 
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/meeting_nov07_e/tbt_fifth_meeting7_8nov_07_e.htm
.  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 25 
 
 
  She asked the Secretariat to clarify whether funding  would also be made available for capital-based 
officials for the March 2008 Workshop on Good Regulatory Practice. 12   
125. The representative of New Zealand  noted that the obligations of Members under Article 2.9 
and those under Article 10 of the TBT Agreement ha d different objectives.  In New Zealand's view, 
these needed to be approached separ ately.  Article 2.9 aimed to gi ve all Members an opportunity to 
comment on the trade impact that a new proposal fo r a technical regulation of another Member would 
have on them.  In this instance, stakeholders, regulators, trade facilitators and businesses were only 
interested in a small number of regulatory propo sals.  However, the objectives of Article 10 were 
wider: they included assisting end-users, particularly exporters, to find out what they needed to do to 
comply with other Members' regulatory requirements.   As had been pointed out in the presentation by 
the representative of the International Trade Centre  (ITC) (Annex 1, para. 89, below), exporters 
needed to know about all the regulations that applie d, the standards that could be used to meet them, 
the conformity assessment procedures that had to be carried out, the conformity assessment bodies that could perform them, whether SDoC was needed or approvals had to be obtained, etc. Moreover, 
an exporter could not assume that because a requireme nt was based on an international standard it was 
the same as the international standard itself.  In  New Zealand's view, almost invariably, national 
regulations contained some deviati ons from international standards.  The importance of access to this 
kind of information had been referred to by a numb er of presenters and delegates at the Special 
Meeting;  in fact, the worst barrier to trade for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was a lack of 
information.   
126. In light of the above, the representative of  New Zealand suggested the WTO Secretariat 
consider developing a portal with hyperlinks to th e sites of Members that would help Enquiry Point 
officials find databases relevant to technical regulati ons and their ancillary documents. In addition, the 
representative of New Zealand also proposed that the Secretariat consider setting up a means for 
Enquiry Points to communicate with each othe r on ideas they had gathered during the Special 
Meeting and to further develop the ideas put forward.  
(ii) Fourth Triennial Review Follow-up  
127. The Chairman
 noted that, in 2007, the Committee had had useful discussions on how to move 
forward on the implementation of some specifi c recommendations relating to transparency, 
particularly in two areas:  the feasibility of attaching full texts to WTO TBT notifications13 and the 
issue of the sharing of translations.14 
(a) Attachments 
128. The Chairman  recalled that in the Fourth Triennial  Review, the Committee had agreed, with 
respect to full texts of notified technical regulati ons and conformity assessment procedures, to explore 
ways to attach to the notification form a copy of the text of the notified measure.  At the Fifth Special Meeting on Information Exchange, held on 7-8 November 2007, Members had emphasized the 
importance of access to full texts of notified documents  and noted that hyperlinks in the notification 
format that linked directly to the notified text c ould greatly facilitate Members' work and reduced the 
number of enquiries to the Enquiry Point (Para 5 of Annex 2, below).     
                                                     
 
12 After the TBT Committee meeting, the WTO Bienni al Technical Assistance and Training Plan 2008-
2009 was adopted by the  Committee on Trade and Development (WT/COMTD/W/160).  The Workshop on 
Good Regulatory Practice is refe rred to on p.53 under Geneva -based Topic-specific Symposia. 
13 G/TBT/19, para 68(c)(ii). 
14 G/TBT/19, para 68(c)(iv). G/TBT/M/43 
Page 26  
 
  129. In light of the above and with a view to facilitating the implementation of transparency 
procedures under the Agreement, the Committee agreed
 to establish a facility whereby Members may, 
on a voluntary basis, provide the WTO Secretariat with an electronic version of the notified draft technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures (attachments) together with the notification form.  Guidelines for the use of the facility were contained document G/TBT/GEN/65. 
(b) Translations 
130. The Chairman
 recalled that at the Fourth Triennial Review, the TBT Committee had agreed to 
explore ways to enhance the sharing of translati ons of documents referred  to in notifications, 
including with respect to the development of a form at to inform other Members of the existence of 
translations of notified measures.   
131. In this regard, the TBT Committee agreed  to set up a mechanism that aimed at facilitating 
information-sharing by Members on the availability of  unofficial translations on the Internet.  This 
would be done through the circulation, by the Secretar iat, of a supplement to the original notification 
submitted by a Member.  Under the mechanism, Members would be invited, on a voluntary basis, to provide information about the availability of unoffi cial translations of notified measures.  Such 
information should be provided to the Central Regist ry for Notifications (crn@wto.org).  The format 
of the supplement was contained in document G/TBT/GEN/66.  
132. The representative of th e European Communities
 drew the Committee's attention to the fact 
that, in the course of 2007, the European Communities had made more than 80 translations of notified 
draft technical regulations from other  Members.  He suggested that the Secretariat could also explore 
whether the tools which it had made available for th e storage of full draft texts (attachments, above) 
could also be used to make available unofficial  translations forwarded to the Secretariat. 
4. Technical Assistance 
133. The Chairman  recalled that there were three recommendations in the Fourth Triennial Review 
on technical assistance.  In these recommendations, the Committee had agreed to (i) encourage 
Members to make use of the Format for the Vol untary Notification of Specific Technical Assistance 
Needs and Responses contained in G/TBT/16; (ii) to review, in 2007, the use of the Format for the 
Voluntary Notification of Specific Technical Assi stance Needs and Responses, including the possible 
further development of the demand-driven technical  cooperation mechanism; and (iii) to exchange 
experiences in respect of the delivery and receipt of technical assistance with a view to identifying 
good practices in this regard.15  He proposed that the Committee begin by discussing the exchange of 
experiences on the delivery and receipt of technical assistance.   
(i) Exchange of Experiences on the delivery and receipt of Technical Assistance 
134. The Chairman  emphasized the importance that the Co mmittee had put on technical assistance 
in the Fourth Triennial Review and noted that, in his view, the exchange of experiences and the 
identification of good practices in the delivery and receipt of technical assistance could help 
delegations in their efforts to increase transparen cy on the need for and availability of technical 
assistance.  In this regard, he drew the Committee' s attention to a joint submission from Canada and 
Costa Rica on national quality systems in Costa Rica (G/TBT/W/283). 
135. The representative of Canada  noted that this joint paper had been prepared in order to 
contribute to a practical and positive discussion on technical assistance in the TBT Committee. The submission focused on Canada's project with Cost a Rica and lessons learned during development and 
                                                     
 
15 G/TBT/19, para 78(a)-(c).   G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 27 
 
 
  implementation.  Its genesis had been a request fro m Costa Rica's Technical Regulations Unit of the 
Ministry of Economy, Industry and Trade (MEIC) in 2004 to the Canadian In ternational Development 
Agency (CIDA), for technical assistance to improve  its regulatory review system.  The Standards 
Council of Canada (SCC) had agreed that CIDA would implement the project.  
136. Three TBT-related capacity building projects ha d been identified and designed;  they were 
currently being implemented.  More detail on deve lopment, implementation and lessons learnt were 
set out in full in the submission.  The goal of th e projects was to contribute to the elimination of 
technical barriers to trade and competitiveness by ensuring significantly improved regulations 
supported by a strong quality system, including stronger standards and conformity assessment bodies.  The first project focused on Good Regulatory Practice (GRP) and the second was focused on 
standards information and development, and the thir d targeted conformity assessment, in particular 
accreditation.   
137. The representative of Canada noted that if ther e were two elements of success that needed to 
be highlighted, these were communication and docum entation.   Communication had to be frequent, 
clear and repeated. Effective and clear communication would avoid erroneous assumptions and 
expectations.  Documentation helped mitigate the ef fect of personnel changes, and helped ensure the 
sustainability of improvements over the long term, whic h, ultimately, was the true measure of success.  
138. The representative of Costa Rica
 expressed his delegation's appreciation to the government of 
Canada for the above-described interc hange of experience and expertise.  This work had contributed to 
developing a quality system in Costa Rica.  He noted that support in the area of good regulatory practice had made it possible for Costa Rica to ov ercome a number of challenges in an area of 
competitiveness and in this way better protect its co nsumers.  Good regulator y practices had enabled 
Costa Rica to focus its activities on complying with WTO obligations in the area of technical barriers 
to trade, and, at the same time, develop simplif ied procedures in the government and thereby increase 
commercial efficiency.  In the area of standards, th e interchange had been particularly enriching. This 
had made it possible for Costa Rica to strengt hen its national standardization body INTECO.
16  Given 
the importance of demonstrating compliance with technical standards for market access, the 
improvement of the laboratory accreditation programs and certification bodies had been crucial.  In respect of lessons learnt, the representative of Cost a Rica hoped to continue working with Canada so 
as to tackle other challenges in the near future. 
139. The representative of El Salvador
 noted, in respect of experiences with the receipt of technical 
assistance, that a national workshop organized by  the Secretariat in September 2007 had helped 
inform a wide range of government officials, as well as the private sector, about both the TBT and 
SPS Agreements as well as the work of the respectiv e Committees.  In particular, the relationship with 
international organizations, such as  the Codex and the ISO, had been useful as well as information 
abut the agreements' provisions on transparency. 
140. The representative of the European Communities  noted that the presentations from Canada 
and Costa Rica had illustrated that technical assistan ce in the TBT field was indeed ongoing and that 
there were many initiatives in this field. Regard ing EC activities, his delegation would endeavour to 
update the list of technical assistance activities in  the TBT field which had been prepared for the 
November 2006 meeting.17  The European Communities would also look into making a joint 
presentation with countries that had benefited from EC technical assistance.   
141. The representative of Norway  drew the Committee's attention to her delegation's submission 
on Norway's technical cooperation projects (G/TBT/G EN/62).  It was noted that projects funded by 
                                                      
16 http://www.inteco.or.cr/esp/index.html . 
17 G/TBT/W/273.  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 28  
 
  the Norwegian Agency for De velopment Cooperation (Norad)
18, as well as projects funded through 
the European Union and Norway Fund, were ongoing in South East Asia, Southern Asia, East Africa 
and Southern Africa. 
142. The Chairman  noted that the Canada-Costa Rica ex perience was useful for the Committee's 
work in identifying good practices in the delivery an d receipt of technical assistance.  He encouraged 
other delegations to share their experiences. 
(ii) Review of the Notification Format (G/TBT/16) 
143. The Chairman  recalled that, to date, the Committee had received four notifications of 
technical assistance needs, the most recent from Uganda (G/TBT/TA-4/UGA).19  H e  n o t e d  t h a t   
although this was a voluntary mechanism (there was no obligation to use it), only four notifications in 
over two years could appear to be a low number given the importance attributed to technical 
assistance in the areas of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.  One point that had arisen in the Committee's discussi ons of the format was needs assessment:  both 
recipients and donors seemed to agree that identifying needs could be a constraint; in fact, this had 
even been discussed during the develo pment of the format itself.   
144. The representative of UNIDO
 introduced a submission on technical assistance in the TBT 
area which included a section on needs assessment methodologies.20  He noted that, normally, 
requests for assistance in the TBT field did not relate  to a particular article of the TBT Agreement (as 
in G/TBT/16);  a typical request came directly fro m a government as had been illustrated by Canada 
and Costa Rica.  Usually, they covered issues such as legal and institutional framework, human 
capacity and physical infrastructure – such as testi ng laboratories, calibration facilities, etc. Requests 
could also come from the private sector. 
145. The representative of Egypt  asked for some clarification a bout what actions had been taken 
regarding the notifications made by Armenia and Jamaica. 
146. The representative of Canada  thanked the representative of UNIDO for presenting the paper 
and also for the work that they undertook in he lping developing countries to identify their specific 
needs and capacities. 
147. The representative of Japan  welcomed a debate that was focused on specific examples of 
technical assistance, concrete problems and lessons  that could be leaned.  He appreciated the 
interventions provided by Canada and Costa Rica , as well as Norway and UNIDO and informed the 
Committee that Japan would also contribute to the discussion. 
148. The Chairman  recalled that another idea that had been raised during discussion on technical 
assistance was that the Committee c ould hold an event that could, on the one hand, focus on 
developing countries' needs in the TBT field and, on the other hand, shed light on the various technical assistance activities that existed and that were being undertaken by donors.  This could also 
be an opportunity to invite various standardizing bodies to further explain what they did to assist 
developing countries.   
149. The representative of the United States
 thanked Canada, Costa Rica, UNIDO and supported 
Japan in the sense that a prac tical, focused discussion was the most appropriate for the TBT 
                                                      
