WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/64 
29 November 2007 
 (07-5250) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
IEC REPORT TO THE WTO TBT COMMITTEE
1  
 
 
 The following information was provided by th e International Electrotechnical Commission  
(IEC) at the TBT Committee meeting of 9 November 2007. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
I. HIGHLIGHTS FOR IEC IN 2007 
• Number of countries participating in the IEC Family rises to 144. 
 
• WTO member, Cuba, previously an IEC Aff iliate, joined the IEC as an Associate 
Member in May 2007 bringing membership to 68 countries. 
 
• Increased cooperation with WTO continues with  workshops in the Gulf and Africa to put 
countries in these region in touch with th e IEC and its International Standards. 
 
• Membership fees reduced to encourage de veloping countries to join the IEC. 
 
• IEC Affiliate Country Programme continu es to grow as more developing countries 
participate in international standardizati on: Afghanistan, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, 
Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago, bringing to  total of participating countries from all 
regions of the world to 76. 
 
• Adoption of IEC International Standards: in creasing trend is confir med with 2 400 IEC 
International Standards now adopted as na tional standards. A brochure on using and 
referencing IEC and ISO Standards in technical regulations is published. 
 
• Growing use of IEC International Standards, bot h in terms of adoption of standards and in 
sales of International Standards. 
 
• IEC Affiliate Leader Carlos Rodriguez of Costa Rica leads Programme and commits to 
increase the participation of developing countries. 
 
• More countries make use of IEC Conformity Assessment Systems, which are based on 
principle of peer assessment. Belarus, Bu lgaria, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and UAE 
join the IECEE Scheme on electrical equipment safety. China, India, Korea and South Africa join IECEx. 
 
                                                     
 
1 The full IEC Report can be downloaded from the IEC website at 
http://www.iec.ch/affiliates/pdf/IEC_report_TBT_Committee_nov07.pdf G/TBT/GEN/64 
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  • Following model of Asia-Pacific and North America, new Regional Centre for Latin 
America opens in São Paulo to raise awareness and increase participation from all countries in that region.  
 
• Assistance to IEC members: Dialogue and country visits aimed at increasing participation 
in standardization activities.  
 
• Regional cooperation expanded with cooperati on agreement with Pacific Area Standards 
Congress (PASC), and continued support to SADC, UPDEA, UEMOA, and COPANT. 
 
• In light of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports issued, IEC 
redoubles efforts in the field of electrical en ergy efficiency and renewable energies, and 
launches new technical committee on marine  energy. In addition, IEC launches 
www.wattwatt.com, a social network website on electrical energy efficiency. In 
cooperation with the International Energy Agency, IEC launches global competition for 
high-schools to increase awareness of  energy efficiency issues. 
 
