WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
26 November 2010 
 (10-6383) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 
 
Negotiating Text on Non-Tariff Barriers Pertaining to the
 
Electrical Safety and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) of Electronic Goods  
 
Communication from the United States 
 
Revision  
 
  The following communication, dated 25 November 2010, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of the United States.  
_______________ 
 
 
Understanding on Non-Tariff Barriers Pertaining to the 
Electrical Safety and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) of Electronic Goods 
 Members,  
 
Recalling that pursuant to paragraph 16 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration, Members agreed 
to negotiations aimed at reducing or as appropria te eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers on 
non-agricultural goods; 
 
Recognizing the important contribution of electroni c goods to global economic growth and 
development;   
Desiring to ensure that technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment 
procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to international trade  in electronic goods;  
 
Affirming their existing rights and obligations under the WTO Agreement, including the 
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement); 
 Recognizing  that no Member should be prevented fro m taking measures that are necessary for 
the protection of human, animal or plant life or hea lth, of the environment, at the levels it considers 
appropriate, subject to the requirement that they are not applied in a manner which would constitute a 
means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimina tion between countries where the same conditions 
prevail or a disguised restriction on international trade; 
 Recognizing  that no country should be prevente d from taking measures necessary for the 
protection of its essential security interests;   
 TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
Page 2  
 
  Recognizing  that a Member's selection of an appropriate conformity assessment procedure 
may involve the consideration of a number of factors, such as the risks associated with 
non-conformity or the product for wh ich conformity is sought;     
 
Seeking  to build and elaborate upon the TBT Agreement with respect to standards, technical 
regulations, and conformity assessment pr ocedures affecting electronic goods; and 
 
With a view to expanding the products liste d in Members' schedules to Annex I, II, III, and IV 
to this Agreement in the future.  
Agree as follows : 
 
I. DEFINITIONS 
 The terms used in this Understanding shall have  the same meaning as in the TBT Agreement.  
In addition, for purposes of this Understanding: 
 
 Committee Decision means Decision of the Committee on Principles for the Development of 
International Standards, Guides and Recommendations with relation to Articles 2, 5 and Annex 3 of 
the Agreement  issued by the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade in  Decisions and 
Recommendations adopted by th e Committee since 1 January 1995 , G/TBT/1/Rev. 9, 
8 September 2009; 
 
 Electronic good  means any information technology, telecommunications, audio-visual, or 
other electronic or electrical product, whether for bus iness or personal use, listed in Annex I of this 
Agreement; [Note: Annex I would cover a range of pr oducts falling under Chapter 84, 85, or 90 of 
the World Customs Organization's Harmonized Co mmodity Description and Coding System and 
apply to all Members] ; 
  Interested party  means an interested party in the territory of any Member; 
  Supplier  means any person that supplies an electronic good and may include a manufacturer, 
distributor, or importer; 
 
 Supplier's declaration of conformity (SDoC) means  a declaration by a supplier based on an 
evaluation of the results of conformity assessment  procedures that a product meets a specified 
standard or technical regulation or other specification;   
 TBT Committee  means the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade; and 
  Third-party certification  means a declaration by a body, which the Member accepting the 
declaration has determined is independent of suppl iers and users, that a product meets a specified 
standard or technical regulation or other specifi cation based on an evaluation of the results of 
conformity assessment procedures. 
 
II. SCOPE AND COVERAGE 
A. This Understanding applies to standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment 
procedures of central government bodies pertaining to electrical safety or EMC of electronic goods but does not apply to purchasing specifications as descri bed in Article 1.4 of the TBT Agreement or to 
amendments or additions of an insignificant nature  as described in Article 1.6 of the TBT Agreement. 
  TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
 Page 3 
 
 
  III. STANDARDS, TECHNICAL REGULATIONS, AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT 
PROCEDURES 
International Standards 
 
A. For purposes of applying Articles 2 and 5 and Annex 3 of the TBT Agreement and 
paragraph III of this Understanding, with respect to  electrical safety or EMC of an electronic good, an 
international standard, guide, or recommendation sh all be understood to mean a standard, guide, or 
recommendation developed in accordance with the Committee Decision .    
 
