WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/83 
1 May 2009 
 (09-2123) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
ISO ACTIONS IN SUPPORT OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 
 
  The following information was provided by ISO
 at the TBT Committee meeting of  
18-19 March 2009. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The globalization of the world economy, and hen ce international trade, is underpinned by the 
adoption and application of standards in all spheres of economic activity. The importance of 
international standards is further stressed in th e WTO rules, especially the Agreement on Technical 
Barriers to Trade (TBT), which encourages WTO memb ers to use, as far as possible, such standards 
as a basis for mandatory technical regulations. Developing countries are a vulnerable group with regard to the adoption and use of  international standards because many of them do not have the proper 
standardization infrastructure or resources to adequa tely play a part in the preparation of such 
international standards. Article 11 of the TBT Ag reement does provide for WTO members to provide, 
upon request, technical assistance to other members, especially developing country members.
1  
2. Some 75% of ISO’s 159 members are from de veloping countries. ISO has implemented 
activities for supporting its developing country members since the 1960s. In view of the fact that these 
ISO members continually need support to strengthen their standardization infrastructures, a set of 
actions has been defined in order to build capacity  and to increase their involvement in international 
standardization. These actions, as described belo w, go a long way towards fulfilling the needs 
identified in the WTO survey referred to in the footnote.  
II. ISO ACTION PLAN FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 2005-2010 
3. Aligned with the ISO Strategic Plan 2005-2010 , the ISO Action Plan for developing countries 
sets the direction for the support to be provided to members in developing countries. 
4. The Action Plan  represents the implementation of those elements of the ISO Strategic Plan 
2005-2010  relating to developing countries and is built around the following five key objectives:  
• Improve awareness of key stakeholders in devel oping countries of the role of standardization 
in economic growth, world trade and sustainable development; 
                                                      
1 Following a survey of the needs of developing country WTO members carried out in 2003 at the 
request of the TBT Committee, 22% of responses id entified a need for assist ance “for the effective 
implementation of the TBT Agreement in  the area of the preparation, adoption and application of standards”. 
Around 29% wished a better “participation in the work of relevant bodies (e.g. international standardizing 
activities)” and 35% saw a need for “infrastructure and capacity building in relation to standardizing bodies”. G/TBT/GEN/83 
Page 2  
 
  • Build capacity of ISO members and stakeholders involved in developing the standardization 
infrastructure and participating in international standardization work; 
• Increase national and regional cooperation to  share experience, resources, training and 
information and communications technologies; 
• Develop electronic communication and expertise in  IT tools to participate in international 
standardization work, reach out to stakeholders and make efficient use of ISO e-services; 
• Increase participation in governance and technical  work of ISO to voice priorities, contribute 
and influence the technical content of ISO deliverables . 
 
5. The implementation of the Action Plan  is monitored by the ISO Committee on developing 
country matters (DEVCO).  
6. Endorsed by the ISO Council in September 2004, the ISO Action plan  is in its fourth year of 
implementation. Significant progress has been made in meeting the five objectives defined in the 
Action Plan . Since 2008, there has been a considerable  expansion in the volume of technical 
assistance and training provided to members thanks  to a considerable increase in donor funding. 
7. The annual technical assistance plan is established based on requests received from 
developing countries around September each year. In  2008, some 3600 ISO member representatives 
participated in technical assistance and traini ng activities and well over 400 of them benefited from 
financial support under the ISO Action Plan . 
8. The overview in the Annex lists assistance projects and training activities implemented 
between January and December 2008.  
9. A brief description of the activities carried out under the 5 objectives of the Action Plan  is 
provided in the following sections: 
A. I
MPROVE AWARENESS OF THE ROLE OF STANDARDS  
10. Considerable effort has been made to dissemi nate and improve awareness of new standards, 
particularly in the fields of food safety, envir onmental management and climate change as well as on 
building technical infrastructure.  
1. Food safety management systems 
11. ISO 22000 - Food safety management systems -- Requirements for any organization in the 
food chain continued to be one of the key areas of focu s in light of requests made by members and 
thus a number of seminars and workshops were organized worldwide.   
12. Many of the above events made use of the publication entitled ISO 22000, Food safety 
management systems - An easy-to-use check list for small business - Are you ready?  which was 
published in collaboration with the Intern ational Trade Centre (ITC) in 2007.  
2. Environment 
13. In response to issues related to climate change , ISO has responded with the development of 
standards such as ISO 14064 and ISO 14065 for Greenhouse Gas Quantification, Reporting and Verification. The regional seminar held in Februa ry 2008 in Pretoria, South Africa, in which 13  G/TBT/GEN/83 
 Page 3 
 