II. COOPERATION WITH WTO 
A. IEC
 COLLABORATION WITH THE WTO  TBT  SECRETARIAT HAS BEEN CONSOLIDATED THIS 
YEAR THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN TWO REGIONAL WORKSHOPS : 
- Bahrain, Manama, 24-26 April 
- Botswana, Gabarone, 19-21 June  
 1. At the most recent WTO workshop in Botswana, participants from 16 African countries 
questioned the IEC about methods to reduce or pr event the importation of cheap and unsafe products 
which were seen by some as contributing to the econo mic plight of Africa. The workshop provided an 
opportunity for the IEC to reach out to a wider a nd very relevant audience than the immediate IEC 
family. The IEC noted that delegates showed a real in terest in finding ways to overcome forgeries and 
ensure the credibility of test ce rtificates. The IEC pointed out to them that the IEC conformity 
assessment systems use online verification,  rendering paper forgeries valueless. 
2. IEC will pursue its collaboration with the WTO by participating in future regional and 
national workshops. 
III. IEC FAMILY GROWS WITH NEW MEMBER AND NEW AFFILIATES 
3. The IEC Family of Members and Affilia tes has now grown to 144 countries.  
4. Cuba moved from Affiliate status to IEC Memb er in May 2007, bringing the membership 
total to 68 countries. 
5. Six countries joined the IEC Affiliate Count ry Programme – Afghanistan, Gabon, Guinea 
Bissau, Guinea, Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago. This brings to 76 the number of participating 
countries.  A further 18 have been invited to join the programme.  
IV. LOWER FEES TO ENCOURAGE MEMBERSHIP FROM DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES 
6. With its strategic action document, Masterplan  2006, the IEC is aiming at expanding the IEC 
Family and enhance the participa tion of developing countries in its work. To reach this goal, the  G/TBT/GEN/64 
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  Commission has already approved a programme to ra tionalize the membership fees charged to smaller 
economies and assist IEC members (national comm ittees) in sustaining their financial stability .  
7. In 2007, Associate Members paid a reduced flat  rate and other deve loping countries members 
have already paid reduced variable rates according to their gross national product (GNP), per capita 
GNP and per capita electricity consum ption. This trend will continue. 
V. SUPPORTING THE IEC FAMILY 
8. The IEC continued to organize events on the b ack of regional initiatives. These country visits 
helped existing national bodies to involve new stak eholders in order to begin creating national 
electrotechnical committees (a pre-requisite for IEC membership and an objective encouraged in the 
Affiliate Country Programme). 
A. AFRICA  
9. Working with all the relevant regional bodies in  Africa, the IEC aimed to reach out to the 
widest possible audiences. In April, the IEC spoke  at the 10th meeting of SADCSTAN, the Southern 
African Development Community Cooperation in Sta ndardization. And in May, the IEC attended the 
UPDEA electrotechnical standardization colloquium and shared its experience at the workshop held 
in Cape Town, South Africa. UPDEA (the Union of pr oducers and distributors of electricity in Africa) 
is supporting the establishment of AFSEC (African Electrotechnical Standardization Commission).  
10. In addition, the IEC organized awareness seminars in Botswa na, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. 
11. At a two-day meeting in Tunisia which brought together experts concerned with building the 
"quality infrastructure" in Africa, the IEC was i nvited by the United Nations Industrial Development 
Organization (UNIDO) and the African Union (AU) to explain how its international standards and 
conformity assessment systems can play a leading ro le. IEC Technical Coordinator, Gabriel Barta, 
emphasized the importance of involving stakehol ders, explaining how National Electrotechnical 
Committees as defined by the IEC were a good way of gathering stakeholder information. 
B. AMERICAS  
12. With the opening of its new Latin America re gional centre in São Paulo, Brazil, on 2 May 
2007, the IEC embarked on a series of initiatives in the region to engage countries further in its 
standards setting processes and in the use of IEC conformity assessment. 
13. The new regional office gives Latin America a more direct voice in IEC affairs, makes the 
logistics of IEC work there more efficient in terms of language and time zones and gives the IEC 
closer contact with electrotechnical expertise in the region.  
14. The opening was marked by a two-day seminar that gave participants a close look at the 
breadth of technologies handled by the IEC and at its conformity assessment work. The second day focused on particular aspects of technology, incl uding information and communication technologies, 