18 http://www.norad.no/ . 
19 The other three were submitted by: Costa Rica (G/TBT/TA-3/CRI), Armenia (G/TBT/TA-2/ARM) 
and Jamaica (G/TBT/TA-1/JAM). 
20 G/TBT/GEN/63, p.14 in particular.  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 29 
 
 
  Committee.  The larger issue of developing trade strategies within the overall development program 
was the focus of the Aid-For-Trade discussions in other parts of the WTO.  TBT-related issues would 
be part of the overall trade strategy and this was where the TBT Committee could contribute most usefully.  In terms of the form contained in G/TBT/ 16, this could be used to enhance transparency and 
it could lead to follow-up on a voluntary bilateral b asis, as the United States had done with Uganda.    
150. Regarding the suggestion for a workshop, the representative of the United States noted that 
there were many activities being undertaken by in ternational standards-development organizations 
that probably not all Members were aware of.  For instance, several standards-development organizations (SDOs) were signing memoranda of understanding (MoUs)  with developing countries 
to provide their entire catalogue of standards free of charge and provided technical assistance as well. 
There were also SDOs that followed the TBT Commi ttee's decision on the development of principles 
for international standards where one of the principles was the development aspect.
 21  Those SDOs 
were eager to involve technical experts from developing country Members in their standards-
development process to make sure that they were fulfilling those principles.  Hence a workshop could 
be an occasion for technical experts from developing countries to learn about other opportunities that 
were available.  
151. In summing up, the Chairman  noted that the form contained in G/TBT/16 had not been much 
used – either by countries who might need technical assistance or by donors in response.  As there did not seem to be any problem with the form itself, ther e did not appear to be any specific need to revisit 
it.  From the Committee's discussions, it appeared that technical assistance was taking place bilaterally although this did not necessarily become evident in th e TBT Committee.  It was useful to further this 
discussion in a concrete, practical way that focused on experiences on receipt and delivery of 
technical assistance – as had been illustrated by Cana da and Costa Rica.  One challenge remained the 
identification of needs and UNIDO's contribution was useful in this regard.  The Committee had also 
discussed the possibility of holding an event on t echnical assistance, focusing on technical assistance 
activities of standards development organizations.  Th e Chairman stressed that the form contained in 
G/TBT/16 remained one instrument that Members c ould avail themselves of to enhance transparency 
on the need for – and availability of – technical assistan ce.   He invited delegations to continue to use 
the form.  He further noted that the Secretariat had upgraded the TBT webpage on technical assistance 
making it easier to identify, by coun try, information provided in s ubmissions relevant to technical 
assistance.
 22 
5. Special and Differential Treatment 
152. The Chairman  noted that the Fourth Triennial Revi ew encouraged Members to inform the 
Committee of special and differential treatment provided to developing country Members, and also encouraged developing country Members to unde rtake their own assessme nts of the utility and 
benefits of such special and differential treatment.
23  The Chairman stressed that for a more focussed 
exchange of information on special and differentia l treatment on TBT issues, there was a need for 
specific contributions from Members.  
                                                      
21 Decision of the Committee on Prin ciples for the Development of International Standards,  Guides 
and Recommendations with Relation to Articles 2, 5 and Annex 3 of the Agreement (G/TBT/9, Annex 4).  
Paragraph E is about the "Development Dimension". 
22 http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e /tbt_e/tbt_tech_member_activ_e.htm . 
23 G/TBT/19, para. 82. G/TBT/M/43 
Page 30  
 
  D. O
THER MATTERS  
1. Egypt – Harmonization of Egyptian National Standards 
153. The representative of Egypt  informed the Committee about th e Egyptian experience with the 
harmonization of national standards. The Egyptia n Organization for Standardization and Quality 
(EOS) 24 had been established in 1957 as the national bod y responsible for standardization and related 
activities. It had recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.  Its activities included, in addition to the 
elaboration of standards, product certification fo r conformity and quality and testing, metrology, 
consumer service, training and consultation as well as the operation of the national TBT Enquiry 
Point. EOS was a member of international organiza tions such as ISO, IEC, CODEX, OIML, as well 
as regional organizations such as CEN (partner member) and ARSO.  EOS also had bilateral 
cooperation and relations with other national organizations.  
154. The harmonization of national standards was a component of a larger project aimed at 
upgrading the Egyptian infrastructure of quality a nd conformity assessment. It also served the 
objective of satisfying the harmonization provisions contained in the TBT Agreement's Code of Good 
Practices.  Implementation began in 2004 and was executed over two phases;  the objective was to 
harmonize all previously issued Egyptian standard s by the end of 2007. The harmonization work was 
implemented in five parallel directions. First, revision of all issued Egyptian standards to be 
harmonized with international, or, if not, with Eu ropean or selected foreign standards.  Second, the 
adoption of international or European standards in English.  Third, the translation of the adopted 
standards into Arabic. Fourth, the translation of  Egyptian technical regula tions based on mandatory 
standards into English. Fifth, the elaboration of  new standards – which was a continuous process – 
and harmonization with international standards.  Th e representative of Egypt noted that Phase One of 
the project had lasted for two years, and had ende d in May 2006 with more than 3,400 harmonized 
Egyptian standards. Phase Two of the project had ended in October 2007 with more than 5,300 
harmonized standards, including all th e previously issued standards.  
155. The main deliverables of the harmonization proj ect were: more than 8,500 Egyptian standards 
had been issued or adopted; all Egyptian standard s had been harmonized;  Egypt's standards catalogue 
had been made available on a website and the standa rds were electronically available to users;  25 
industrial and service sectors were covered by E gyptian standards including engineering, chemical, 
textile, measurements, information,  documentation and transport. Th ere were also other important 
deliverables of the harmonization project, including a strategy for standards harmonization which had 
been developed in cooperation with a team of an EU expert, the ex-chairman of AFNOR and the ex-
vice president of ISO. This strategy aimed at en suring the continuation of the harmonization practice 
in EOS. Another activity was the separation of health  and safety requirements in standards so as to be 
the only mandatory items in the Egyptian standard and this function was currently being carried out 
by the EOS technical committee.  Moreover, at the beginning of the project all relevant ISO guides, including Guide 21 on the harmonization of standards had been translated and EOS staff and their 
technical committee members had been trained. 
III. SIXTH ANNUAL TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MANDATED IN  PARAGRAPH 18 OF 
THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF  THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
156. The Chairman
 recalled that, in accordance with Paragra ph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of 
the People's Republic of China (WT/L/432), the TBT Committee would undertake an annual review 
for eight years of the implementation by China of the TBT Agreement.   
                                                      
24 http://www.eos.org.eg/Public/en-us/Default   G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 31 
 
 
  157. The representative of Japan  highlighted some issues contained in his delegation's submission 
(G/TBT/W/278).  He referred to the China Compulsory Certification system (the "CCC System");  under this system, no foreign conformity assessme nt bodies ("CABs") had yet been accredited by 
China according to Article 13 of the Regulations of  the People's Republic of China on Certification 
and Accreditation, which permitted only Chinese CA Bs to engage in CCC certification activities.  
Japan considered this provision inconsistent with the objective of Article 6.4 of the TBT Agreement 
and with China's commitment in Paragraph 195 of the Report of the Working Party.  Japan requested 
China to permit foreign CABs to participate in  CCC certification activities under conditions no less 
favourable than those accorded to Chinese CABs in light  of the TBT Agreement.   It was also recalled 
that cross-border designation of conformity assessme nt bodies was a useful mechanism for promoting 
mutual recognition of conformity assessment results. 
158. The representative of Japan noted that problems remained with respect to China's domestic 
standardization system, particularly with the distinction between compulsory and recommended 
standards.  Japanese industry had reported instances when administrative action had been taken when 
recommended standards had not been met, leadin g to the conclusion that recommended standards 
were in fact compulsory.  The experience of Japanese industry was that any Chinese standard was 
regarded as sufficient criteria fo r spot checking and subsequent administrative action and that 
compulsory standards appeared to be applied in China to areas well beyond the scope of health, 
safety, property and environment.  Japan referred to the commitment in Paragraph 182 of the Report 
of the Working Party on the Accession of China
25 and urged China to make a clear differentiation 
between "technical regulations" and "s tandards", not just in the notification process, but also in actual 
implementation and enforcement. 
159. The representative addressed China's regulati on on the Administration of the Control of 
Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products , which listed electronic and IT products that 
were subject to mandatory conformity assessment with national or industrial standards under the CCC 
system.  Japan requested China to be more specific about the required standards and to provide a 
sufficient comment period, in accordance with the TB T Agreement, for the development of the list of 
affected products and a pplicable standards.  
160. The representative said Japan had continuing con cerns with respect to China's Registration 
System for Environmental Management on the Initia l Imports of Chemical Products and the Import 
and Export of Toxic Chemicals.  The Chinese State Environment Protection Agency ("SEPA") had released a revision of "Highly Restricted Importe d and Exported Toxic Chemicals" on 28 December 
2005 which entered into force on 1 January 2006 a nd added a further 158 chemicals to the list.  
Furthermore, importers into China were requi red to pay an amount of USD10,000 to obtain a 
Registration Certificate valid for two years, in respect  of the listed chemicals.  Japan queried the basis 
for the cost and duration of the Registration Certificate and the process upon expiration of the two year period.  Japan enquired about the progress on the implementation of the new draft regulation 
titled "Import and Export Registrati on Regulation of Dangerous Chem icals" released by SEPA in 
September 2002, which repeals the existing legislation. 
161. The representative commented with regard to  China's draft standard on mobile phone 
batteries, Japan shared concerns raised by the United States and European Communities in their 
respective submissions before the TBT Committee on the lack of clarity and information regarding 
the development of applicable standards.  Japan indicated its willingness to provide input towards 
improving the draft standard on mobile phone batteries.  
                                                     