 
  countries from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) participated, was meant to 
provide a common approach in dealing with such  issues within a regional economic community.  
3. Information security 
14. Several workshops on ISO/IEC 27001 - Information technology — Security techniques — 
Information security management systems — Requirements  were held. The implementation the 
standard will reassure customers and suppliers that in formation security is taken seriously within the 
organizations they work with because they have in place state-of-the-art processes to deal with 
information security threats and issues.  
4. Building technical infrastructure  
15. ISO continues to play an active role w ithin the Joint Committee on Coordination of 
Assistance to Developing Countries in Metrology,  Accreditation and Standardization (JCDCMAS) 
comprising the following organizations: 
• Bureau International des Po ids et Mesures (BIPM)  
• International Accreditation Forum (IAF)  
• International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)  
• International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC)  
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO)  
• International Trade Centre – UNCTAD/WTO (ITC)  
• Telecommunication Standardization Bureau of ITU (ITU-T)  
• International Organization of  Legal Metrology (OIML)  
• United Nations Industrial Deve lopment Organization (UNIDO) 
 16. JCDCMAS members are invited to participat e in the workshops organized by ISO on 
conformity assessment in order to present participants  with an integrated view of all the technical 
tools that are required to ensure adequate and technically competent conformity assessment, in the 
spirit of the TBT Agreement. Thus, several JCDCMAS members participated in the last of a series of 8 regional workshops on Conformity Assessment for Sustainable Development and Trade organized 
in Kiev (Ukraine) in June 2008.  As a follow-up to these regional workshops, more specific training 
materials on the CASCO Toolbox comprising the conformity assessment standards were prepared 
with contents designed for regional as well as nationa l events. Three (one regional and two national) 
awareness workshops in conformity assessment based on these new materials were held in Africa in 
the 4
th quarter of 2008. 
17. A guidance document entitled  Fast Forward - National Standards Bodies in Developing 
Countries , was published in 2008 in collaboration with  UNIDO. This publication is intended as a 
user-friendly introduction and practical tool for people who are tasked with the establishment, 
upgrading and management of a national standards bod y (NSB) in a developing country or a country 
with an economy in transition. It explains the role of standardization in indus trial development, trade 
facilitation and improving access to markets. The document is available for free download from the 
ISO Web site at http://www.iso.org/iso/fast_forward.pdf . 
B. DEVELOP CAPACITY  
18. Participating actively in standardization ac tivities of direct importance to the national 
economy and accessing the relevant information, requir es an effective infrastructure, appropriate tools 
and qualified staff in the national and regiona l bodies in charge of standardization.  G/TBT/GEN/83 
Page 4  
 
  19. During the period under review, training cour ses and e-learning programmes have been 
organized to train experts and ISO member staff in standards development. Also, efforts were 
sustained to support the participation of developi ng countries in the development of ISO’s future 
standard on Social Responsibility – ISO 26000, which is due for publication in 2010.   
1. Enhanced Participation in International Standardization 
20. Several training courses on Enhanced Participation in International Standardization  were 
organized The course is aimed at ISO member staf f and focuses on the international standardization 
process, the roles and responsibilities of the key play ers as well as the tools and web technologies that 
support the process.  
2. E-learning programme 
21. ISO’s e-learning programme comprises the following three modules: 
• Module 1: Assessing of national priorities in standardization 
• Module 2: Participating in international standardization 
• Module 3: Implementing international standards 
 
22. The e-learning modules follow a "learning-by-doing" approach. Advantage is taken of the 
opportunities that information technology, combined with  careful instructional design, offer to create 
a virtual environment where the student is given th e possibility to perform the "same" activities that 
she/he is supposed to undertake in real life. 
3. Marketing and Promotion of International Standards 
23. Several training courses on Mark eting and Promotion of Intern ational Standards were held. 
24. The course is targeted at marketing, informa tion and communication specialists and aims at 
providing knowledge, practical information and tool s to help ISO members promote standardization 
and to give easy access to ISO standards to users and stakeholders in their countries.   
C. I
NCREASE REGIONAL COOPERATION  
25. Greater emphasis has been placed on strengtheni ng regional and subregional cooperation and 
building partnerships to increase efficiency in the delivery of technical assistance and training 
programmes. Experience has shown that regional a nd subregional cooperation is the most effective 
mechanism for sharing experience, organizing traini ng and optimizing the partic ipation of developing 
countries in international standardization. 
26. Joint activities have been held with severa l regional/subregional or ganizations around the 
world and this cooperation will continue.  
D. DEVELOP ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS AND EXPERTISE IN IT TOOLS  
27. Reaching out to stakeholders as well as ac cessing and participati ng in international 
standardization requires the ability to use and implement electronic communication and IT tools 
developed by ISO in support of the in ternational standardization process.   G/TBT/GEN/83 
 Page 5 
 