multimedia, ultra-high voltage, electrical energy efficiency and renewable energies. 
15. Throughout 2007, the IEC organized several c ountry dialogues in Argentina, Brazil, 
Colombia, and Uruguay aimed at encouraging greater  participation from thes e IEC Family members, 
while stakeholders from Chile were briefe d on the benefits of IEC membership.  
16. A special joint meeting in Cartagena, Colombia , of two key regional bodies for the Americas 
(COPANT) and the Pacific Rim (PASC) provided an opportunity for IEC President, Renzo Tani, to G/TBT/GEN/64 
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  update the respective members on IEC activities, in particular the implementation of the IEC 
Masterplan 2006. At the COPANT Annual Assembly  he reiterated the coope ration agreement signed 
between COPANT and the IEC.   
17. The IEC Regional Centre for North America provides additional support for technical 
committees. Located in Worcester, Massachusetts, IEC-ReCNA meets the needs of 22 IEC technical 
committees and provides staff support to those techni cal committees and subco mmittees in the same 
way the IEC Central Office does in Geneva, Sw itzerland. Now IEC’s second largest management 
centre for technical work, it allows closer contact  to be made, particularly with committees with 
strong participation from North America. 
C. A
SIA-PACIFIC  
18. Following the IEC Asia-Pacific Centenary work shop held in Singapore from 21-22 November 
2006, IEC Immediate Past President Sei-ichi Taka yanagi visited the Thai National Committee in 
Bangkok and the Vietnam National Committee in Hanoi in November 2006. The aim of these visits 
was to share with members the mission and vision  of the new IEC Masterplan and to explore 
opportunities for further promotion of IEC activities,  by, for example, setting up possible future 
seminars on IEC Conformity Assessment  schemes for these national committees. 
19. In December, the Malaysia National Committee and Standards Malaysia organized a national 
IEC seminar in Kuala Lumpur to promote awareness of the IEC and electrotechnical standardization 
in general. Members were able to see various pr esentations that provided overviews of regulatory 
requirements in electrotechnical sector in Mala ysia, product certification, IECEE CB Scheme and 
testing for electrical and electronic products. Finall y, the IEC Asia-Pacific Regional Centre officer in 
charge gave a presentation on the IEC's role in fac ilitating international trade using IEC standards and 
Conformity Assessment.  
20. He also provided training sessions in Cambodi a, Lao PDR and Brunei Darussalam to enhance 
their participation in IEC activities. 
21. The IEC and the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) signed a cooperation agreement 
aimed at further improving the coordination activitie s of the two organizations. The primary objective 
is to promote the development, use and adoption of  IEC International Standards (IS) in response to 
market demands at regional level, and thus to f acilitate world trade. The agreement aims at increasing 
the participation from the region in the IEC’ s work and to accelerate the electrotechnical 
standardization process in response to increasing ma rket demands in the region. Furthermore, the 
agreement offers a channel for non-IEC members of  PASC to be kept up to speed on IEC-related 
activities and developments. 
D. EUROPE  
22. IEC organized a training session for experts in Bulgaria to familiarize themselves with the 
latest IT tools. 
E. MIDDLE EAST AND GULF COUNTRIES  
23. The IEC president and vice-president attended an  IEC event in Israel in June 2007 involving 
about 200 experts from the electrical and electronic i ndustries as well as other interested people from 
academia and government. 
24. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the venue for an IEC workshop on the safety of household 
appliances and electrical installations that was open to participants fro m Gulf Cooperation Council  G/TBT/GEN/64 
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  (GCC) member states. The Saudi National Elect rotechnical Committee and the Gulf Cooperation 
Council Standardization Organization organized the event, with both the Saudi Arabian Standards 
Organization and the IEC participating, w ith representatives from Technical Committee, Safety of 
household and similar electrical appliances  and IECEE, the IEC system of conformity assessment 
schemes for electrotechnical equipment and compone nts (or CB Scheme). It was held for a broad 
range of participants from industry and governme nt. This included companies that manufacture, 
export, and sell electrical appliances in the GCC States, petroleum and petrochemical companies, 
