WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/2/Add.91 
29 September 2006 
 
 (06-4666) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   Spanish 
  
 
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT 
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
 
Communication by Paraguay
 
 
Addendum  
   The following communication under Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade has been received from the Government of the Republic of Paraguay. 
 
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 1. By Law No. 260 of 29 November 1993, the Republic of Paraguay adopted the Protocol of 
Accession to the GATT signed in Geneva on 1 July 1993.  By Law No. 444 of 10 November 1994 it 
ratified the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of the GATT, which includes the creation of the World 
Trade Organization and establishes the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. 
2. Law No. 1028 of 31 January 1997, amende d by Law No. 2279 of 7 November 2003, 
establishes the Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación - SNCTI (National System of 
Science, Technology and Innovation) and the Sistema Nacional de Calidad - SNC (National Quality 
System);  the purpose of the latter is to promot e the quality of Paraguayan production and its scope 
covers accreditation, metrology, standardization a nd conformity assessment services.  This Law also 
provided for an office for the notification and disse mination of information on technical regulations 
and standards, within the SNC, the purpose of whic h is to render the technical regulations system 
transparent and to bring the national system into line with Paraguay's commitments under the 
TBT Agreement.  It should be noted that coordi nation, guidance and general assessment of the SNCTI 
and the SNC come under the authority of the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología - 
CONACYT (National Council for Science and Tec hnology), an autonomous public institution of 
mixed composition. 
3. Decree No. 6499 of 18 October 2005 is specifica lly concerned with organizing the process of 
disseminating information on and notification of t echnical regulations, standards and conformity 
assessment procedures under Paraguayan legislation,  the TBT Agreement and other international 
agreements to which the Republic  of Paraguay is a signatory. 
4. For this purpose, it created a Sistema Nacional de Información y Notificación – SNIN 
(National Information and Notification System), in  which all public entities with legal capacity to 
draw up technical regulations and standards, and conformity assessment and accreditation procedures 
take part, and which is coordina ted by a Coordination Unit under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. 
5. The Decree also provides for the involvement  of private institutions representative of 
Paraguayan production in the dissemination to the priv ate sector of regulations that might constitute 
technical barriers to trade, and in particular to exports. G/TBT/2/Add.91 
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  6. For its part, the Ministry for Foreign Affair s has the task, within the SNIN, of issuing 
notifications, in particular to the WTO, throu gh its Directorate of Multilateral Economic Agencies 
belonging to the Under-Secretariat for Economic Rela tions and Integration, and of receiving requests 
for consultations or formal objections to Pa raguayan regulations, standards or procedures. 
7. The SNIN is currently being organized with technical assistance under a cooperation project 
between the Republic of Paraguay and the European  Commission.  It should be noted that the 
Coordination Unit under the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Under-Secretariat for Trade is now operational. 
8. While Articles 2 to 5 of Decree No. 6499 establis h a mechanism to allow compliance with the 
notification procedures for technical regulati ons and conformity assessment procedures, and 
amendments thereto, set out in Articles 2.9, 2.10, 3.2, 3.3, 5.6, 5.7, 7.2 and 7.3 of the TBT Agreement, 
it is expected that the SNIN will comply with all the information and notification obligations 
progressively over the coming months. 
9. Under the above-mentioned legislation and th e implementing rules that will shortly be 
enacted and notified to the WTO, the Republic of Paraguay will comply with its commitments 
concerning the preparation, adoption and implementati on of technical rules, standards and conformity 
assessment procedures, and also with the principl es to be followed with regard to good regulatory 
practice, such as use of international standards as a basis, avoidance of the creation of unnecessary 
barriers to trade, granting of national treatment and most-favoured-nation treatment, the obligation to 
hold consultations on draft technical  regulations and the setting of a reasonable time-limit to enable 
economic agents to adjust to the new provisions, with the exceptions for reasons of urgency provided 
for in the TBT Agreement. 
10. In addition, it should be mentioned that the Republic of Paraguay establishes voluntary 
technical standards through the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología, Normalización y Metrología  
(National Institute of Technology, Standardiza tion and Metrology) (www.intn.gov.py), the SNC's 
standardization and metrology body.  There is also an Organismo Nacional de Acreditación  - ONA 
National Accreditation Body under CONACYT (www.c onacyt.org.py).  The structure of the SNIN 
provided for in Decree No. 6499 ensures that Para guay will be able to coordinate and bring 
consistency to the efforts of the various nationa l bodies dealing with these matters with a view, inter 
alia, to complying with its obligations under the TBT Agreement, coordinating the country's position 
in this area in trade negotiations with other count ries and tackling the issue of standardization as an 
instrument to support the country's process of technological modernization. 
11. Notices concerning the preparation of technical regulations and related conformity assessment 
procedures have been published in the usual way by the institutions with the authority to draw them 
up (ministries and other government bodies involved in  the specific area to be regulated), for example 
on their web sites or through publications and public information.  It is envisaged that, when finally implemented the SNIN should contain specific rule s regarding the publication and dissemination of 
the draft regulations prior to their approval an d final adoption.  Once adopted, the technical 
regulations and conformity assessment proce dures are published in the Official Gazette. 
12. With regard to the obligations set forth in Ar ticle 10.1, 10.3 and 10.10 of the TBT Agreement, 
the Republic of Paraguay draws attention to the following services:  G/TBT/2/Add.91 
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   (a) For consultations on technical regula tions, standards and conformity assessment 
procedures, please refer to the Coordination Unit of the SNIN of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIC), at the following address: 
 
Ing. Aída Romero 
 
Unidad de Coordinación, Subsecr etaría de Estado de Comercio 
 
Ministerio de Industria y Comercio Avda. Mariscal F. López 3333 
Asunción, Paraguay 
Tel.:  +595 (21) 616 3180 Fax: +595 (21) 616 3084 E-mail:  snin@mic.gov.py aromero@mic.gov.py 
 
 (b) For WTO notifications, information and formal consultations by WTO Members 
relating to TBT, the focal point is: 
 
Centro de Referencias OMC Coordinador: Sr. Gustavo Javier Irala Mendoza 
Dirección de Organismos Económicos Multila terales-Subsecretaría de Relaciones 
Económicas e Integración. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Presidente Franco y Ayolas, Edificio  Ayfra 6º piso, Oficina Nº 602  
Asunción 
Paraguay 
Tel.: +595 (21) 493646, extension 221 E-mail: snin@mre.gov.py girala@mre.gov.py 
 13. Paraguay has a unitary constitutional structure and the bulk of its legislation is centralized.  
The decentralized government structure is based on departments with constitutional authority, which 
have powers to enact certain regulations.  The Stat e has undertaken to notify WTO of such regulations 
where appropriate. 
 
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