 
  1. ISO Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Programme 
28. Through the ICT Programme, ISO members in developing countries and economies in 
transition receive hardware and software to stre ngthen their computer infrastructure, as well as 
training in the effective use of the standa rds development tools and web technologies. 
29. The guidance manual "Standards work on the We b: the ISO solutions", which is a key 
element in the ISO ICT Programme for ISO member s in developing countries, was published recently 
and is available for free download from the ISO Web site at http://www.iso.org/iso/standards-work-
on-the-web_iso-pub100205.pdf . The current situation with respect  to ICT capabilities of ISO members 
in developing countries has been assessed on the basis of information available and four ICT packages 
consisting of equipment, software and technical assistance will be deployed to ISO members as from 
2009. 
2. Training in IT for Standards Development  
30. Many ISO members in developing countries take advantage of the training courses offered at 
the ISO Central Secretariat by participating in the regular sessions organized in Geneva free of 
charge.  
31. The following training courses are proposed by  the ISO Central Secretariat, on a regular 
basis: ISOTC Server and e-balloting ; Using the ISO STD Template: practical tips ; ISO Global 
Directory and ISO project management.  The course descriptions can be found in the  Training in 
Standards Development brochure available on ISO Online. However, strict eligibility criteria for 
nominations submitted by ISO members apply. As from 2009, ISO will also offer 3 one-week courses 
meant exclusively for secretaries of ISO technical committees. 
E. INCREASE PARTICIPATION IN ISO  TECHNICAL WORK  
32. The fifth objective of the ISO Action Plan  is to encourage the involvement of developing 
countries in the technical work performed by IS O technical committees, subcommittees and working 
groups. By participating at these three levels, developi ng countries ensure that their interests are taken 
into account and in doing this they contribute to strengthening ISO's global relevance. 
33. Sponsorships continued to be provided to dele gates from developing countries to participate 
in ISO technical committee meetings covering food safety, environment, societal security, energy 
management, etc.  
III. PARTNERSHIPS WITH DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES AND INTERNATIONAL 
ORGANIZATIONS 
34. Partnerships have been establis hed with international organiza tions and development agencies 
at the multilateral and bilateral levels for the im plementation of technical assistance projects under the 
ISO Action plan for developing countries .  
35. Active collaboration takes place with the Inte rnational Trade Centre (ITC), the United 
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNI DO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). 
The cooperation takes various forms such as recipro cal participation in meetings and increasingly the 
joint implementation of technical cooperation projects. 
 
_______________ G/TBT/GEN/83 
Page 6  
 
  ANNEX  
 
OVERVIEW OF ISO TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROJECTS AND  
TRAINING ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2008 
 
I. OBJECTIVE 1:  IMPROVE AWARENESS OF KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN 
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OF THE ROLE OF STANDARDIZATION IN ECONOMIC GROWTH, WORLD TRAD E AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
Title Venue/Host Other Beneficiary Countries 
Awareness Raising National 
Seminar On ISO 22000 - Food Safety Management Systems Aden, Yemen - 
Awareness Raising  National 
Seminar on ISO 22000 Accra, Ghana - 
Awareness-Raising Seminar on 
Greenhouse Gas Quantification, Reporting And Verification 
Based on ISO 14064 – 
Greenhouse Gases Johannesburg 
South Africa Botswana, Democratic Republic of 
Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, 
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and 
Zimbabwe 
Regional Workshop on ISO 27001- Information Technology 
— Security Techniques — 
Information Security Management Systems — 
Requirements New Delhi 
 India Afghanistan (1), Bangladesh (1),  
Bhutan (1), Nepal (1), Pakistan (1),  
Sri Lanka (1) 
Awareness Raising  Regional 
Seminar On ISO 22000 - Food 
Safety Management Systems Amman 
Jordan Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Libyan 
Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Palestine, 
Syrian Arab Rep., Tunisia, Yemen 
Regional Workshop on ISO 
27001- Information Technology — Security Techniques — 
Information Security 
Management Systems — Requirements Riyadh 
Saudi Arabia Morocco and Tunisia 
Awareness Raising National 
Seminar on ISO 22000 Yerevan, Armenia - 
Awareness Raising National 
Seminar on ISO 22000 Tashkent, Uzbekistan - 
Regional Workshop on Food 
Safety Management Systems 
and ISO 22000 Lusaka 
Zambia Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, 
Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, 
Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, 
Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zimbabwe 
Regional Seminar and  Workshop on ISO 27001 Hanoi, Vietnam Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, 
China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, 
Singapore and Thailand  G/TBT/GEN/83 
 Page 7 
 
