WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/WGTTT/W/12 
14 March 2006 
 
 (06-1133) 
Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology Original:   Spanish 
  
 
WORKING GROUP ON TRADE AND TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY 
 
Communication from Cuba
 
  
 The following communication, dated 6 March 2006, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Cuba.  
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General remarks 
1. Access to technology would appear to be subject to  rules that aim – though fail – to contribute 
to increasing flows of technology to developing countries through trade that is free of barriers or arbitrary distortions and unfair practices.  Am ong these rules, the Working Group has identified a 
number of provisions with different objectives, sco pe and modes of implementation, that address 
technology transfer expressly. 
2. Eleven years after the creation of the WTO, it is  time to leave aside rhetoric and return with 
some fresh thinking to a number of facts that have been overlooked: 
• "Best endeavours" commitments on technol ogy transfer and dissemination in the 
WTO Agreements are not real commitments for the developed countries.  Very often, the governments of these countries are prev ented from taking measures to encourage 
their private sectors to transfer clean technologies to the developing countries; 
 
• the rules laid down in the TRIPS Agreement, which purportedly are meant to 
contribute to and promote decisions to tr ansfer technology, have, when applied, 
actually become barriers preventing the developing countries from implementing measures which in the past proved strategic for what are now the industrialized 
countries at the time when they were on the path to development. 
 3. Consequently, there can be no further delay in r esponding to the developing countries' request 
that the new rules should encourage rather than obstr uct the transfer to their territories of, and real 
access to, new knowledge, innovations and technologi es.  The paragraphs below analyse and assess 
application of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) and the 
WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary  and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). 
Technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and the transfer of 
technology:  difficulties faced by the developing countries 
4. Technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phyt osanitary measures have now overtaken tariff 
barriers.  Developed countries as a rule apply them to their imports by means of technical regulations, 
mandatory standards, conformity assessment proce dures, or sanitary and phytosanitary prescriptions, WT/WGTTT/W/12 
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  through which they set technical requirements citing as grounds for the quality assurance of the 
products they are importing, protection of the lif e and health of persons and animals or the 
environment, prevention of misleading practices or protection of essential security and trade interests. 
5. Although technology transfer is of the utmost importance for developing countries, neither the 
TBT Agreement nor the SPS Agreement afford treatme nt that is suited to or commensurate with the 
difficulties faced by these countries, considering the role that technology transfer could play in 
avoiding or containing technical barriers to trade and in helping the developing countries to comply with sanitary and phytosanitary prescripti ons with which they have difficulties. 
6. Article 11 of the TBT Agreement refers to technical assistance to Members, especially the 
developing country Members.  In practice, the provision of such assistance by developed country 
Members is on occasion so cumbersome, complex and slow a process that it, in fact, turns into a 
major trade barrier for products from the developing c ountries or the least developed countries.  In the 
SPS Agreement, Article 9 regulates technical assi stance matters, and here too there are similar 
difficulties in practice. 
7. Article 12 of the TBT Agreement establishes special and differential treatment for developing 
country Members.  However, it has beco me clear that expressions such as " shall give particular 
attention ", "shall take into account " or " shall bear in mind ", which imply some unspecified duty and 
not an obligation, arouse little interest among devel oped Members in seeking concrete solutions to the 
problems of the developing world.  As to the SPS Agreement, special and differential treatment is 
governed by Article 10, which deals with this important principle in much the same way. 
8. Current practice shows that the developed countri es issue technical regulations in which they 
set mandatory technical requirements and testi ng methods for specific products, compliance with 
which requires technology that the developing  countries exporting the products do not have. 
9. The most relevant examples of difficulties met in applying the technical regulations, standards 
or conformity assessment procedures of developed countries are: 
• lack of equipment or technology for the requisite testing and/or the absence of any 
accredited national body to carry out the testing; 
 
• high cost of the equipment or technology needed for the requisite testing and no 
possibility of purchasing it within a reasonable period of time; 
 
• high cost of equipment or technology that involves adapting industrial processes in 
order to meet the requirement in question; 
 
• the existence of plans that are cumbersome  and very detailed for infrastructures that 
are not well developed, which imply additional production costs; 
 
• proliferation of private standards that set higher requirements than the internal 
provisions of the consumer market. 
 10. For the developing and least developed countries,  situations such as these mean a loss in 
export earnings, a limitation on the expansion and divers ification of their exports and/or the partial or 
total loss of destination markets, mostly in the developed countries.  WT/WGTTT/W/12 
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  Some recommendations to increase techno logy transfer to developing countries 
11. There is a need for the WTO to contribute activ ely to promoting the flow of technology to 
developing countries as a means of responding effectivel y to their problems, which are a reflection of 
the lack of clear commitments by the developed countries in the various Agreements. 
12. The TBT Agreement and the SPS Agreement need stronger provisions on technology transfer 
from the developed to the developing countries so that  such transfer really contributes to enhancing 
the developing countries' participation in interna tional trade, in keeping with the needs of their 
economic development, rather than being a barrier  that limits or bars such development, as is 
increasingly the case. 
13. In view of the foregoing, we propose that the Working Group should hold a discussion in the 
near future with a view to a dopting the following recommendation: 
• Developed Members will transfer on preferential terms1 to the developing and least 
developed countries the equipment and tec hnology needed to apply the technical 
regulations, standards or conformity assessment procedures and the sanitary and phytosanitary prescriptions to be met for access to their markets, if these countries 
lack such equipment and technology and ar e unable to acquire them for financial 
reasons and if such lack would limit significan tly or preclude their participation in the 
market in question.  Where infrastructur e problems are an obstacle to compliance 
with the requirements, financial assistance should also be considered.  Such requests 
could be addressed bilaterally or by means of joint projects or in any other manner that Members may suggest. 
 
• To facilitate implementation of the foregoing proposal, it is important to ensure that 
the developing countries exporting the product that will have to comply with the 
technical regulation, standard or conformity assessment procedure or the sanitary and phytosanitary prescriptions, are consulted directly at an early stage
2 so that full 
account can be taken of the status of their technology and infrastructure in the preparation of the requirements to be met, with a view to exploring alternatives which 
neither rule out application of the measure  not restrict or preclude the developing 
countries' participation in the market in question.  If this is not possible, it is 
important from this stage on to ensure eff ective ways to supply technology to these 
countries, as outlined in the previous paragraph. 
 
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1 Cost-free for LDCs that so request. 
2 In other words, when the developed Member embarks on its internal consultations to prepare any 
TBT or SPS requirements, and not after the consultations ha ve concluded.  This will always be before official 
notification of the relevant Committee.