 
25 WT/ACC/CHN/49. G/TBT/M/43 
Page 32  
 
  162. The representative of the United States
 highlighted some issues contained in his delegation's 
submission (G/TBT/W/279).  He noted that the Sixt h Transitional Review showed there were areas of 
progress and areas where concerns remained.   
163. The United States was of the view that in the area of technical regulations and conformity 
assessment procedures, a significant number of me asures continued to be introduced or amended 
without the advance notification required under the TBT Agreement.  The United States requested 
China to update the Committee on steps taken or pla nned to increase the frequency of notifications 
and the use of notice and comment procedures in its regulatory process.  Simila r to other delegations, 
the United States was concerned about the use of  "recommended standards" which China did not 
notify;  in many instances, the United States ha d found that demonstrating compliance with such 
standards was effectively mandatory. 
164. The United States joined Japan and the Eur opean Communities in encouraging China to 
accept certification and tests performed by accredite d foreign conformity assessment bodies for the 
CCC mark and for other regulatory programmes.  Th e representative welcomed China's acceptance of 
the IEC CB testing scheme for so me electrical and electronic com ponents, equipment and components 
for the CCC programme. 
165. Concerning medical devices, the representative noted that proposed Decree 95 appeared to 
impose duplicative and burdensome requirements on imported medical devices and had not been 
notified to the WTO.  The United States urged Chin a to notify the proposed measure and suspend the 
1 December 2007 implementation date until it had considered comments submitted by WTO 
Members and interested persons and had made appropriate modifications to the measure.  
166. In respect of battery standards for mobile phones, the representative expressed concern that 
the development process for the applicable sta ndards had not been open and transparent.  He 
requested clarification from China as to whether de monstrating compliance with the battery standard 
would be a requirement for mobile phone manufactur ers or battery manufacturers in order to obtain 
type approval, CCC mark registration or other appr oval before selling their products in China.  
167. The representative had a number of outstanding questions relating to China's administration 
on the control of pollution caused by electronic in formation products.  The United States requested 
that China inform the Committee when the product catalogue for products requiring certification 
would be issued.  
168. The representative of the European Communities  highlighted some issues contained in his 
delegation's submission (G/TBT/W/281).  He noted an increase in cooperation between China and the 
European Communities on TBT issues;  formal c ooperation mechanisms had been established which 
worked well.  Nevertheless, a number of concerns remained. 
169. Like previous delegations, the European Comm unities had a general concern with respect to 
China's Compulsory Certification system (CCC).  Despite several changes over the years, it remained 
a burdensome, expensive and time c onsuming conformity assessment procedure, particularly for small 
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  Current re quirements of the CCC system were not always 
relevant to the level of risk the products posed, which implied that the CCC system was more trade 
restrictive than necessary.  The Eur opean Communities was of the view that the system needed to be 
streamlined and simplified.  The European Communi ties noted work being carried out by the Chinese 
authorities to introduce a conformity assessment proce dure linked to the level of risk posed by the 
products listed in the CCC Product Catalogue.  Th e European Communities encouraged China to 
accelerate the process and indicated its willingness to  share its experiences of managing conformity 
assessment procedures based on the supplier declaration of conformity for some products.  Some 
specific proposals for the simplification of the CCC system were offered in the EC submission.   G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 33 
 
 
  170. On standardization, the European Commun ities emphasized the importance of ensuring 
effective participation of foreign-owned enterprises  established in China on the same conditions as 
Chinese-owned enterprises, in the domestic sta ndards development process.  The European 
Communities shared the concern of Japan and the Un ited States on the lack of distinction between 
voluntary and compulsory standards and requested Chin a to clarify the effective differences.  Another 
area of concern related to the development of domestic standards, especially in areas where 
internationally recognised standards already existed a nd in particular in the ICT field.  The European 
Communities preferred to see China's standardizati on efforts integrated mo re into the established 
international standardization organizations.  The European Communities remained committed to 
support all respective activities of Chinese standardizing bodies.  
171. On the subject of Chinese standards for mob ile phones, the European Communities noted the 
growing trend to regulate detailed aspects of desi gn and quality and urged China to limit the scope of 
compulsory standards to aspects related to the prot ection of public interest such as human health and 
safety, property, or the environment.   
172. Regarding cosmetics, the representative expr essed concern that there was a difference 
between the approval procedures in place for domes tic products and for im ported products.  The 
European Communities urged Chinese authorities to uni fy multiple cosmetic labelling and to facilitate 
manufacturers' compliance.  
173. On medical devices, the European Communiti es was concerned about double certification 
requirements.  Moreover, the European Communities was of the view that new or fully refurbished 
medical devices needed to be treat ed in the same way;  the ban on refurbished products was not 
justified.  As a general principle, the Europ ean Communities urged the Ch inese authorities to follow 
the guidelines developed by the Global Harmonisation Task Force for medical devices.  Furthermore, unless the purpose of Order 95 was confirmed to be no more than to clarify the practical application of the existing rules, the Eur opean Communities requested that China notify the text under the 
relevant provisions of the TBT Agreement.   
174. On textiles, the representative urged China to allo w market forces to operate in its trade in 
raw materials in general and in particular to abo lish the compulsory nature of raw silk testing and 
terminate discriminatory treatment of foreign buyers.  
175. On the regulation of toxic chemicals, the European Communities joined Japan in their 
questions regarding China's new regulations govern ing environmental management of the import and 
export of chemicals and the consistency of the legislation with the TBT Agreement.  
176. The representative of China
 introduced her delegation's submission (G/TBT/W/282).  In 
respect of transparency, it was stre ssed that China had made more than 300 TBT notifications within 
the last six years, providing in each case a sixty day comment period and copies of full texts of 
notified measures upon request.  The Chinese representa tive said China was an active participant in 
the Committee's work on transparency and informati on exchange and would con tinue this engagement 
and would welcome support from other Members in or der for it to meet transparency objectives.  
177. Regarding conformity assessment procedures, the representative said China's basis for 
adopting a conformity assessment procedure had to do with whether it achieved the goal of ensuring 
effective protection of consumer interests and product safety.  Chin a was of the view that the CCC 
system was legally based on the objectives establis hed by the TBT Agreement and addressed China's 
needs in the areas of management.  On the othe r hand, the system of Supplier's Declaration of 
Conformity (SDoC) proposed by the European Co mmunities necessitated additional management in 
the areas of market surveillance, product liability la w, and administrative control.  China had therefore 
not as yet made a decision to change its conformity assessment procedures.  Furthermore, the G/TBT/M/43 
Page 34  
 
  representative pointed out that certification bodies established in China could be accredited as CCC 
certification bodies officially authorised by CNCA.  Foreign certification bodies, however, could only be certified through government-t o-government agreements.   
178. On the subject of standardization, the Chin ese representative said th e Chinese authorities had 
made clear that mandatory standards were co mpulsory and recommended standards were not 
compulsory.  She informed th e Committee that China's harmonisation of its standards with 
international standards would be a pr iority in its standardization work. 
179. In respect of the border examination of medical devices by the body for the General 
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China 
(AQSIQ), under Decree 95, the representative stated  that the Decree was ai med at streamlining the 
inspection scheme and achieving uniformity of enforcement practices and procedures.  China was of 
the view that AQSIQ's inspection and supervisio n at the port of entry was in accordance with 
international practice and pointed out that Chinese- made products had to meet the same inspection 
and certification requirements upon export to other count ries and regions.  Nevertheless, in the light of 
the confusion amongst China's trading partners in respect of the Decree, Members' comments would 
be conveyed to the competent Chinese authorities for cons ideration and in order to address the issues.    
180. In respect of battery standards for mobile phon es, the representative said the purpose of the 
standard was to achieve consumer  convenience and address environmen tal concerns.  She pointed out 
that the development process of the standard had been open and transparent and the standard itself was voluntary and sectoral rather than national.  China took note of Members' concerns and would 
ensure the standard was in comp liance with the WTO Agreement.  
181. On the issue of toxic chemicals, the represen tative said China was of the view that toxic 
chemicals comprised a high pollution risk and potential harm to human, animal and plant life and health and as such, the Chinese gove rnment was entitled to exercise caution in the administration of 
the import and export of these products.  Furthermore,  compared with management of toxic chemicals 
in other Member countries which entailed superfund,  risk deposit and liability insurance, China 
considered the two-year cycle and the USD 10,000 re gistration fee to be reasonable and an effective 
measure for environment protection purposes.  China had made considerable effort since accession to 
improve the scheme and was considering revising th e regulation of import a nd export registration of 
dangerous chemicals.  During the revision process, comment and opinions would be solicited from all domestic and foreign government agenci es, enterprises and/or individuals. 
182. Regarding the Administration Measures on the Control of Pollution caused by Electronic 
Information Products, the representative of China in formed the Committee that the compilation of the 
catalogue of products requiring certification was s till being researched.  China would notify the WTO 
once the catalogue was available and would allow suffi cient time for comments before enforcement.  
It was noted that the list of laboratories that we re currently accredited to perform hazardous substance 
testing in China could be accessed on the website (www.cnca.gov.cn).  The list could be extended and 
was not closed.  In the event that bilateral re cognition agreements were signed between China and 
other Members, foreign laboratories accredited in their countries could become accredited in China. 
China would review IEC standards as and when requ ired and in accordance with future development 
of the IEC standards.    
183. Regarding automobiles, the CCC certifica tion served the same purpose as the UN/ECE 
certification, which was to guarantee consumers' safety.  However, compared to UN/ECE 
certification, the Chinese CCC system was more simple  and cost effective.  Chinese auto makers at 
present could not adapt themselves well to the ECE sy stem mainly due to the fact that the cost of 
application was too high and far beyond the capacit y of those auto manufacturers.  China understood  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 35 
 
 
  the positive effect of the 1958 Agreement and was c onsidering joining as a contracting party to the 
Agreement at an appropriate time in the future. 
184. The Chairman  thanked all delegations for their statements and the Committee adopted  its 
Sixth Annual Transitional Review Report to the Council for Trade in Goods (G/TBT/22). 
IV. TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION ACTIVITIES AND UPDATING BY OBSERVERS 
185. The representatives of the Codex  (G/TBT/GEN/60) and the IEC  (G/TBT/GEN/64) updated 
the Committee on relevant activities they were undert aking.  In addition to the information provided 
in the submission, the representative of the Codex reca lled that several specific trade concerns raised 
earlier in the meeting had related to issues of nutriti on, labelling and consumer information.  In this 
regard, she emphasized the work carried out by  the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for 
Special Dietary Uses which discussed, among other issues,  the scientific basis of health claims.  This 
discussion was also relevant to WHO's application of  its Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity 
and Health.  Moreover, there were a number of Code x guidelines and standards that were relevant to 
these types of issues, one of which was the updated Codex Standard for Infant Formula. 26 
186. The WTO Secretariat  reported on its technical assistance activities in 2007.  It was noted that, 
as in past years, the overall objective of these activities was to assist Members to effectively 
implement as well as benefit from the TBT Agreemen t.  An important new development in 2007 had 
been the successful launch of eTraining courses on the TBT Agreement.  Four online courses were 
completed in 2007.  These courses, which covered a ll aspects of the TBT Agreement, were available 
to government officials from developing country Me mbers and Observers who were not able to attend 
workshops organized by the WTO.  This year, 306 participants from 78 countries had participated.    
The Secretariat also noted that the process of subm itting 15.2 Statements had been given particular 
attention in all regional and national workshops co nducted in 2007 and the Secretariat had followed 
up in Geneva, including through the Workshop on 15.2 Statements held on 8 November 2007.   More 
information on the Secretariat's technical activities was made available in document G/TBT/GEN/61.
27   
V. REPORT (2007) OF THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
187. The Committee adopted  its 2007 Report to the Council for Trade in Goods (G/L/843). 
VI. DATE OF NEXT MEETING 
188. The next regular meeting of the Committee will take place on 20 March 2008.  It will be 
preceded by the Workshop on Good Regulatory Practice, to be held on 18 and 19 March. 
 