Good Regulatory Practices  
 
B. Recognizing that following good regulatory pr actices can contribute to avoiding unnecessary 
obstacles to trade within the meaning of  Articles 2 and 5 of the TBT Agreement,  where a Member 
proposes to prepare or adopt a technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure, it shall:  
(1) consider, inter alia , costs of complying with the proposed technical regulation or  conformity 
assessment procedure; and 
 (2) assess the available regulatory and non-regul atory alternatives to the proposed technical 
regulation or conformity assessment procedure that may fulfil the Member's legitimate objective, such as providing market incentives or  other voluntary mechanisms, or considering 
a product to meet the Member's requirements if  it conforms with a relevant alternative 
international standard. 
 
Transparency   
 C. In addition to carrying out the obligations  Members have assumed under Articles 2.9 and 5.6 
of the TBT Agreement, where a Member proposes to prepare or adopt a technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure that may affect trade of other Members, it shall:   (1) observe the obligations set out in Articles 2.9.1 through 2.9.4 and 5.6.1 through 5.6.4  of the 
TBT Agreement with respect to technical re gulations and conformity assessment procedures 
the technical content of which is in accordan ce with the technical content of relevant 
international standards, guides, or recommendations; 
 (2) publish, in print or electronically, the propo sed technical regulation or conformity assessment 
procedure at an early appropriate stage wh en amendments can still be introduced and 
comments taken into account, in such a manner as  to enable interested  parties to become 
acquainted with it
1; 
 (3) without discrimination, allow interested parties to comment in writing on the proposed 
technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure and take these comments into account;  
 
(4) in any notification it makes pursuant to Article 2.9.2 or 5.6.2 of the TBT Agreement: 
 
                                                     
 
1 When a Member publishes a proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure in 
accordance with this subparagraph, it sha ll be deemed to have satisfied the pertinent obligation in Article 2.9.1 
or 5.6.1 of the TBT Agreement to publish a notice of the proposed technical regulation or conformity 
assessment procedure. TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
Page 4  
 
   (i) include a copy of the proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment 
procedure or a website address where the measure may be accessed on the Internet, 
and 
 
 (ii) identify, whenever practicable, any pa rts of the proposed technical regulation or 
conformity assessment procedure that deviate in substance from relevant international 
standards, guides, or recommendations; 
 
(5) normally allow not less than 60 days for other Members and interested parties to comment in 
writing on the proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure and give 
favourable consideration to reasonable requests to extend the comment period; 
 (6) upon request from another Member or interested party, provide particulars with respect to the 
proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure including concerning: 
 
 (i)  how it took or plans to take into account the elements set out in paragraph B; and 
  (ii) where applicable, the Member's reasons for determining that relevant international 
standards, guides or recommendations do not ex ist or are not imminent or that using 
relevant international standards, reco mmendations, or guides as a basis for its 
measure would be an ineffective or ina ppropriate means to fulfil the Member's 
legitimate objective. 
 (7) publish, in print or electronically, an y written comments it received from Members or 
interested parties on the proposed technical re gulation or conformity assessment procedure or 
a summary thereof.
2 
 
D. Where urgent problems of safety, health, envi ronmental protection, or national security arise 
or threaten to arise for a Member, that Member may omit such steps enumerated in paragraph C as it 
finds necessary, provided that upon adoption of th e technical regulation or conformity assessment 
procedure the Member takes the actions described in  Articles 2.10.1 through 2. 10.3 or 5.7.1 through 
5.7.4 of the TBT Agreement and, without discrimina tion, allows interested parties to comment in 
writing on the technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure and takes these comments into 
account.  E. A Member shall observe, mutatis mutandis , the obligations set out in Article 2.9.1 through 
2.9.4 and 5.6.1 through 5.6.4 of the TBT Agreem ent and subparagraphs C(1)  through C(7) and 
paragraph G of this Understanding where it: 
 (1) requests or directs a body to prepare a standa rd with a view to mandating that an electronic 
good comply with that standard, or establishing a presumption that an electronic good complies with a technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure if it conforms to that standard; and 
 
(2) establishes a presumption that a product that conf orms to a standard developed by a body at 
the request or direction of the Member compli es with a technical regulation or conformity 
assessment procedure. 
                                                     
 
2 A summary shall provide a description of the significant issues the comments raise in sufficient detail 
to inform interested parties and other Members of their content and shall include, inter alia, a summary of 
commenters' positions on, and suggestions to revise, the proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure and, to the extent practicable and subject to applicable privacy laws, a summary of information that 
commenters submitted to support their positions.   TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
 Page 5 
 
