WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/W/141 
29 March 2011 
 (11-1537) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 
 
International Standards in Support of  Trade and Economic Development:  
 
Strengthening the Contribution of the Committee Decision1 
 
A proposal from the United States 
 
  The following communication,
 dated 28 March 2011, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the United States. 
 
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 The United States notes the submissions relating to  international standards advanced by other 
Members in the Negotiating Group on Non-Agricultura l Market Access (NGMA).  The aim of some 
of these submissions is to name specific standa rdizing bodies, and to deem that any standard 
developed by these bodies is a relevant internatio nal standard within the meaning of the WTO 
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade ("TBT Agreement" or the "Agreement").  The 
United States does not share the views advanced in these submissions as they would undermine the 
principles of the Committee Decision, and put th e World Trade Organization (WTO) in the position 
of picking winners and losers among non-governmental, private sector bodies that  produce standards.  
However, the United States recognizes Members' inte rest in discussing the subject of international 
standards as it relates to implementation of the TB T Agreement.  Therefore, if the NGMA is to 
produce draft text relating to international standa rds, the United States believes that the textual 
proposals relating to international standards put fo rth in this paper must be included as specific 
elements in any such draft text. 
 
A. BACKGROUND  
1. The TBT Agreement recognizes the important contribution that international standards, 
guides, and recommendations can make in facilitati ng trade.  Worldwide use of an international 
standard facilitates trade by en abling economies of scale in production, allowing low-cost global 
sourcing of inputs, and permitting greater product acceptance across countries.  International standards can also contribute greater efficiency of production and to the transfer of technology.  2. International standards that are responsive to global market and regulatory needs, embody 
technical merit, and embrace technological innov ation can promote greater economic efficiency, 
which can lead to higher rates of economic growth .  To realize these potential gains, the Agreement 
encourages the development and use of internationa l standards, including as a basis for technical 
regulations and conformity assessment procedures and through greater participation in international 
                                                     
 
1 Decisions and Recommendations adopted by the Committee since 1 January 1995, G/TBT/1/Rev.9, 
Annex B (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). TN/MA/W/141 
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  standardization activities.  The Agreement also recognizes Members should not take or apply 
measures that are a means of arbitrary or unjustifia ble discrimination between countries, or that act as 
a disguised restriction on international trade.  Ind eed, the Agreement, and its Code of Good Practice, 
oblige Members to ensure that standards do no t create unnecessary obstacles to trade and do not 
accord more favourable treatment to like products of national origin than to products originating in 
another country.  
 3. In the Second Triennial Review of the TB T Agreement, Members sought to improve the 
quality of standards and the effective applicati on of the Agreement through the adoption of the 
Decision of the Committee on Principles for the De velopment of International Standards, Guides and 
Recommendations with relation to Articles 2, 5 and Annex 3 of the Agreement ("Committee Decision").   The Committee Decision is composed of six principles that are intended to clarify the 
concept of international standards and advance the objectives of the Agreement.  These six principles 
are:  1) openness, 2) transparency, 3) impartiality  and consensus, 4) relevance and effectiveness, 
5) coherence, and 6) the development dimension.  
 
4. The Committee Decision principles have provided an important incentive to further 
"internationalize" standardizing activities, and have  resulted in greater outreach by many standards 
bodies to broaden participation by stakeholders from developing economies.  However, efforts to 
operationalize the Committee Decision must be improved.   It is critically important that international 
standardizing activities (1) be relevant and effec tively respond to regulatory and market needs; 
(2) effectively respond to scientific and technologica l developments in various countries; (3) not give 
preference to the characteristics of specific regions when different needs or interests exist in other 
regions; and (4) be impartial and open so that developing countries are not de facto excluded from the 
process.    
5. The United States also believes that any effort  to ensure the responsiveness of international 
standards to the broader needs of all WTO Memb ers and to prevent the emergence of unnecessary 
divergences from international standards must a ddress the negative impact of certain aspects of 
existing regional arrangements.  This paper identifie s particular issues of concern and then proposes 
specific textual provisions to address those concerns.  
B. D
EFINITION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARD  
6. The principles contained in the Committee Deci sion were designed to clarify the concept of 
international standards and to advance the objectiv es of the TBT Agreement.  The WTO can promote 
the use of the Committee Decision principles to gu ide international standards setting activities by 
adopting a definition of international standard that embodies these principles.  
 
7. Therefore, we propose the following text:  
For purposes of the TBT Agreement, an inter national standard, guide or recommendation is 
one developed in accordance with the pr inciples set out in the Decisions and 
Recommendations adopted by the Committee si nce 1 January 1995, G/TBT/1/Rev.9, Annex B 
(Decision of the Committee on Principles for th e Development of International Standards, 
Guides and Recommendations with relation to Articles 2, 5 and Annex 3 of the Agreement) 
(Committee Decision) issued by the WTO Co mmittee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT 
Committee).  These six principles are:  1)  openness, 2) transparency, 3) impartiality and 
consensus, 4) relevance and effectiveness, 5) coherence, and 6) the development dimension.   
  TN/MA/W/141 
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  C. OPERATIONALIZING THE PRINCIPLES OF THE COMMITTEE DECISION  
8. The international standards community has long recognized that there may be cases where 
essential differences owing to embedded technological infrastructure, climate, geography or anthropology preclude the elaboration of one uni que solution in an international standard. 
Importantly, essential differences are distinct from differences that are changeable, for example, 
owing to legislation, social conditions, trade patterns, or design philosophies. Where essential 
differences exist, there are several options for an international standard to take, such as parallel 
normative references, paralle l annexes, or parallel subparts ("pa rallel options").  An international 
standard must not favour the conditions that preva il in one country or region by favouring one option 
over other parallel options. 
 