_______________ 
 
                                                      
26 The submissions from Norway (G/TBT/GEN/62) an d UNIDO (G/TBT/GEN/63) are also relevant to 
technical co-operation activities. 
27 Information on the Secretariat's technical assistance activities is also available on the TBT Webpage 
at: http://www.wto.org/english/trato p_e/tbt_e/tbt_act_list_activ_e.htm . G/TBT/M/43 
Page 36  
 
  ANNEX 1 
SUMMARY REPORT OF THE FIFTH SPECIAL MEETING ON PROCEDURES FOR 
INFORMATION EXCHANGE 
7-8 November 2007
 
Chairperson:  Mr. R.S. SIDHU (India)  
 
1. Pursuant to its decision to hold, on a biennial b asis, "regular meetings of persons responsible 
for information exchange, including persons respons ible for enquiry points and notifications", the 
TBT Committee held its Fifth Special Meeting on Procedures for Information Exchange on 
7-8 November 2007.1  The objective of the Special Meeting was to provide Members an opportunity 
to discuss, at a technical level, issues relating to information exchange and to review the functioning 
of notification procedures and the operation of enquiry points.2   
2. The Special Meeting was organized in four pa nel sessions addressing the following topics:  
(i) publication practices;  (ii) notification practices;  (iii) the use of electronic tools;  and (iv) technical cooperation and the work of enquiry points. Th e following is a summary of the experiences 
presented.
3 
A. SESSION 1 - PUBLICATION PRACTICES  
1. An instrument of good regulatory practices for publication of proposed regulations in  
Chile4 
3. The representative of Chile  explained that the Chilean TBT National Commission, grouping 
all different agencies having responsibility for t echnical barriers to trade, was established in 1997 
under the Ministry of Economy to address the lack of a framework to assess regulatory conformity in 
Chile.  Through the participation of various mini sterial agencies who made up the Commission, a 
Decree covering good regulatory practices (Number 77) was enacted to address, inter alia , Chile's 
TBT notification obligations in an effort to standa rdise and to ensure good regulatory practices in the 
country.  A website was being constructed contai ning technical regulations and guidelines to be 
followed when drafting regulations in Ch ile – this would be operational from 2008.5  
4. It was highlighted that the objective of Decr ee 77 was to ensure that regulatory bodies 
complied with obligations under the TBT Agreemen t and other bilateral agreements.  The Decree 
contained criteria for the preparation, adoption and application of regulations to guarantee that such 
regulations did not constit ute an unnecessary barrier to trade and facilitated trade and transparency.  
Article 6 of the Decree ensured transparency by ma king it obligatory for draft regulatory texts to be 
published either on a website or in another nationa l media and be available for a sixty-day comment 
period.  
5. The representative of Chile explained that duri ng the adoption and application of regulations, 
national and international comments would be ta ken into account.  Technical regulations were 
expected to meet the minimum requirements of identifying the product, stating specifications and 
                                                      
1 The programme for the Special Meeting is contained in G/TBT/GEN/59/Rev.1. 
2 The participation of ninety-four representatives from developing country Members was 
supported through the WTO DDA Global Trust Fund. 
3All slideshows, including audio clips, presente d during the Special Meeting are available at 
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/m eeting_nov07_e/tbt_fifth_meeting7_8nov_07_e.h
tm 
4 Presentation made by Ms. Carolina Ramirez, Ministry of Economy, Chile. 
5 www.reglamentostecnicos.cl  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 37 
 
 
  features, method for assessing conformity, degree of c oncordance with international standards as well 
as identifying the party responsible for the technical  regulation and other necessary requirements.  In 
addition, the justification for the technical regulati on would need to be available in response to any 
requests for information.  Such information coul d include a description of the analyzed options, 
processing of the observations on the perceived impa ct on the national market, on small and medium 
enterprises and the responses that were received.  
6. Decree 77 did not establish that laws be notifie d through the Commission; rather it applied to 
the technical regulations generated as a result of such laws.  Regulations that we re considered to be in 
line with international standards were not notified,  as the purpose of the system was to deal with 
regulations which were not based on international st andards and which could have a trade impact on 
Members.  In the majority of cases the notified regul ations were categorized within the tariff rate 
classification of the Harmonised System. 
7. An example of technical regulations with rega rd to electrical products was provided.  Using 
the Commission's website, the representative of Chile s howed all the regulations referring to electrical 
products as well as related disaggregated informa tion such as a description of the applicable 
regulation, date of its entry into force, date of application, applicable regulatory body, and technical 
aspects of the regulation.  The website was kept up  to date through bilateral agreements with the 
institutions generating the technical regulations and a national library.  This ensured that when a 
technical regulation was published it was also placed on the Commission's website.  
8. It was noted that all draft technical regulations notified to the WTO could be accessed through 
this website, thus providing an opportunity for publ ic consultation and ensuring transparency.  A set 
of guidelines on good practices for dealing with co mments received on notifications was also being 
developed and was expected to be operational in 20 08.  The guidelines included the requirement for 
each proposed regulation to show a table of comments received, particularly from WTO Members, and reactions to the comments, all of which would also be available to the public.  Decree 77 also 
aimed at standardizing the manner in which techni cal regulations and the comments received on them 
were processed.  
9. In response to questions from participants, the re presentative of Chile clarified that Decree 77 
applied to all bodies and institutions elaborating technical regulations and conformity assessment 
procedures within the scope of the TBT Agreement.  Furthermore, while Chile currently did not notify 
technical regulations that were based on interna tional standards, the matter was under discussion.   
2. Publication of proposed regulations in the United States
6 
10. The representative of the United States  said that transparency applied to all regulatory 
processes in the United States, fro m the development of a proposed technical regulation to its 
adoption, including subsequent amendments and possible repeal.  In the publication process, 
transparency meant an unrestricted opportunity for wide public participation. 
11. In the regulatory process, there was full c ooperation among all levels  of agencies and 
departments in the United States: at Federal level,  state level, municipality/city level as well as with 
industry and citizens, even at an early stage.  De partments and ministries were subject to careful 
review by the judicial, legislative and executive br anches of government to hold them accountable for 
procedural fairness, reasonable decision-making and for working within any applicable limitations.  
The transparency of the process for the publicatio n of regulations ensured a better standard of 
regulations and cost-effectiveness and also limit ed their intrusiveness while keeping the public 
                                                      
6 Presentation made by Ms. Anne Meininger, U.S. En quiry Point, National Institute for Standards and 
Technology (NIST). G/TBT/M/43 
Page 38  
 
  informed, ensuring a climate of fairness.  This  resulted in a higher public acceptance of adopted 
regulations.  
12. The representative of the United States explaine d that after laws were enacted by the 
Congress in the United States, the Federal regul atory bodies were responsible for creating the 
technical regulations that enforced the laws.  The most important law that formed the foundation of 
the regulatory process were the Executive Order No. 12866 (1993)
7 which described the Federal 
process and set out twelve mandatory procedural steps that had to be followed to draft a regulation.  Another US law that promoted regulatory transpar ency before and during publication of the draft 
stage was the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act
8 which originated in 1995 and 
codified many of the policies in the Executive Or der.  The law established reporting requirements for 
Federal agencies and authorised the National Institute  of Standards and Technology to coordinate all 
conformity assessment activities in the federal governme nt.  It further instructed Federal departments 
to use non-governmental, voluntary standards wherever possible, both domestically and internationally, and to encourage the use of alr eady-existing standards rather than the government 
developing its own regulations.  U nder this Act, departments were cautioned not to use measures that 
created unnecessary obstacles to trade.  
13. Additionally, the Administrative Procedure Act
9 defined the system under which a department 
created and published draft regulations. This law en forced the use of open and transparent methods 
for Federal authorities to establish new regulations .  Members of the public and foreign trading 
partners enjoyed a right to participate with the de partment in the drafting process and departments had 
to meet the same basic minimum obligations for all regulations stated in the Executive Order's steps.  
At its most basic level, the US process for deve loping regulations involved only three steps known as 
the "informal notice and comments procedure", which was the basis of the publication process in the United States' Federal Register.   
Figure 1 
 
 
                                                      
7 http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscod e/title5/parti_chapter5_.html 
8 http://www.access.gpo.gov/n ara/publaw/104publ.html 
9 http://www.archives.gov/federal-regist er/laws/administrative-procedure/  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 39 
 
 
  14. The representative of the United States explaine d that the Federal Register publication was 
the government's main tool for communicating draft regulations to the public.10  Draft regulations 
published in the Federal Register were referred to as a notice of proposed rulemaking "NPRM" and 
signalled to all interested parties that a new draft regulation was at hand.  In case of complex issues or issues of urgent public concern, an advance notice of proposed rulemaking could be issued and there 
could also be several advance notices before a draf t was finally released.  Every notice of proposed 
rulemaking needed to identify the problem bei ng addressed and its significance and it had to assess 
any existing regulations and identify  any alternative solutions to th e problem, including the decision 
not to regulate.  A cost and benefit analysis w as required for every draft published in the Federal 
Register and a risk assessment was required to an alyze alternative solutions.  Each published draft 
regulation had clearly to state the technical details and performance objectives and contain impact 
statements on the economy, private markets, public health and safety and the environment.  Consideration was also given to harmonization and to consistency and compatibility with state or 
local regulatory functions.  Draft regulations also had to provide information on when, where and how 
comments could be submitted by domestic and intern ational parties and include contact details in 
order to obtain more information.  
15. The representative highlighted that after publication of a draft regulation in the Federal 
Register, there was opportunity for interested partie s to comment.  This opportunity was unrestricted 
and afforded the chance for foreign trading partners to submit data, views or arguments in response to 
a proposed regulation directly to the agencies con cerned.  The comment period was usually open for 
between thirty to ninety days, the average peri od being sixty days.  Comments received on a draft 
regulation could have the effect of modifying the regulation.  In such case, a supplemental notice of 
proposed rulemaking was published.   
16. When a final regulation was published, the rele vant department was required to include a 
statement of the regulation's basis and purpose and information on any changes that the department 
had made to the draft regulation in response to comments received.  The length of the publication 
process could vary from a few months to several years depending on the novelty, degree of 
controversy and nature of the regul atory action and also its complexity.  On average, a draft regulation 
would take from six months to one year between the notice of its first draft in the Federal Register and 
its enactment as a final rule.  Generally, rules could no t be enforced if they had not been published in 
the Federal Register and would not  become effective until thirty days following their publication.   
17. In concluding, the representative of the United St ates remarked that the US Federal regulatory 
department authorities, with the input of inter ested parties including foreign trading partners, 
developed the proposed technical regulations and pub lished them.  Technical regulations were issued 
as final regulations only after much collaboration and discussion and careful review of the technical 
details.  The goal of the process was to enact the most consistent, compatib le and easy-to-understand 
regulations and to ensure no unnecessary barriers to trade were created. 
18. In response to questions raised during the discu ssion, the US delegation noted that the impact 
assessment of draft regulations included a cost/ben efit analysis of the proposed regulations on US 
business and consideration of the trade impact on third countries, mainly based on the comments 
received to the notification.  It was also str essed that the TBT Agreement called for a reasonable 
interval between the publication of a regulation and its entering into force.  The length of this interval 
depended on the regulation, but in the US case this  period was often longer than thirty days.  
19. Additionally, it was explained that the US Enquiry Point did not track the draft regulations 
and the comments thereon all the way to final en actment.  However, requests could be made by 
trading partners to the Enquiry Point staff to follow up with the regulatory authorities on specific 
                                                     
 
10 http://www.archives. gov/federal-register/ G/TBT/M/43 
Page 40  
 
  issues and to notify the interested party when the final ruling was released.  As far as local 
governments were concerned, the US Enquiry Point monitored their regulatory initiatives on a regular 
basis. 
20. In summarizing the session, the Moderator
 said that while the obligation to publish notices 
was clearly set out in Article 2.9.1 of the TBT Agreement, Members used different approaches to 
fulfil this obligation.  The use of websites seeme d to be one common element Members utilized to 
fulfil this obligation. 
B. SESSION 2 - NOTIFICATION PRACTICES  
1. The Experience of Canada: Determining the necessity to notify and completing the 
notification format11 
21. The representative of Canada  said the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade 
retained overall responsibility for coordination an d implementation of all WTO Agreements in 
Canada.  Since January 1980, the Department cont racted the operation of the national notification 
authority and the national Enquiry Point to  the Standards Council of Canada (SCC).12  SCC was 
responsible for fulfilling the transparency oblig ations of the TBT, SPS and NAFTA Agreements, 
distributing WTO notifications, answering enquiries and providing information to foreign enquiry 
points on Canadian standards, technical regula tions and conformity assessment procedures.   
22. In determining the necessity  to notify, SCC considered proposed technical regulations, 
conformity assessment procedures (CAPs) and manda tory labelling requirements in the light of 
whether an international standard existed or the content of the proposed measure  was substantially the 
same as the content of an international standard, and the effect on trade of the proposed measure 
(Figure 2, below).  
23. Four basic transparency obligations had to be fulfilled: (i) publish a notice in a publication at 
an early appropriate stage; (ii) notify the measure; (iii) provide copies of the regulation, and (iv) allow a reasonable time for comments.  It was pointed out th at it was beneficial for the notification authority 
staff or the Enquiry Point staff to subscribe to the country's central and local government registry of 
proposed legislation in order to monitor when ne w measures or changes to existing measures were 
proposed and needed to be notified.   
24. In determining when to notify, the representative of Canada explained that SCC would notify 
when a draft with the complete text of a proposed technical regulation and conformity assessment procedure was available and when amendments coul d still be introduced and taken into account.  In 
the case of technical regulations and conformity  assessment procedures adopted for urgent reasons, 
the notification would be made immediately upon ad option.  The agency responsible for determining 
whether a measure should be notified was the Cana dian Enquiry Point.  Regulators were legally 
obliged to publish regulations in  the Canada Gazette.  The Enquiry Point would then review the 
Canada Gazette to determine which measures shoul d be notified.  The Enquiry Point staff also 
determined whether there would be an impact on trade and when necessary staff would consult with 
the regulatory body to obtain additional informa tion to determine the impact on trade.   
 