 
  F. Each Member shall ensure that where a central government body 
 (1) is entrusted with regulatory or policy au thority pertaining to electronic goods or is 
accountable to, or owned in whole or part by, a body that a Member has entrusted with regulatory or policy authority pertaining to electronic goods; and 
 
(2) prepares a standard,  it observes, mutatis mutandis , the obligations set out in Articles 2.9.1 through 2.9.4 and 5.6.1 through 
5.6.4 of the TBT Agreement and subparagraphs C(1) through C( 7) and paragraph G of this 
Understanding. 
 G. Further to Articles 2.11 and 5.8 of the TBT Ag reement, with respect to a technical regulation 
or conformity assessment procedure th at it has adopted, each Member shall: 
 
(1) publish the measure, and where applicable i ndicate any penalties the Member may impose for 
failing to comply with it, in a single official journal of national circulation, and shall encourage its distribution thr ough additional channels; and 
 (2) publish, in print or electronically:  
 (i) its responses to any significant issues, including that Members or interested parties 
raised in comments they submitted during the comment period
3; and 
 
 (ii) the objective and rationale for prepar ing or adopting the technical regulation or 
conformity assessment procedure. 
 
Conformity Assessment 
 
H. Further to Article 6.4 of the TBT Agreem ent, each Member shall accord to conformity 
assessment bodies in the territory of any other Member treatment no less favourable than that it 
accords to conformity assessment bodies in its own te rritory with respect to the procedures, criteria, 
and other conditions with which conformity assessme nt bodies must comply in order for the Member 
to accredit or otherwise approve them as competent to test or certify that a product conforms with the Member's standard or technical regulation.   
 
I. Further to Article 5 of the TBT Agreement:  
(1) If a Member requires test results (alone or in conjunction with other assurances of 
conformity) or other assurances of conformity that are based on test results as an assurance that an electronic good conforms with a st andard or technical regulation, it shall: 
  (a) not require the electronic good to be tested by a body within its territory; and 
 
 (b) permit bodies in other Members' territories to apply to the Member for a 
determination that they comply with any pr ocedures, criteria, and other conditions the 
Member requires to deem them competent or otherwise approve them to test the electronic good. 
 
                                                     
 
3 For greater certainty, significant issues include, fo r example, issues concerning the cost of complying 
with, or regulatory and non-regulatory alternatives  to, the proposed technical regulation or conformity 
assessment procedure.  TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
Page 6  
 
  (2) If a Member requires a positive assurance othe r than test results that an electronic good 
conforms with a standard or technical regulation, it shall: 
  (a) accept one of the following forms of assurance,  
  (i) a supplier's declaration of conformity (SDoC); or 
 
  (ii) a third-party certification;    (b) notify other Members through the Secretar iat whether it accepts SDoC or third-party 
certification as a positive assurance that the electronic good conforms with the 
standard or technical regulation
4; 
 
 (c) accept as positive assurance that the elect ronic good conforms to the standard or 
technical regulation the form of conformity assessment it notified in accordance with 
subparagraph (b).   
 If a Member requires a positive assurance that  an electronic good conforms with a 
standard or technical regulation and fail s to notify the form of positive assurance it 
accepts in accordance with subparagraph (b),  it shall accept as such assurance, SDoC. 
 
(3) If a Member requires third-party certification as positive assurance that an electronic good 
conforms with a standard, technical regulation, or conformity assessment procedure, it shall: 
  (a) not require the body certifying the electroni c good to be located within its territory; 
 
 (b) permit bodies in other Members' territories to apply to the Member for a 
determination that they comply with any pr ocedures, criteria, and other conditions the 
Member requires to deem them competent or  otherwise approve them to certify the 
electronic good; and 
  (c) permit the body certifying the electroni c good to base its certification on testing 
performed by a body that the certification body deems competent or otherwise 
approves, including for example a body that an accreditation body participating in an 
international accreditation system has determined conforms with relevant international standards.   
J. Further to Article 9 of the TBT Agreement:  
  Where a Member proposes to prepare or adopt criteria or other conditions to deem competent or otherwise approve a body to test or certify that  an electronic product conforms with a standard or 
technical regulation, or reviews such criteria or  conditions in accordance with paragraph K(2),  the 
Member shall consider preparing or adopting criteria or other conditions that provide for a testing or 
certification body to be deemed competent or othe rwise approved for that purpose if an accreditation 
body participating in an international accreditati on system has determined that the testing or 
certification body:  
                                                     