 
  Title Venue/Host Other Beneficiary Countries 
Atelier Régional sur le Rôle de 
la Normalisation dans le 
Développement Économique et 
le Commerce International Yaoundé, Cameroun Benin (2), Burkina Faso (2), Burundi 
(2), Côte d'Ivoire (2), Gabon (2), 
Guinea (2), Morocco (2), Rwanda 
(1), Senegal (1), Seychelles (2), Tunisia (2) 
Training of Trainers on ISO 22000 - Food Safety Management Systems Manila, Philippines - 
Awareness-Raising National 
Seminar on ISO 22000 Manila, Cebu, Davao 
(Philippines) - 
Awareness Raising  Regional 
Seminar on ISO 22000 Caracas, Venezuela Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, 
Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay. 
Awareness Raising  Regional 
Seminar on ISO 14001 -
Environmental Management Systems Astana 
Kazakhstan Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan 
and Uzbekistan 
Awareness Raising  Regional Seminar on ISO 22000 - Food 
Safety Management Systems Santo Domingo, 
Dominican Rep. Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Costa 
Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican 
Rep. , El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & 
Grenadines, Surinam, and Trinidad & 
Tobago 
Awareness Raising  Regional 
Seminar on ISO 22000 Dar-es-Salaam 
Tanzania Tanzania 
Atelier Régional sur ISO/CEI 
27001 – Systemes de Gestion de la Securite de l’Information 
(SMSI) Tunis 
Tunisia Algeria (2), Burkina Faso (1), 
Cameroon (2), Congo DR (1), Cote d'Ivoire (2), Gabon (1), Guinea (1), 
Lebanon (2), Morocco (2), Mauritius 
(1), Rwanda (1), and Senegal (1) 
National Workshop on ISO 27001 -  Information 
Technology — Security 
Techniques — Information Security Management Systems 
— Requirements Bogota,  
Colombia - 
Séminaire National sur la Norme 
ISO 22000 Et Les Systèmes De Management De La Sécurité 
Des Denrées Alimentaires Yaoundé 
Cameroun - G/TBT/GEN/83 
Page 8  
 
   
II. OBJECTIVE 2: BUILD CAPACITY OF ISO MEMBERS AND STAKEHOLDERS 
INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING THE STANDARDIZATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND PARTICIPATING IN INTERNATIONAL STANDARDIZATION WORK 
Title Venue/Host Other Beneficiary Countries 
National Workshop on Social Responsibility Port Louis 
Mauritius - 
E-Module 1 – Assessing 
National Priorities e-learning Croatia (2) Czech Rep. (1) Egypt 
(2)  
Ghana (2) Iran(1) Rep of Korea (1) 
Madagascar (1) Mozambique (1) Palestine(1) Peru (1) Singapore (1) Tanzania(1) 
Enhanced Participation in 
International Standardization 
with "Training-of-Trainers (ToT)" Component Bangkok 
Thailand Indonesia (2) Malaysia (2) 
Mongolia (2) Philippines (1) 
Vietnam (1) 
ISO  Workshop on Stakeholder Participation in International 
Standardization Riyadh 
Saudi Arabia Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, 
Morocco, Oman,  Qatar, Tunisia,  
UAE and Yemen  
National Workshop on Social 
Responsibility Lima 
Peru  
Marketing and Promotion 
Course Geneva 
Switzerland Cyprus, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Latvia, 
Lithuania (2), Malaysia, Namibia (2), Singapore (2),  South Africa (2) 
National Workshop on Social Responsibility Kiev 
Ukraine  
Regional workshop on Social 
Responsibility Belgrade 
Serbia Armenia  (2) , Bosnia and 
Herzegovina  (1) , Croatia  (1) , Lithuania  (1) , Montenegro  (1) , Romania  (2) , Ukraine  (1) , 
Uzbekistan  (1)  
Course on Marketing and Promotion of International 
Standards Sao Paulo 
Brazil Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, 
Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, 
Venezuela 
E-Module 3 - Adopting and implementing International Standards e-learning Australia, Croatia (2), Ethiopia, Iran 
(2), Lebanon, Thailand (2) 
National Workshop on Social Responsibility Harare, Zimbabwe  
ISO Project Management course Geneva 
Switzerland Australia, Bahrain, China, 
Germany, Kuwait, Netherlands (3), Mexico, Rep. of Korea, Russian 
Fed., Saudi Arabia (2)  G/TBT/GEN/83 
 Page 9 
 