household electrical and equipment manufacturers,  water and electrical utilities, electrical and 
engineering consultants, ministries of industry a nd commerce, customs author ities, national standards 
systems and universities and technical colleges.  
25. At the request of several countries in the Gulf , the IEC held country dialogues in Bahrain, 
Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The vis its helped to reassure the respective standards 
bodies of the simple steps necessary to estab lish national electrotechnical committees.  
26. As a result of these efforts, IEC member Saudi  Arabia joined the IECEE system, while the 
UAE moved closer to IEC membership by also joining the CB Scheme.   
VI. IEC AFFILIATE COUNTRY PROGRAMME UPDATE 
A. A UNIQUE APPROACH  
27. The IEC Affiliate Country Programme is a unique approach to encourage greater participation 
in IEC standardization activities and conformity assessment by developing countries which are not members of the Commission and/or who are un likely to see a need to become a member. 
28. Using the electronic environment developed for the IEC membership and experts, it was 
launched in 2001 as a direct response to calls fro m the WTO TBT Committee to encourage greater 
participation by all WTO members in internationa l standardization and global conformity assessment 
activities of the IEC. 
29. The Programme, which is free, offers access to the IEC technical work, the IEC Standards to 
start a basic national library, and a facilitated adoptio n procedure to select relevant IEC Standards and 
produce national standards or regulations. 
B. M
ORE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES , MORE PARTICIPATION , MORE ADOPTION  
30. The results of the programme are proof that th e IEC’s unique approach is making a difference 
by encouraging greater participation in the sta ndardization process and increased use of the IEC’s 
international standards. The Programme now count s 76 countries, 230 experts signed up to the IEC 
standards development work, and more than 2 4 00 IEC Standards adopted nationally (see Annex C) 
by 27 of the participating countries (up from 18 sinc e 2006). 53 Affiliates have now started their basic 
library of IEC Standards in electronic format. 
31. Experts have access to documents online from t echnical committees of their choice, up to a 
maximum of 10 (15 Affiliates have now complete d this maximum quota). The Programme facilitates 
adoption of 200 IEC Standards free of charge in el ectronic format, in addition to access rights for the 
IEC Standards in Database Format. Affiliates have the right to start a basic library of IEC Standards in 
electronic format (up to 200 free, with s ubstantial discounts for additional standards). G/TBT/GEN/64 
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  C. A
FFILIATE LEADER PROMOTES BENEFITS OF NATIONAL COMMITTEES  
32. Carlos Rodriguez, Director of INTECO, Institu to de Normas Técnicas de Costa Rica, has now 
been the Leader of the IEC Affiliate Country Prog ramme for over one year. As the representative of 
the 76 countries participating in the IEC’s progra mme for developing nations, he represented all 
Affiliates at IEC 71st General Meeting in Paris in October and led the Affiliate delegation with 
participants from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe a nd Latin America. Mr. Rodriguez submitted reports 
on the IEC Affiliate Country Programme to the IE C Management Bodies responsible for standards 
development and conformity assessme nt and gave an update of the Affiliates’ participation. He 
particularly insisted on the need for Affiliates to  establish true national electrotechnical committees 
and renewed his commitment to assist them in this task. 
D. MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT TO AFFILIATES  
33. IEC is now encouraging its members to offer t echnical tutoring to help experts from Affiliate 
countries gain more confidence in submitting comment s on IEC working documents. It is hoped that 
the tutoring or mentoring of affiliat es will become more established in 2008. 
E. PARTICIPATION IN TECHNICAL MEETINGS  
34. 25 Affiliate delegates represented 12 countries at the IEC 71st General Meeting in Paris, 
France, and took part in meetings with the oppo rtunity to observe the work of IEC technical 
committees: Angola, Benin, Bhutan, Côte d’Iv oire, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ghana, 
Lebanon, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uruguay. 
35. Some 40 participants from developing countri es attended a workshop on Rural Electrification 
held within the framework of the IEC’s General Mee ting held in Paris, France in October.  The IEC 
Technical Committee 82 presented IEC series 62257 on small renewable energy and hybrid systems 