 
4 For greater certainty, a notification shall be in Eng lish, French or Spanish and shall be in addition to 
the notification required pursuant to  Article 5.6.2.  If a Member changes the form of positive assurance it 
accepts, it shall notify other Memb ers through the Secretariat.  TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
 Page 7 
 
 
  (1) conforms with relevant inte rnational standards pertaining to testing or certification, and 
 (2) is competent to test or certify the electronic good to the standard or technical regulation.  
Procedures for Review  
 
K.  
 (1) Each Member shall establish or maintain judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative tribunals 
and procedures for the purpose of the prompt review, and where warranted, correction of its 
final administrative actions relating to tec hnical regulations and conformity assessment 
procedures.  Each Member shall ensure that su ch tribunals are impar tial and independent of 
the office or authority entrusted with administ rative enforcement and not have any substantial 
interest in the outcome of the matter, and that proceedings before such tribunals are transparent and provide due process of law. 
 
(2) Each Member shall also establish or maintain procedures for it to review, at 
regularly-scheduled intervals, its technical re gulations and conformity assessment procedures 
to determine whether such measures should be mo dified or eliminated so as to make the 
Member's regulatory program more effective in achieving the Member's legitimate 
objective(s) pursued.  In reviewing its tec hnical regulations and conformity assessment 
procedures to determine whether they should be modified or eliminated, a Member should consider, among other factors, whether the t echnical regulations and conformity assessment 
procedures have become unnecessary or outdated by  reason of changed circumstances, such 
as fundamental changes in technology. 
 
IV. INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE 
A. Nothing in this Understanding shall be cons trued to require a Member to furnish or allow 
access to confidential information the disclosure of which would impede law enforcement or 
otherwise be contrary to the public interest or which would prejudice the legitimate commercial 
interests of particular enterprises, public or private. 
 
B. The Secretariat shall, when it receives a notif ication pursuant to paragraph I(2)(b), circulate 
copies of the notification as provide in Article 10.6 of the TBT Agreement and draw the attention of 
developing country Members to any notif ications relating to products of particular interest to them.   
The Secretariat shall on an annual basis circulate to Members a compilation of the notifications 
Members have made pursuant to paragraph I(2)(6).  
 
 [We may want to include other provisions under this heading along the lines of those in TBT 
Articles 10 and 11 ] 
 
V. MONITORING AND OVERSIGHT 
 A Working Party on Electronic Goods (Working  Party) is hereby established under the TBT 
Committee to oversee the operation and implementati on of this Understanding and to provide a forum 
for discussions on any matter related to this Unders tanding.  The TBT Committee shall provide for the 
Working Party to: 
 
(1) be composed of representatives of each Member; 
 (2) elect its own Chairman and apply the TBT Committee working procedures; 
 TN/MA/W/105/Rev.3 
Page 8  
 
  (3) meet no later than 12 months after the date of this Understanding enters into force, and 
thereafter at least once every 12 months unless the Working Party agrees otherwise to review 
the implementation and operation of this Understanding; and 
 (4) report to the TBT Committee and coordinate  with the Committee of Participants on the 
Expansion of Trade in Information Tec hnology Products established pursuant to the 
Communication to the Chairman of the Counc il on Trade in Goods: Implementation of the 
Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Informa tion Technology Products G/L/160 (March 26, 
1997) (ITA Committee) with a view to complemen ting and not duplicating the work of those 
committees, and to this end, communicate to the TBT and ITA Committees the results of its 
review conducted pursuant to subparagraph (3). 
 
VI. DISPUTE SETTLEMENT 
 Article 14 of the TBT Agreement shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Understanding. 
 [Note:  Need to further consider relations hip with Dispute Settlement Understanding]  
 VII. FINAL PROVISIONS 
 
[Note: Need to consider final provisions to be included in this Understanding, such as entry into 
force, withdrawal, amendment, modifications  of schedules,  WTO Secretariat to service 
Understanding, deposit etc. - items included, fo r example, in the vari ous UR WTO agreements]  
 
Annex I - Electronic Goods 
 
 [ Add positive list of electronic goods subject to the Agreement.  This list would apply to all 
Members.]  
 
__________