. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/ECU/40 
22 January 2009 
 (09-0259) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   ECUADOR
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible:  
Dirección de Políticas de Comercio  (Directorate of Trade Policy) 
Subsecretaría de Comercio e Inversiones  (Under-Secretariat for Trade and Investment) 
Ministerio de Industrias y Competitividad  (Ministry of Industry and Competitiveness) 
Avda. Eloy Alfaro y Amazonas Quito, Ecuador Tel.: (+593 2) 255-1512 or 256-6041, ext. 162 
Fax: (+593 2) 250-4922 
E-mail: abarbosa@mic.gov.ec;  mepoveda@mic.gov.ec Web site: www.mic.gov.ec
 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.  
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   HS tariff subheadings 
3810.90.10.00;  3810.90.20.00;  8311.10.00.00;  8311.20.00.00;  8311.30.00.00;  8311.90.00.00 
5. Title, number of pages and lang uage(s) of the notified document:   Proyecto de 
Reglamento Técnico RTE INEN 040 "Soldad ura de estructuras de acero, sean de 
fabricación nacional o importados, que se co mercialicen en la República del Ecuador" 
(Draft Technical Regulation of the Ecuadoria n Standardization Institute RTE INEN 040:  
"Welding of steel structures, domestically produced or imported and marketed in the Republic of Ecuador") (13 pages, in Spanish). 
6. Description of content:   The notified draft Technical Regulation establishes the following 
in respect of structural steel welding:  Sc ope;  Definitions;  General conditions;  Specific 
requirements;  Conformity assessment tests;  Sampling;  Standards, regulations and codes 
serving as references or consulted;  Demonstration of compliance;  Conformity assessment and certification bodies;  Inspection and/or supervisory authority;  Type of inspection 
and/or monitoring;  Penalty regime;  Liability of conformity assessment bodies;  and 
Review and updating. G/TBT/N/ECU/40 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
The notified draft Ecuadorian Technical Regula tion establishes the requirements to be met 
by the workers, materials, procedures and pr ocesses involved in structural steel welding, 
with a view to reducing risks to human and animal life and safety, the environment and 
property and preventing practices likely to mislead users. 
8. Relevant documents:  
1. Publication where notice appears:  http://www.mic.gov.ec , http://www.inen.gov.ec ; 
2. Proposal and basic document:  Technical Regulation of the Ecuadorian 
Standardization Institute RTE INEN 040 "Welding of steel structures"; 
3. Publication in which the draft Technical Regulation will be published when 
adopted:  Registro Oficial  (Official Journal). 
9. Proposed date of adoption: 
Proposed date of entry into force:  90 days after circulation by the WTO Secretariat 
Six months after adoption 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days after circulation by the WTO Secretariat 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web site addresses, if available of the other body: 
Contact and/or National Enquiry Point: 
Dirección de Políticas de Comercio 
Subsecretaría de Comercio e Inversiones Ministerio de Industrias y Competitividad Avda. Eloy Alfaro y Amazonas 
Quito, Ecuador 
Tel.: (+593 2) 255-1512 or 256-6041, ext. 162 Fax: (+593 2) 250-4922 E-mail: abarbosa@mic.gov.ec;  mepoveda@mic.gov.ec Web site: www.mic.gov.ec
 
Regulatory Agency: 
Instituto Ecuatoriano de  Normalización, INEN 
Baquerizo E8-29 y Almagro Quito, Ecuador Telefax: (+593 2) 256-7815 
Tel.: (+593 2) 250-1885 
Fax: (+593 2) 256-7815