                                                     
 
11 Presentation made by Ms. Andrea Spencer, head  of the TBT/SPS Enquiry Point, SCC, Canada. 
12 See http://www.scc.ca  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 41 
 
 
  Figure 2 
 
 G/TBT/M/43 
Page 42  
 
  Figure 3 
 
 
25. The SCC also analysed whether a measur e fell under the TBT Agreement, the SPS 
Agreement or both (Figure 3, above).  If it was f ound that the SPS Agreement applied, the SCC would 
notify under the SPS.  If the SPS Agreement did not apply, the SCC would check whether the measure was a technical regulation, standard or conformity assessment procedure – in which case it would be notified under the TBT Agreement.   
26. Preparation of the notification format was required to be completed following the 
recommended procedures contained in G/TBT/1/Rev.8.   Additionally, Members were encouraged to 
consider the recent recommendations of the TBT Committee.
13  It was stressed that the information 
contained in the notification form needed to be as complete as possible and for sections that did not 
have information, statements of "not known" or "not stated" had to be made.  
27. Drawing from Canada's experience with respect to notification forma, both in terms or 
preparation and receipt of such forms, it was pointed  out that the work of the Enquiry Point could be 
frustrated at times when email addresses or contact details of the agency were either not monitored 
                                                      
13 An updated overview of transparency obligations and recommendations by the TBT Committee was 
made available in Job(07)/139.   G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 43 
 
 
  regularly or information was incorrect or inadeq uate.  The representative encouraged Members to 
provide accurate contact information on notification forms.  In addition, listing the exact number of 
pages of the regulation under section five of the no tification form could assist other enquiry points to 
confirm that they had received the entire regulation,  particularly if they had requested a translated 
version. 
28. The representative stressed that the descripti on of content contained in section 6 of the 
notification form was key.  It was noted that a cl ear and comprehensible description stating the main 
features of the proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure was important for 
delegations and translators to understand the notifica tion and would reduce requests for full texts.  In 
section 7 of the notification format (objective and rationale of the proposed regulation), reference 
could be made to the nature of urgent problems whic h were applicable to the proposed regulation.  In 
the section indicating where Members could obtain the full text of the proposed regulation, it was emphasized that the agency responsible should provide  a direct link to the text and not just to the 
general site of the relevant orga nisation and that, if possible, a central mailbox could be established 
which could be monitored in the absence of the main officers responsible for the handling of 
enquiries.  Including the URL links to the full text in the notification format had significantly reduced 
the number of requests for full texts.  
29. Canada prepared its notifications in English and French and sent them by email to the WTO 
Central Registry of Notifications (CRN)
14, copying the Canadian authorities, their NAFTA 
counterparts and other key trading members, ther eby encouraging cooperation and coordination in a 
transparent manner with relevant stakeholders.  Th e representative of Canada also clarified that the 
decision to notify was determined by the Enquiry Po int in consultation with the relevant regulatory 
agencies and that the Enquiry Point also undertook an analysis of the potential impact of the 
regulation on trade of other countries. 
2. Experiences in making TBT notifications in China15 
30. The representative of China  explained that China's WTO No tification and Enquiry Centre, 
organized under the Ministry of Commerce (MOF COM), had overall responsibility for notifications 
and enquiry issues in China.  The Centre also hou sed the TBT Enquiry Point, which was administered 
by the General Administration for Quality Supervis ion Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).  At the 
national level, coordination am ong government departments was achieved through a bi-annual inter 
ministerial coordination conference on technical measu res to trade, consisting of 18 ministries that 
had developed  guidelines for the notification and enqu iry point work related to the TBT Agreement.  
31. The regulatory agencies in China determined when a draft technical regulation needed to be 
notified and were responsible for completing the no tification forms both in Chinese and English.  The 
Enquiry Point checked the translation of the notifi cation forms and referred any problems back to the 
regulatory agency, until the notification was correct.  Thereafter, the Enquiry Point would submit the notification form to the notification authorit y under MOFCOM for further review.  MOFCOM 
conveyed the notification form to the Chinese Perm anent Mission to the WTO in Geneva which then 
submitted the final English version to the WTO Secretariat.  
32. The representative of China explained that th e regulatory agencies identified whether the 
notifications needed to be notified to the SPS or TB T Committee, or both.  In the event of an urgent 
notification, particularly when safety, health, e nvironmental protection or national security problems 
needed to be addressed, a measure might be ad opted but was immediately notified to the WTO 
                                                     
 
14 crn@wto.org 
15 Presentation made by Mrs. Lisheng GUO, Deputy  Director General, China WTO/TBT Notification 
and Enquiry Centre. G/TBT/M/43 
Page 44  
 
  Secretariat, granting an opportunity for Members to provide comments.  The representative pointed 
out that China followed the notification format  as recommended by the TBT Committee, giving 
particular attention to the final date for the receipt of comments which was no less than sixty days from the date of circulation of the notification by the WTO Secretariat.  As for the proposed date of 
adoption of the measure, this was normally 90 days after distribution by the WTO Secretariat.  The 
proposed date of entry into force of the measure was normally six months after the adoption of the 
measure.  
33. The representative said that the notification information was uploaded on a website which 
was open to the public.
16   Upon request, the full text of the notified measure was provided in pdf 
format.  Comments received were translated into  Chinese and addressed in consultation with the 
regulating body.  Replies to comments were prepar ed in Chinese and English and submitted to the 
Enquiry Point which conveyed the response in En glish to the WTO Member who had made the 
comments.  Since its accession to the WTO, China had submitted approximately 300 TBT notifications. 
Figure 4 
 
 
34. In response to questions raised during the discu ssion, it was clarified that notifications from 
other WTO Members were also posted on the Chinese website, while the texts of the notified 
measures were provided only to those Members w ho requested them.  Both the representatives of 
Canada and China highlighted that very few m easures had been notified as urgent measures under 
Article 2.10 or 5.7 of the TBT Agreement. 
35. In summing, the Moderator  noted the importance of correctly filling in the notification format 
and providing all the necessary information.  Some  points stressed during the discussion included that 
the notification format should include the possibility to identify Members affected by the notifications 
and that, a clear and detailed description of the c ontent of the measure in Box 6 of the notification 
format, especially when the notified text was not in one of the WTO official languages, was crucial.  
The importance of ensuring full access to texts of no tified measures was also stressed.  Furthermore, 
                                                      
16 www.tbt-sps.gov.cn  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 45 
 
 
  the importance of coordination between the Enquiry Point and the regulatory authorities was 
emphasized. 
C. SESSION 3 - THE USE OF ELECTRONIC TOOLS  
1. China: The use of electronic tool s in WTO/TBT enquiry point work17 
36. The representative of China  explained that a marked increase in the use of electronic tools had 
been experienced since China's ac cession to the WTO.  In particular, China's National Notification 
and Enquiry Centre, headed by the General Admi nistration of Quality Supervision Inspection and 
Quarantine (AQSIQ), used electronic tools in the publication of technical regulations, processing of TBT notifications, provision of TBT enquiry services (Figure 5, below) and as a vehicle for commenting on TBT notifications of other WTO Member s.  Electronic tools were also used to deal 
with comments received on draft Chinese regula tions and to provide comments to other WTO 
Members' measures. 
Figure 5 
 
 
37. Electronic tools were used extensively in th e work of technical cooperation with other 
partners in order to improve the TBT work.  Tech nical study tours to the enquiry points of other 
Members had been conducted and electronic tools pl ayed an important role in the exchange of 
experiences with other Members.  Moreover, in or der to disseminate information on TBT, the Chinese 
notification and Enquiry Point liaised with the majo r media sectors in China such as the central TV 
station and national and in ternational newspapers.  
38. China's TBT/SPS website18 was a tool to inform and educate about TBT matters;  it contained 
a complete set of TBT notifications (in bilingual forms) and provided timely information to exporters 
and importers on domestic a nd other Members' measures. 
                                                      
17 Presentation made by Mrs. Lisheng GUO, Deputy  Director General, China WTO/TBT Notification 
and Enquiry Centre. 
18 www.tbt-sps.gov.cn 
 G/TBT/M/43 
Page 46  
 
  39. In the event of an important regulation being promulgated or drafted by other WTO Members, 
the Enquiry Point would collect relevant informati on, translate it into Chinese and upload it on the 
website.  The website further provided the Risk Alert  information related to Chinese exports, which 
also allowed for online enquiries and information retrieval.  The Risk Alert  mechanism collected 
information on any problems experienced with a pa rticular exported Chinese product and provided 
feedback to Chinese producers so that applicable technical regulations, standards and conformity 
assessment procedures of the importing country were clarified.  The Risk Alert  mechanism also 
operated with respect to imported products when ther e was some problem with a given product.  In 
this case, information would be collated, analyzed and the border agencies informed so as to control 
the import of the product.  The Risk Alert  system was therefore used both for public information-
sharing purposes and for internal customs control purposes not open to the public. 
40. The representative noted that in China the use of  electronic tools was given full attention and 
support by the central government through a commensurate budget allocation.  Furthermore, a solid infrastructure was required such as the local area ne twork to share data internally and gain quick 
access to the internet at all times.   
2. Chinese Taipei: Use of electronic tool s for the dissemination of comments
19 
41. The representative of Chinese Taipei  explained that the TBT Enqu iry Point in Chinese Taipei 
had, with effect from October 2006, redesigned its website20 to better serve domestic stakeholders' 
need to access technical regulations of other WT O Members and foreign stakeholders' requests for 
related information in Chinese Taipei.  It was noted  that the new design included three features: (i) 
notifications could be searched by country, by se ctor and by keyword; (ii) manufacturers could 
provide feedback on the technical barriers that th ey encountered when exporting their products to 
foreign countries; and (iii) manufact ures could request notified documen ts for certain notifications.  
The website listed seventy-four Members with w hom Chinese Taipei had significant trade volumes 
and for which notifications could be accessed.  The same functions were also applied to the product 
sector.  Products were classified into four teen categories based on their HS code.   
42. One of the functions of the website included the possibility for users to be automatically 
informed of the available comment period for each notification posted.  Othe r functions included the 
submission of comments on-line and the possibility to make requests for notified documents and reports on technical barriers to trade.  Transla tions were available for important notifications.  
Regarding comments received on Chinese Taipei notifi cations, these were transmitted to the relevant 
regulatory authority for response.  Replies  were provided by email within a period of  two weeks to 
§two months.  Thirteen comments had been received in the past two years.   
43. Queries on product regulation or standards were answered (by email) in a period between two 
days to three weeks.  Thirty-one requests had been  received within the past two years and companies 
had confirmed the usefulness of the Enquiry Point' s response to product queries.  The representative 
stressed that enquiry points needed to provide in formation on product regulations and standards, in 
addition to information on notifications, as require d under Article 10 of the TBT Agreement.  The 
system showed potential to be a powerful tool for use by industry. 
44. In concluding, the representative of Chinese Taip ei stressed that industry needed to benefit 
from the services provided by the Enquiry Point and th at awareness-raising seminars for the industry 
were planned for this purpose.  Information resour ces related to technical regulations, standards and 
conformity assessment procedures was not coordinated.   Therefore, in order to make the system a 
useful tool for industry, a project was planned to  integrate such information into the notification 
                                                     