for rural electrification. Presentations included appl ications in Europe and Latin America and case 
studies from Africa and the Asia-Paci fic. The workshop was co-chaired by the Affiliate Leader and 
the UTE, the French National Committee of the IEC. 
VII. GUIDANCE ON USING IEC STANDARDS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT 
SCHEMES 
A. NEW GUIDE ON USING IEC  STANDARDS FOR TECHNICAL REGULATIONS  
36. The IEC, with its sister organization ISO, published an information brochure entitled "Using 
and referencing ISO and IEC standards for techni cal regulations".  This brochure is aimed at 
government authorities and includes practical advice for regulators on how to use International Standards to achieve their policy objectives. 
37. As the brochure highlights in its introduction:  "Standards from…IEC have the advantage of a 
broad geographical reach...This geographical reach is  combined with a multi-stakeholder environment 
which ensures the representation of a wealth of tec hnical views including those relating to social and 
economic interests. Different perspectives come from the national level and through a network of 
liaisons and cooperation with in ternational governmental and non-governmental organizations. 
Therefore, the value of International Standa rds…is that they are recognized, accepted and 
implemented around the globe. Regulators can save time and money by choosing…IEC standards as 
solutions to policy and technical issues — solutio ns which have been agreed upon by a consensus 
reached with the involvement of all parties, including the regulators themselves."  G/TBT/GEN/64 
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  B. IEC  CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES  
38. "Guidelines to Conformity Assessment for deve loping countries participating in the IEC 
Affiliate Country Programme" is available for Aff iliate Country Programme participants and can be 
downloaded from the IEC website at http://www.iec.ch/affiliates (password required). 
39. As a result of the joint participation of th e French National Committee (UTE) and Affiliate 
Secretariat, a French version of the IEC’s C onformity Assessment Guide for Affiliates is now 
available. 
VIII.  UPDATE ON IEC CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT SCHEMES 
40. All three IEC conformity assessment schemes, which are based on the principle of peer 
assessment and which are open to bo th members and non-members of the IEC, saw increases in their 
use and membership in 2007.  
A. IECEE  CB SCHEME  
41. The IECEE CB Scheme, which deals with the cer tification of 19 categories of electrical 
equipment representing more than 1000 standards,  now has 50 participating countries. Bulgaria, 
Croatia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay recently, joined. IECEE provides over 
250,000 valid certificates in its online database, ove r 50,000 certificate have been issued since 2006. 
Some 7000 manufacturers in industrialized and deve loping countries now benefit from the IECEE CB 
Scheme. 
B. IECE X 
42. The IECEx Scheme, which addresses the use of electrical and electronic equipment in 
explosive or potentially explosive environmen ts, now counts 26 countries including new members 
China, India, Korea and South Africa. Over the last four years, the IECEx Scheme has issued almost  
4000 certificates of conformity, test reports and quality assessment reports. IECEx now operates two 
separate certification programmes for Ex equipment and service facilities and offers full public access 
to certificates of conformity online.  A IECEx certification mark was officially approved in October 
2007, and will be operational in 2008. 
C. IECQ 
43. Serving the largely non-regulated area, the IECQ  dealing with electronic components is set to 
expand through its programme on ha zardous substances to address e nvironmental regulations being 
introduced around the world. With Australia and Si ngapore joining recently, Asia-Pacific has become 
one of the major areas of expansion. The scheme' s recent IT initiatives include an on-line certificate 
system and an electronic library of IECQ technical specifications. 
IX. NEW INITIATIVES ON RENEWABLE EN ERGIES AND ELECTRICAL ENERGY 
EFFICIENCY 
44. While most of the IEC’s work in the past 100 years has been devoted to improving electrical 
energy efficiency, the publication of the Intergove rnmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports 
highlighted the critical role to be played by technical standards in mitigating the effects of climate 
change.  
45. Working closely with its ISO sister organizati on, the IEC has concluded a portfolio analysis 
of standards to help governments and interested pa rties to easily identify which standards can support G/TBT/GEN/64 
Page 8  
 