 
  Title Venue/Host Other Beneficiary Countries 
Regional workshop on Social 
Responsibility Castries 
Saint Lucia Barbados (1), Costa 
Rica (1), Dominica (2), Guyana (2), Honduras (1), Jamaica (2) and Trinidad & Tobago (2). 
Regional workshop on Social Responsibility Rio de Janeiro 
Brazil Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, 
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,  
Uruguay and Venezuela 
Enhanced participation in 
International Standardization Teheran 
Iran - 
 
ISO Workshop on increasing the impact of Developing Country participation in International Standardization on Social Responsibility Santiago, Chile Albania, Argentina, Armenia, 
Azerbaijan, Bahrain (2), Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt (2), 
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, 
Kenya (2), Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mongolia, Morocco (2), Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, 
Philippines, Romania, Senegal, 
Serbia (2), South Africa, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam 
E-Module 2- Managing Participation in  International Standards e-learning Croatia (2), Iran(2), Jamaica(2), 
Lebanon, Madagascar, Palestine(2) Peru, Rwanda, Thailand (2), Zambia
National Workshop on Social Responsibility Cairo, 
Egypt Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, 
Lebanon 2, Morocco, Oman 2, 
Palestine 2, Qatar, Syrian Arab 
Rep.and Tunisia 
Regional Workshop on Societal Security Bali, 
Indonesia Armenia, Bagladesh, Brunei 
Darussalam, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Eygpt, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Libya, Palestine, Peru, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan 
Course on Marketing and 
Promotion of International 
Standards Doha 
Qatar Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, 
Lebanon, Libya; Morocco, 
Palestine, Syria,Tunisia, Yemen 
Customised course on ISO Project Management Sydney 
Australia  
 
 G/TBT/GEN/83 
Page 10  
 
  III. OBJECTIVE 3: INCREASE NATIONAL AND REGIONAL COOPERATION TO 
SHARE EXPERIENCE, RESOURCES, TRAINING AND INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES 
Title Venue/Host Other Beneficiary Countries 
DEVCO1/COPOLCO2 
Workshop on Trainers for 
Consumer Participation in International Standardization  ("Train The Trainers") Accra, Ghana Argentina, Armenia, Chile, Costa 
Rica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, 
Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka & Thailand 
DEVCO/CASCO3 
Regional Workshop on 
Conformity Assessment 
for Sustainable Development and Trade Kiev, Ukraine Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, 
Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, 
Lithuania, Montenegro, FYR 
Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Uzbekistan 
National Consumer Participation Training Workshop Nairobi, Kenya ToT follow-up Trainee Trainers 
from Kenya (1) and Ethiopia (1) 
Conformity Assessment 
National Workshop Kampala, Uganda  
Regional Consumer 
Participation Training 
Workshop Buenos Aires, Argentina Boliv ia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, 
Cuba, Dominican Republic, El 
Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela 
National Workshop on Conformity Assessment Infrastructure Supporting Trade Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  
Regional Workshop on 
Conformity Assessment Infrastructure Supporting Trade  Windhoek, Namibia Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, 
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria,  Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe 
National  Workshop On Consumer Involvement In 
Standardization Tripoli, Libya  
Regional Workshop On 
Consumer Involvement In 
Standardization St. Michael, Barbados Antigua & Barbuda (2), Dominica 
(2), Jamaica (2), Saint Lucia (2),  
Saint Vincent &The Gren. (2), Surinam and Trinidad & Tobago (2)
 
__________  
                                                      
1 ISO Committee on developing country matters  
2 ISO Committee on consumer policy 
3 ISO Committee on conformity assessment