 
19 Presentation given by Ms. Ying-Ching SU , TBT Enquiry Point of Chinese Taipei. 
20 www.bsmi.gov.tw  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 47 
 
 
  distribution system.  This would help Chinese Taipei better implement Article 10.1 of the TBT 
Agreement. 
3. European Communities: Use of electronic tool s to enhance transparency and to ease the 
management of notification procedures21 
45. The representative of the European Communities  said that the EC TBT Enquiry Point had a 
number of specific functions, namely to: (i) tran smit EC notifications to the WTO Secretariat; 
(ii) analyze, with the help of experts and stakehol ders, draft measures notified by third countries; and 
(iii) follow up of comments made by the European  Communities and its member States.  The Enquiry 
Point also answered requests for information on no tified draft measures and was the contact point for 
exchange of information within the Community.  The EC TBT Enquiry Point had implemented its 
electronic system in June 2004 in response to the increasing volume of notifications and the difficulty 
of tracking them.  The public site was launche d soon after to improve transparency and the 
participation of econom ic stakeholders.   
Figure 6 
 
 
46. Improved document management was a priority and electronic storage meant a reduction in 
paper files.  The system had an automated proce dure which operated twice a day to find the latest 
notifications and enter them into the database so that they would automatically appear on the 
website.22  The site provided an alert system for economic operators and other interested parties and 
allowed for privileged access to member States of the European Communities.  The activity of TBT 
enquiry points in EC member States was reviewed monthly and a summary of the EC TBT Enquiry 
Point activities was posted on the site on a monthly basis.  
47. The website also provided a library of documents  related to TBT issues.  The mailing list on 
the site made it possible for economic stakeholders to be recorded for a particul ar sector or particular 
country, so that they received an email advising th em of new notifications in their sector, as well as 
the text of the draft measure.  The accuracy of the contact information provided on the site was 
emphasized.  The possibility of providing a direct and precise link to the location of the texts of the 
                                                      
21 Presentation by Mr. Cyril Hanquez, European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry. 
22 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/ G/TBT/M/43 
Page 48  
 
  notified texts was being looked into.  Wherever possi ble and if the Enquiry Point decided to further 
analyze a notified text, the EC TBT Enquiry Point ma de unofficial translations of notified texts and 
made them accessible on-line.   
4. Brazil: The Brazilian Export Alert System: An electronic tool for improving SME's 
knowledge on WTO countries regulations
23 
48. The representative of Brazil  presented the Brazilian Enquiry Point's experience of providing 
information to domestic companies, especially SMEs , through its Export Alert System.  He noted that 
the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology Standa rdization and Industrial Quality, referred to as 
INMETRO, was the accreditation body responsible in  Brazil for the country's legal metrology and 
conformity assessment policies.  It also served in the role of Brazil's TBT Enquiry Point.   
INMETRO's objective was to instil confidence in Brazilian measurement systems and product 
standards and also promote harmonization, cons umer relations, innovation and competitiveness 
through metrology and conformity assessment.  
49. INMETRO provided an Export Alert System and free services on its website24 to Brazilian 
exporters with the purpose of creating awareness a bout TBT issues; more than 5000 users had already 
subscribed.  The services included: (i) information on technical requirements;  (ii) identification of 
comment periods on TBT notifications; (iii) frequen tly asked questions; (iv) technical requirements 
classified per country and per product; (v) consultation on notifications; and (vi) the provision of full 
texts of technical regulations.  The system also allowed INMETRO to assist Brazilian exporters who 
requested information on technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures by liaising with 
the enquiry points of trading partners.  In some  cases, an amendment or a suspension of a draft 
technical regulation could be requested. 
Figure 7 
 
50. The representative of Brazil explained that when new notifications were received, the system 
sent an alert by e-mail to subscribers based on thei r profiles.  Brazil had provided technical assistance 
for the establishment of export alert systems in some MERCOSUR countries. 
                                                      
23 Presentation by Mr. Rogeiro de O liveira Correa, INMETRO, Brazil. 
24 www.inmetro.gov.br 
  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 49 
 
 
  5. WTO Secretariat: Electronic tools available in the Secretariat  
51. The representative of the SPS section of the WTO Secretariat  provided information on the 
SPS Information Management System (IMS) which had been created in an effort to manage 
information and changes generated by increasing num bers of notifications and documentation with 
respect to SPS matters.25  The SPS IMS, which was made availabl e to the public in October 2007, was 
a tool that allowed Members and other interested  parties to track SPS notifications and other SPS 
information, including specific trade concerns ra ised in the SPS Committee, according to their 
specific needs.   
52. The SPS IMS contained information on all SPS notifications entered into a predefined 
template and enabled Members and the Secretaria t to conduct electronic searches on any of the items 
contained in the notification.  The syncroni zation between the SPS IMS, the Documents Online 
system and the CRN had facilitated inhouse harmoniza tion and consistency of data.  The system was 
also linked to the FAO's international portal on f ood safety, animal and plant health.  Hence, it 
constituted a comprehensive source of official SPS information from not only the WTO but also other 
international organizations in the SPS area.  The SPS IMS also permitted analysis of previously 
inaccessible data such as the level of implemen tation of transparency provisions of the SPS 
Agreement.26   
53. The representative of the TBT section of the Secretariat  recalled that information had been 
provided to the TBT Committee at an early stage of the development of the SPS IMS.27  Work had 
started on exploring options to adapt the SPS appli cation to the TBT-specific characteristics with the 
aim of setting up a similar system.  Members w ould be kept advised of developments.   
54. In response to a request made by the TBT Commi ttee at the Fourth Triennial Review of the 
TBT Agreement,28 the representative of the Documents Online section of the Secretariat  presented a 
proposal for an interim solution to attach regulatory texts to TBT notifications.29 
55. In summing up, the Moderator  noted that electronic tools were used extensively in a wide 
range of transparency-related activities, for inst ance in preparing and submitting TBT notifications, 
handling of comments received and performing other duties in enquiry points.  In particular, the use 
of alert systems for exporters had increased, even th ough it was at times difficult to engage industry in 
subscribing alert systems if costs involved were significant.  He also stressed that developing country Members might face special difficulties in making use of electronic tools, both for lack of resources and technical expertise.  Problems related to transl ations of regulatory texts remained and reference 
had been made to discussions taking place in the TBT Committee about exploring ways to enhance 
the sharing of unofficial translations.
30  
                                                      
25 http://spsims.wto.org/ 
26 G/SPS/GEN/804. 
27 Job(05)/33. 
28 G/TBT/19, para. 68(c)(ii). 
29At its regular meeting on 9 November 2007, th e TBT Committee agreed to establish a facility 
whereby Members may, on a voluntary basis, provide th e WTO Secretariat with an electronic version of the 
notified draft text (attachment) together with the notifi cation form.  Guidelines for the use of the facility are 
contained document G/TBT/GEN/65.  See paragraph 129, above. 
30 At its regular meeting on 9 November 2007, the TBT Committee agreed to set up a mechanism to 
facilitate information-sharing by Members on the availabilit y of unofficial translations on the Internet.  This 
would be done through the circulation, by the Secretariat,  of a supplement to the original notification submitted 
by a Member. More information on this mechanism is contained in G/TBT/GEN/66.  See paragraph 131, above.  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 50  
 
  D. 
SESSION 4 - TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND THE WORK OF ENQUIRY POINTS  
1. Colombia: The work of the Colombian Enquiry Point and technical cooperation31 
56. The representative of Colombia  presented the work of the Colombian Enquiry Point as well 
as its experience in receiving technical cooperation.  The Colombian Enquiry Point housed the central 
database on conformity assessment procedures, trade agreements, technical regulations and sanitary 
measures that were notified.  It was also liaised with the regulatory bodies in Colombia in the event 
that WTO Members had comments or questions on te chnical regulations generated in Colombia.   
57. The Colombian Enquiry Point had experienced difficulties when requesting draft regulations 
from Members based on technical standards and re quirements developed by private entities and to 
which the Enquiry Point was not permitted access.   The standards body in Colombia was ICONTEC, 
which was a private, non-governmental organisation a nd elaborated voluntary standards.  The private 
sector participated in drafting technical standards and rules through various committees.  Both standards and technical regulations in Colombia  were notified so that Members could provide 
comments.  In Colombia, both draft and adopted t echnical regualtions were published in the national 
official gazette.   
58. The Colombian Enquiry Point had benefited, along with other Andean Community countries 
such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, from EU te chnical cooperation with regard to its quality 
programme and also on commercial practices.  A te chnical regulatory department which facilitated 
document searches, commented on draft regulations and included an export alert system had been 
developed for the Andean Community countries an d was open for use by other Members or the 
public.  Each of the countries within the Commu nity was responsible for updating its technical 
regulation and notification information. The Colombian Enquiry Point had also receiving assistance 
from the United States deve lopment agency, USAID. 
Figure 8 
.
  
 
                                                      
31 Presentation by Mr. Daniel Hector Rico, Head of Colombia's TBT Enquiry Point  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 51 
 
 
  59. Some areas where technical assistance was n eeded were identified.  In particular, the 
Colombian Enquiry Point experienced difficulties in processing information and in analyzing and 
commenting on other Members' notifications (Figure 8, above).  These were areas where technical 
cooperation was considered important.  
2. Paraguay: The experience of the National Enquiry Point in Paraguay32 
60. The representative of Paraguay  said that the national Enquiry Point and notification authority 
in Paraguay, referred to as SNIN, had been establis hed by Decree in 2005 as part of a project funded 
by the European Union – with the aim of pr omoting and strengthening the competitiveness of 
Paraguay's export sector.  Upon completion of the proj ect in 2008, SNIN would become a department 
of the Ministry of Trade. 
61. The general objective of SNIN was to establish a trade information database system for 
Paraguay in the context of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures – so 
as to comply with the transparency requirement s of the TBT Agreement and other international 
agreement obligations such as th e agreements under MERCOSUR.  
62. Specific activities of the Enquiry Point included : (i) to inform both rural and industrial 
producers, exporters and importers about regulations and requirement s applied in export markets; 
(ii) to implement an information system based on notifications from WTO Members; and (iii) to provide assistance to the private sector in order to fa cilitate integration into international trade.  Such 
assistance included the establishment of a database on national regulations ge nerated by regulatory 
bodies in Paraguay and notifications submitted by WT O Members.  The strategy of SNIN was to 
monitor and provide training in these areas.  Monthl y meetings held with the regulatory bodies had 
served to inform them of the importance of the Enquiry Point and to encourage inter-departmental 
cooperation to achieve good regulatory practices a nd transparency in the notification process.  
63. The representative explained that the regulat ory and notification procedures in Paraguay 
started with the regulatory bodies elaborating a dr aft technical regulation.  This draft would be 
forwarded to the coordinating unit in the Ministry  of Industry and Trade where it was analysed and 
disseminated.  The Enquiry Point was working to wards setting up a National TBT Committee to work 
on drafts and reach agreement on texts.  Duri ng the period 2006-2007, Paraguay had submitted 14 
TBT notifications to the WTO.  
64. The process in Paraguay for reviewing notificati ons by other WTO Members started with the 
coordination unit of SNIN receiving from the WTO no tification of draft technical regulations.  The 
SNIN analyzed the text and disseminated the informa tion to the regulatory entities; the private sector 
was also kept informed.   
65. Paraguay was in the process of establishing a public  website to create a link with its national 
notification system and the international sector.  The website would contain national standards, 
standards of other countries as well as conf ormity assessment procedures, a sub-page on 
MERCOSUR, an export alert function as well as gene ral information on the system.  Another web-
portal was under development.  This  website would give more detailed information to targeted users.  
Through this website, it would be possible to define  users and institutions and their roles; define 
categories and sub categories for products; ma nage documents and handle comments made and 
received. 
                                                     
 
32 Presentation by Mr. Bruno Lemont, Director General International Trade, Ministry of Industry and 
Trade G/TBT/M/43 
Page 52  
 
  66. In response to questions raised with respec t to the export alert system of the Andean 
Community, the representative of Colombia clarifie d that information was updated by each member 
country and background docum ents referenced in the notificati ons were also posted.  Additional 
information on the work of the Colombian standard izing body and its link with the domestic industry 
was also provided.  In particular, it was clarified that industry participated directly, through the work 
of technical commissions, in the elaboration of voluntary standards. 
 