  energy efficiency drives. In addition, the study w ill help to identify where improved electrical energy 
efficiency standards can be developed and in what priority.  
46. On the renewable energy front, in addition to its work in hydro, solar and wind energy 
standards, the IEC formed a new technical committee to deal with marine energy (including wave and 
tidal converters). In the area of electrical energy  transmission, the IEC and CIGRE organized an 
international conference in China to address the n eed for technical standards for ultra-high voltage 
transmission. A joint IEC-CIGRE working group h as been established as a result to coordinate the 
development of UHV standards. 
47. To reach out to a wider audience to highlight the importance of electri cal energy efficiency, 
the IEC has launched a new “Web 2.0” website. watt watt .com (a play on the words 'what' and 'watt') 
is becoming a reference centre for the individual who is  interested in and sensitive to electrical energy 
efficiency and the environment and who wants to share ideas and experiences, and benefit from what 
others have to tell.  
48. The site brings together people of all ages a nd nationalities interested in making a difference. 
It provides the means for more direct public involve ment in helping identify priorities for consumers, 
industry and governments, and in finding the soluti ons – technical or behavioural – for increasing 
electrical energy efficiency. The site also lists respective electrical energy efficiency initiatives in 
countries around the world (see www.watt watt .com/wikiwatts). 
49. As one of its first major initiatives, watt watt .com is calling on the world’s school children for 
help. care4it is the challenge organized by watt watt .com and the IEC, with the support of the 
International Energy Agency (IEA), a leading or ganization that advises its member governments on 
energy policy. care4it  calls on schools around the world to submit their ideas for improving electrical 
energy efficiency. The winners will be announced in June 2008. Please see 
www.wattwatt.com/care4it for further information. 
X. IEC AND ACADEMIA 
50. Following on from the IEC Centenary Challenge  (www.iecchallenge.org), which resulted in 
entries from Professors and Heads of Faculty from universities and business schools worldwide 
addressing the social and economic importance of international standardization and conformity 
assessment, the IEC has established a dedicated zone on its website for use by academia 
(www.iec.ch/academia).   
51. The site aims to help both teachers and students understand the critical role of standardization 
in today’s global economy, and to provide them wi th some resources to use in their own work and 
studies. The site includes relevant academic papers, a series of lectures, audio and video presentations, 
explaining standardization and IEC operations, and sample working documents and an example of an 
IEC Standard.  
XI. COOPERATION WITH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS 
A. C
OOPERATION WITH ITU  AND ISO 
52. The ISO and IEC Information Centre (www.sta ndardsinfo.net) has been improved to now 
feature a section dealing with the social and econo mic benefits of standardization. This significant 
resource (www.standardsinfo.net/isoiec/benefits/ben efits.html) features national and international 
studies, academic papers and recommended sites.   G/TBT/GEN/64 
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  53. New joint IEC/ISO/ITU patent rights policy and procedures have been adopted and 
implemented by the three pillar organizations in in ternational standardizati on and further management 
training courses are planned under the auspices of the World Standards Cooperation (WSC). 
54. The IEC is cooperating very closely with its si ster organization, the ISO. A joint Marketing 
and Communications Forum was held in December  2006, a joint session is planned for the 20th 
World Energy Congress in November 2007 and jo int brochures were published on copyright and 
using IEC and ISO standards as national regulations. 
55. The operational relationship between IEC and ITU has been enhanced to facilitate exchange 
of working documents and IEC Standards, and all relevant IEC Standards for the ITU Community are 
linked on the dedicated web page www.iec.ch/itu.  IEC and ITU are presently planning to strengthen 
their cooperation in providing assistance to developi ng countries and are looking for ways in which to 
achieve this goal.  
B. COOPERATION ON JCDCMAS  AND WITH UNIDO 
56. IEC is participating in the Joint Committee on Co-ordination of Assistance to Developing 
Countries in Metrology, Accreditation and Standard ization (JCDCMAS) together with BIPM, IAF, 
ILAC, ISO, ITC, ITU-T, OIML and UNIDO.  
57. In May, the IEC and the International Labor atory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) provided 
training to UNIDO experts, which offered an opport unity for the IEC’s peer assessment approach to 
conformity assessment to be presented alongside the accreditation model from ILAC. This enabled 
UNIDO experts to fully understand the conformity assessment offers, and highlighted the cooperation 
between IEC and ILAC, which is backed up by a formal agreement on joint laboratory assessments, 
common assessment documents and common understanding of the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025.  
 
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