3. South Africa: South Africa's experience in assisting other members set up their Enquiry 
Points
33 
67. The representative of South Africa  explained that the South African Bureau of Standards 
(SABS) was the national Enquiry Point and th e body responsible in South Africa for TBT 
notifications.  SABS provided various types of techni cal assistance to African countries, particularly 
in the SADC region.  For instance, in the tex tiles field, SADC countries were granted sponsored 
access to South Africa's commercial textile testi ng laboratories and obtained responses to technical 
questions regarding testing of the textiles.  Traini ng was also provided in textile, leather and footwear 
standards.  On metrology, training had been provi ded through workshops held in various African 
countries on non-automatic weighing instruments, mechanical counter scales and more recently on the Trade Metrology Act and regulations. 
68. The South African Enquiry Point also provided free of charge specific training to enquiry 
points in various countries in Africa.  Training cour ses offered by SABS were adapted to the level of 
experience of the requesting countries.  In the case of very inexperienced countries, training would 
start from the point of how to write a national sta ndard, participating in in ternational standardizing 
bodies' meetings, standards editing, effectiv e committee meetings and setting up standards 
information centres.  Training would then be provided on how to set up a WTO enquiry point and countries' responsibilities under the WTO TBT Agreement (Figure 9, below).   
69. The training courses had proved invaluable in the setting up of standards organisations in the 
SADC region and also included dem onstrations on the electronic tools available and a step-by-step 
completion of the notification form.  It was found th at in completing the notification form the enquiry 
points often experienced difficulties in identifying the responsible regulatory body, listing the relevant 
articles and distinguishing between technical regula tions and conformity assessment procedures.  The 
training also covered dissemination of notifications  from other WTO Members to national interested 
parties, handling of comments, compiling and analysing statistics and reporting to trade ministries.   
                                                     
 
33 Presentation by Mrs. René Heydenrich, head of TBT Enquiry Point, SABS, South Africa.  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 53 
 
 
  Figure 9 
 
 
70. The representative of South Africa informed th e Committee that challenges identified in the 
last ten years for developing countries in the SADC  region were mainly linked to: lack of background 
knowledge about the role of the notification au thority and the enquiry point under the TBT 
Agreement; lack of awareness in the regulatory departments of the responsibilities of WTO Members 
in general; lack of support from the relevant mini stries; non-transparent development of technical 
regulations; and lack of distinction between voluntary standards and compulsory technical 
regulations.  Workshop participants were often at a level higher than  the persons responsible for the 
day-to-day activities of the enquiry points and in many cases there was no knowledge transfer to the 
responsible officers.  Establishing electronic notifi cation systems was identified as an urgent area to 
be addressed by developing countries.  However, South Africa did not have the resources to provide 
the technical input on developing the necessary data bases to organise and manage the information.  
Training by peer countries, knowledge transfer, government awareness and appreciation of the 
importance of enquiry point work were considered  crucial to the challenges faced by developing 
countries.  In addition, it was suggested th at the WTO could conduct awareness sessions with 
regulatory bodies. 
4. Tunisia: Establishing a TBT National Enquiry Point in Tunisia34 
71. The representative of Tunisia  explained that the National In stitute for Standardisation and 
Intellectual Property in Tunisia (INNORPI) was set up in 1982 under the Ministry for Industry, 
Energy and Small and Medium Enterprises.  Its ma in activities were related to standardisation, 
certification, promotion of quality, training and intellectual property.  Additionally, in 1996, 
INNORPI was designated the national TBT Enquiry Point for Tunisia. 
72. INNORPI was a member of the ISO, IEC, CODEX, Arab Standardisation organisation 
(AIDMO), African Regional Organization for Sta ndardization (ARSO) and European Committee for 
Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC).  Since the start of INNORPI's certification and management activities in 1985, the organization ha d issued 293 certificates of conformity with 
Tunisian standards.  INNORPI was also workin g with the European Union on a programme to 
modernise industry in Tunisia.  The Tunisian Enqui ry Point had entered into more than 20 cooperative 
                                                     
 
34 Presentation by Mr. Amara Zayani, Head of TBT Enquiry Point, INNORPI, Tunisia. G/TBT/M/43 
Page 54  
 
  agreements with its neighbours and French-speaki ng Southern Sahara count ries on TBT matters and 
assistance in establishing and operating enquiry points.  
73. Since the establishment of th e TBT Enquiry Point at INNORPI, several workshops and 
information sessions had been organized in Tunisi a to increase awareness of the TBT Agreement and 
the work of enquiry points.  In 2005, a project for the development of the Tunisian Enquiry Point 
financed by the International Bank for Reconstr uction and Development (I BRD) had been launched, 
which involved a loan of US$1 million.  Performance indicators were established in the context of the 
project: (i) reducing delays in WTO notifications  from five-six months in 2004 to two months; 
(ii) reducing time for access to texts of notified measures having an impact on Tunisian exports to two 
months (from an average of five to twelve months in 2004); (iii) digitalizing Tunisian standards and 
put them on-line; and (iv) disseminating informa tion about regulations a nd standards which could 
have an impact on exporters. 
74. The Tunisian Enquiry Point provided suppor t services to exporters, including: (i) an 
"Information and Documentation Centre", operationa l since 2006; (ii) service for the supervision of 
standards and technical regulations with some 35 sub scribers; (iii) the development of an export alert 
system;  and (iv) consultancy to small and medi um enterprises (SMEs) on standardization issues. 
75. Visits to foreign enquiry points and standardi zation institutes such as the enquiry points of 
South Africa, Canada and France and had been used  to carry out studies and adopt best practices.  
Tunisia had decided to adopt the French model of the AFNOR for standardization activities and the Canadian model for dissemination of information.  
76. The export alert system was being developed with the aid of the World Bank.  It would alert 
Tunisian exporters when new draft measures were introduced, provide access to full versions of draft 
regulatory measures and afford opportunity to form ulate comments on other Members' measures.  The 
export alert and supervision services were expected  to assist Tunisian SMEs with the practical 
implementation of standards and technical regulations so as to prevent negative trade impacts as a result of technical regulations. 
5. USA: National Enquiry Points - Preparing for the 21
st century35 
77. The representative of the United States  stressed that the staff of the US Enquiry Point were, 
essentially, information professionals who used technology and electronic tools to create or manage information resources and services.  Customers need s were increasingly sophisticated, comprehensive 
and complex in their quest to obtain a competitive edge.  As most of the relevant information was freely and publicly available, the Enquiry Point was being approached to answer only the complex 
issues that interested parties could not research e asily for themselves.  The US Enquiry Point was 
increasingly being held accountable to its senior ma nagement for proving, assessing and analyzing the 
value of the information that it provided as th ere was a strong emphasis on assessing customer needs 
and requirements and continually improvi ng the customer satisfaction rate.  
                                                     
 
35 Presentation made by Ms. Anne Meininger, U.S. Enquiry Point, National Institute for Standards and 
Technology.  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 55 
 
 
  Figure 10 
 
 
78. The trend was moving towards more electronic delivery of information at a faster rate with 
the ability to independently obtain customised inform ation, without charge.  To meet this need, the 
US Enquiry Point was in the process of conver ting its paper records, CD Rom and microfilm 
resources into electronic delivery, increasing its in ternet services and making available an online 
interactive standards specialist. 
79. It had become apparent that there was an incr eased need for the enquiry points to actively 
promote their products and services, to maintain a high visibility and expand their customer base.  The 
core competencies for information professionals to  achieve the required "market presence" had been 
identified as having expert knowledge of the subject  content, thinking critically, analyzing and 
evaluating information and information resources, thinking creatively in order to anticipate what 
information the consumer would need next and the ability then to produce a ne w product to meet that 
anticipated need.  
80. Remaining abreast of emerging technology,  building relationships and exchanging 
information were also key elements for enquiry po ints to achieve their objectives. The US Enquiry 
Point extended an invitation to WTO Members to register and use its "Notify US" service, which was 
a fully developed alert service.36 
6. Brazil: Exchanging Information on WT O countries' regulations: A technical 
cooperation experience among Portug uese and Spanish language countries37 
81. The representative of Brazil  presented the experience of the Brazilian Enquiry Point, 
INMETRO.  The objectives of the INMETRO were: to  provide confidence to society concerning 
measurements and products  and to promote harmonization in co nsumer relations as well as innovation 
and competitiveness through the use of its metrology  and conformity assessment procedures.  Brazil's 
Enquiry Point was particularly focussed on the n eeds of SME's and cooperated with Portuguese and 
Spanish language countries.  In its effort to provi de and exchange technical assistance, the Enquiry 
                                                      
36http://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/index/index.cfm  
37 Presentation by Mr. Rogeiro de O liveira Correa, INMETRO, Brazil..  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 56  
 
  Point also made use of triangular cooperation, meaning the inclusion of a third party such as UNIDO 
in its efforts to assist countries, for example Mozamb ique, in the establishment of its enquiry point.  
82. The Brazilian Enquiry Point had as a result of visits to US and Canadian counterpart 
institutions, updated its alert bulletins to exporters into an electronic modular Alerta Exportador!  
system oriented to provide services to SME's via the internet. 
83. The representative of Brazil highlighted some of the projects carried out by Brazil.  For 
example, the MERCOSUR Agreement, signed in 2003/4 to promote trade cooperation among the 
signatory countries, included an undertaking to circulate domestic export alerts amongst the 
MERCOSUR members.  Assistance was also being pr ovided to the standardizing body in Cuba on the 
principles of the TBT Agreement and to Mozambique on the Alerta Exportador!  system. 
Figure 11 
 
 
7. New Zealand: How do we measure effect iveness and operational improvement in 
National Enquiry Points?38 
84. The representative of New Zealand  pointed out that Article 10 of the TBT Agreement 
required that Members establish enquiry points but did not specify how they should operate;  nor did 
it set performance levels.  He noted that there we re over 90 enquiry points located within national 
standards bodies, and there were almost 80 enquiry  points located in non-standard bodies such as 
government ministries.  The majority of Members had established only one enquiry point while some 
other Members had up to four enquiry points.  The enquiry point in New Zealand was located within its national standards body, Standards New Zeal and, which was a state-owned enterprise.   
85. The New Zealand representative suggested that it would be of benefit to subject enquiry 
points to performance measurement in order to  assess whether they fulfilled the objectives of 
Article 10.  Areas that could be statistically m onitored could be the number of enquiries, response 
                                                     
 
38 Presentation by Mr. Craig Radford, Standards New Zealand.  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 57 
 
 
  times and complaints received about service.  Memb ers could monitor the performance of their own 
and their counterparts' enquiry points with regard to the extent and frequency of dialogue with other 
enquiry points, requests for advice, offers of  assistance to fellow Members and comparing 
experiences.  
86. It was noted that the Special Meetings on Pr ocedures for Information Exchange were of 
particular assistance to enquiry points if relevant officials were able to attend.  Additionally, the 
triennial reviews of the TBT Agreement and b ackground notes on transparency provided useful 
information to enquiry points.  The Secretariat a nd other parties had performed a number of surveys 
over the years that could form the basis of a stru ctured information resource.  The information was 
not, however, organised in a central database.  
87. It was suggested that enquiry points implemen t a form of voluntary benchmarking adapted to 
different levels of development in countries.  Comp arative analysis of the benchmarking results could 
be used to identify which enquiry points performed  better and why.  It would help capacity building 
through more effective processes, improved use of  resources, improved performance and stakeholder 
service.  
88. It was also suggested that a working group be  established, which could look at identifying 
areas for improvement and collating and storing inform ation about the current situation in a standard 
format – so that it would be easily accessible and u sed to identify best practices in each activity.  
Open communication with a view to assisting one  another would be required from participating 
enquiry points. The exercise could be repeated  every two years to measure improvements.   
8. ITC: Assistance provided to National Enquiry Points 39 
89. The representative of the International Trade Centre (ITC)  explained that his organisation's 
strategic objectives were to strengthen interna tional competitiveness of enterprises, develop the 
capacity of trade service providers such as enquiry  points, support businesses, and support policy 
makers in integrating the business sector into th e global economy.  The IT C had published a book 
titled "Export Quality Management" in response to qu estions frequently asked by SMEs in various 
countries on standards and conformity assessment in trade.  ASEAN countries and Brazil had 
published similar books for their enquiry points to provi de information to their stakeholders.  The ITC 
also issued several bulletins, a relevant one being the information retrieval on standards, technical 
regulations and conformity assessm ent which provided information on how exporters could obtain 
information on current and future technical require ments and export markets. The bulletin could be 
downloaded from the ITC website.40  
90. The ITC had recently prepared a manual of model procedures and guidance notes for the 
implementation of the WTO TBT Agreement (due to the fact that staff turnover at enquiry points 
often left a gap in knowledge and experience).  The manual provided five model procedures which 
could be used to: (i) respond to enquiries; (ii) r espond to notifications made by other WTO Members; 
(iii) submit notifications to the WTO Secretariat; (iv) establish and operate a national consultative 
committee to coordinate and oversee implementati on of the TBT Agreement; and (v) communicate 
and promote the activity of the enquiry point and notification authority.  
                                                      
39 Joint presentation by Mr. Shyam Gujadhur, Senior Trade Adviser, and Mr. Bertrand Monrozier, 
Senior Trade Adviser, ITC. 
40 www.intracen.org  G/TBT/M/43 
Page 58  
 
  Figure 12 
 
 
91. The ITC had also developed training material which could be used to disseminate information 
about standards and conformity assessment and wh ich were focussed on how the WTO Agreements 
could benefit business.  The main purpose of the proj ect was to enhance the awareness and capacity of 
the private sector to cope with internati onal quality standards a nd TBT and SPS issues. 
92. The ITC was of the view that countries should have a national TBT committee, a national 
enquiry point and standards body with whom business- interested parties could interact.  The ITC, in 
collaboration with TBT enquiry points, provided assist ance to enhance the capacity of organisations 
in the private sector to obtain and disseminate in formation about current and future standards, 
technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.   
93. The ITC highlighted its "Coaching Programme  on Information Management for Staff of 
National Enquiry Points".  The coaching programme was intended for the staff of enquiry points in 
charge of delivering information services to their clients, in developing countries and in economies in 
transition.  The emphasis was on "learning by doing"  and customising the coaching approach for the 
relevant enquiry point.  The training courses were at the initial stages and would be conducted in 
response to demand received from enquiry point s.  Examples of coaching sessions included: 
(i) identifying the target users of the enquiry poin t;  (ii) preparing / submitting TBT notifications to 
the WTO; (iii) disseminating TBT notifications issued by other countries; (iv) finding the latest news 
in areas covered by the enquiry point; (v) iden tifying the best international sources on technical 
regulations and standards; (vi) developing a stru ctured list of favourite links (bookmarks); (vii) 
developing simple databases; (viii) creating a web catalogue of publications; (ix) organizing and 
managing a website for visitors; and (x) prepari ng answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). 
94. The ITC had found in its dealings with national enquiry points that the nature of the work 
needed to extend beyond monitoring of technical barr iers to quality aspects, including familiarity with 
major information sources.  A need identified was for the staff in charge of enquiry points to be able 
to develop and shape practical and simple services that would allow them to reach end users.  The ITC was of the view that to improve efficiency and the effectiveness of national enquiry points, staff of the 
national enquiry points in developing countries a nd economies in transition, should have an  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 59 
 
 
  opportunity to work together to identify their main  limitations, objectives and priorities and to then 
modify their services to become more effective and to reach end users.  
95. It was noted that the ITC webpage on trad e information had a manual available for 
performance measurement of information centres wh ich could be used to identify and develop 
performance criteria benchmarks and measure pr ogress of institutions such as enquiry points.41 
96. In summing up the session, the Moderator  stressed that "peer-to-peer" cooperation was seen 
as a useful way for Members to gain experience  of other Members' implementation of the TBT 
Agreement in general, and of the work of enquir y points in particular.  The point was made that 
technical cooperation should be targeted to the peopl e involved in the day-to-day operation of enquiry 
points.  It was noted that the cooperation and c oordination between the national standardizing bodies, 
where enquiry points were often located, and the regulatory bodies was essential and it was suggested 
that awareness sessions could be conducted for regulators to sensitize them about the notification 
procedures and the importance of the work of the enquiry points. 
97. Technical cooperation needed primarily to assist Members to comply with the obligations to 
the TBT Agreement, but it went further:  Members needed also to cope with growing demands to 
obtain information from various econom ic operators.  This had an im pact on the functioning and the 
role of the enquiry points which was steadily evolvi ng.  It was clear from the presentations in several 
sessions that the use of electronic tools, especia lly export alert systems, was spreading.   
98. Regarding the performance of enquiry points,  it was suggested that the Committee could 
explore identifying performance indicators for th e functioning of enquiry points as a way of 
improving services provided.   
 
 
_______________ 
  
 
                                                     
 
41 http://www.intracen.org/tis/ G/TBT/M/43 
Page 60  
 
  ANNEX 2 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN ON THE FIFTH SPECIAL MEETING ON PROCEDURES 
FOR INFORMATION EXCHANGE UNDER THE TBT AGREEMENT  
Report by the Chairman
 
Mr. Raiminder S. SIDHU  
 
Regular Meeting of the TBT Committee of 9 November 
 
 1. Pursuant to its 1995 decision to convene, on a bien nial basis, "regular meetings of persons 
responsible for information exchange, including  persons responsible fo r enquiry points and 
notifications", the TBT Committee held its Fifth Special Meeting on Procedures for Information 
Exchange on 7 and 8 November 2007.  Both Members and Observers were invited to participate.   
2. Participation of capital-based officials respons ible for information exchange in developing 
country Members was sponsored by the WTO thr ough the Global Trust Fund; this allowed for the 
participation of 94 capital-based officials from developing country Members.   
3. The Special Meeting provided Members with an opportunity to discuss, at a technical level, 
issues relating to information exchange and to re view the functioning of notification procedures and 
the operation of enquiry points.  Discussions were he ld in four panel sessions dealing with publication 
practices, notification practices, the use of electronic tools to enhance transparency, and technical assistance cooperation and the work of Enquiry Poin ts. The final programme for the Special Meeting 
is contained in document G/TBT/GEN/59/Rev.1. 
4. In the First Session, Members discussed publica tion practices under Article 2.9.1 of the TBT 
Agreement.   While the obligation to publish is clear ly  set out in that Article, Members use different 
approaches to fulfil this obligation.  The variati ons notwithstanding, a common element would appear 
to be increasing use of the internet as one means to fulfil the Article 2. 9.1 obligation.  For example, in 
Chile's case, information on regulatory work is provided through a new web-based portal on technical 
regulations and conformity assessment procedures.  Similarly, in the United States, notices are available in the U.S. Federal Register – which is  also available on the web.  The Secretariat has 
collected information on official publications related to technical regulations, standards and 
conformity assessment in the form of a list, including website references, in document G/TBT/GEN/39/Rev.1. 
5. In the Second Session Members discussed issu es and challenges relating to notification 
practices.  In particular, the importance of comp leting the notification format correctly and in a 
sufficiently informative manner was stressed.  It was noted that when the full text of a draft measure 
was not available in one of the three WTO langua ges, it was essential that the description of the 
measure in the notification format be comprehensiv e and give a clear understanding of the nature of 
the measure.  A clear and complete notification m eant fewer requests for information to the Enquiry 
Points.   Participants repeatedly emphasized the importance of access to full texts of notified 
documents:  work on any notified measure – for instance in terms of providing comments – could 
only start when the full text was obtained.  Hence a hyperlink in the notification format that linked 
directly to the draft text could greatly facilitate Members' work, and reduced the number of enquiries 
to the Enquiry Point.     
6. In the Third Session, the growing importance of  electronic tools to assist Members in their 
transparency obligations was highlighted.  Delegati ons heard about websites u sed in China, Chinese 
Taipei, the European Communities and Brazil which s howed how the internet could be an efficient  G/TBT/M/43 
 Page 61 
 
 
  means of both providing information on regulatory activities as well as a platform for receipt and 
dissemination of comments – whether from other Memb ers or national stakeholders.  There is an 
increasing use of Export Alert mechanisms to inform  exporters about proposed regulations that might 
affect their export and trade.  These sites are often a useful means of filtering and sorting information 
contained in the notifications so as to better target such information for the pr ivate sector.   The issue 
of translation of regulatory texts remains a con cern for many Members, particularly developing 
country Members.  It was pointed out that the Intern et could be used to provide information about the 
existence of unofficial translations of regulatory texts.   
7. Also during the Third Session, the Secretariat in formed Members of a new facility in the SPS 
area for the on-line management of information rela ting to notifications, specific trade concerns and 
other SPS documents (the SPS Information Management  System "IMS").  It was noted that efforts 
were underway in the Secretariat to adapt the facility so that it might be used also for TBT documents.  
Members were also informed about  a mechanism that the Secretaria t has developed that could allow 
for the on-line storage of attachments to notifications.   
8. In the Fourth Session participants heard pr esentations about existing technical cooperation 
programmes, including between Members, aimed at  enhancing the functions performed by Enquiry 
Points.  The importance of technical cooperation be tween Members – particularly within the same 
region – was stressed.  This type of "peer-to-peer" training was seen as a useful way for Members to gain experience of other Members' implementation of the TBT Agreement.  Difficulties faced by developing Members in the implementation of Agre ement were discussed. Emphasis was put the need 
to improve and increase know-how.  In this regard, the ITC drew Members attention to a "Coaching 
Programme on Information Management for the Sta ff of National Enquiry Points on TBT".  While it 
was pointed out that an efficient Enquiry Point might  be able to function even with minimal resources, 
access and knowledge of electronic tools – in particular  access to the Internet – remained a constraint 
in many developing countries.    
9. Let me conclude by noting that the discussions  over the last two days showed the significant 
advances Members have made in implementing the transparency provisions of the TBT Agreement.  
That said, there is room for making their functioning more efficient.  It was even suggested that the 
Committee could seek to identify best practices for E nquiry Points so as to help them perform more 
effectively.  I can only encourage a continued exchan ge of information between Enquiry Points.  Also 
at the national level, the usefulness of coope ration among relevant national bodies was emphasized, 
for instance between standards bodies and regulators.  In fact, the workshop showed that transparency 
is very much a fundamental pillar to good regulatory practice – a theme that the Committee will revert 
to in March next year. 
 
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