9. Therefore, we propose the following text: 
 
 Where essential differences owing to embedded technological infrastructures, climate, 
geography or anthropology exist , to be considered an international standard for purposes of 
the TBT Agreement a standard shall take account of  those essential differences in a balanced 
and non-preferential way by, for example, including parallel  options containing technical 
requirements that give fair recognition to those differences. 
 
10. Transparency promotes more reasoned a nd even-handed decision making in technical 
committees.  Limits on the exchange of views can allow a small group to dominate a standards setting 
activity, resulting in a less effective and potentia lly discriminatory outcome.  To promote greater 
transparency, the procedures for in ternational standards development should ensure that all comments 
are addressed on their merits.  
 
11. Therefore, we propose the following text: 
  For a standard to be considered an international standard  for purposes of the TBT 
Agreement, all substantive comments raised must be addressed on their merits in a 
transparent manner during the development process. 
 12. International standards facilitate trade to th e extent that the technical specifications do not 
accord an unfair trade advantage by giving preferen ce to the characteristics of the products of one 
region over the products from another country or region.  Standards development and use should not 
be employed as a tool of trade policy to discriminate against products from other regions or countries.  Voting practices, such as block voting or informal  coalitions, in interna tional standardizing bodies 
must not enable regional trade and/or regulatory pol icies to be embedded in standards at the expense 
of other regions and countries. 
 
13. Therefore, we propose the following text:  
In a standardization body in which represen tation and voting are conducted by national 
member bodies, a region in which a regional en tity has competency to  govern international 
trade and this competency supersedes that of na tional authorities, must be accorded only one 
vote for the resulting standard to be consid ered an international standard for the purposes of 
the TBT Agreement.  
14. The fast-tracking procedures and partners hip arrangements of international standards 
organizations can result in standards that do not re flect the Committee Decision principles.  To ensure 
that international standards reflect these prin ciples and the broad needs of the international 
community, standards developed, even in part, in  closed, non-transparent processes must not be 
fast-tracked via partnership or cooperative arra ngements to become "international standards." TN/MA/W/141 
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  15. Therefore, we propose the following text: 
 
A standard adopted by a standardizing body  pu rsuant to a cooperation agreement or other 
arrangement with another standardizing body t hat developed the standard through a process 
that that did not adhere to the Committee Decision principles cannot be considered an 
international standard for purposes of the TBT Agreement. 
 
16. Members have long understood that internati onal standards should be clearly and concisely 
written, readily understood, precise, technically cr edible, and contain only unambiguous requirements 
- the absence or presence of which can be objectively ve rified.  This is implicit in the requirement in 
the Code of Good Practice that standards are not prepar ed, adopted or applied with a view to or effect 
of creating unnecessary obstacles to international tr ade.  However, a few recent efforts in some 
standardizing bodies have sought to drive chang es to social, public and regulatory policies, 
particularly in developing countries, through le ngthy, highly subjective and overreaching treatises on 
broad social and political issues.  Once adopted as an "international standard," however, there is no 
effective way to prevent use of such standards as th e basis of procurement contracts or certification 
programs – resulting in a proliferation of unnecessary and burdensome technical barriers to trade. 
 17. Therefore, we propose the following text:  
For a standard to be considered an int ernational standard for purposes of the TBT 
Agreement, it must (a) provide credible and non- subjective technical content; and (b) not seek 
to establish, drive or motivate public policy, regulations or regulatory approaches, or social 
and political agendas.    
D. E
NCOURAGING HARMONIZATION TO RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS  
18. The TBT Agreement promotes greater harmoniza tion of technical regulations through the use 
of international standards.  The Committee Decisi on stresses the importance to international trade of 
open, consensus-based processes for the development of  international standards that are effective and 
relevant on a global basis, and encourages stan dardizing bodies to integrate the development 
dimension into their activities.  However, donor assistance programs, cooperative arrangements or 
trade agreements that seek to compel the adoption of, or restrict use to foreign or regional, standards 
developed in closed processes, instead of promoting open participation in inte rnational standardizing 
activities, undercut the use of internati onal standards.  Such efforts can also  have negative effects on 
trade and development, including by restricting the diversity of developing country exports.       
 19. Therefore, we propose the following text: 
 
In accordance with Articles 2.4, 2.6, and 4.1 of the TBT Agreement and the Code of Good 
Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards: 
 
(a) No WTO Member shall condition the provision of technical or financial assistance or capacity 
building to another WTO Member on the receiving Member's use or adoption of the national 
or regional standards of the providing Member or any other Member, or on the receiving 
Member's agreement not to adopt, or to cease us ing, relevant international standards, guides 
or recommendations;  
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  (b) Each WTO Member shall ensure that any trade or other agreements that it enters into or is a 
party to does not require the parties to that agreement to utilize or adopt the national or 
regional standards of one or more of the parties or on the receiving Member's agreement not to adopt, or to cease using, relevant internati onal standards, guides or recommendations; and  
(c) Each WTO Member shall take reasonable measu res to ensure that non-governmental bodies 
within its territory do not enter into agre ements that condition access to standards or 
participation in standardizing activities on (i) a dopting national or regional standards or (ii) 
ceasing to use relevant international st andards, guides or recommendations.  
E. T
HE DEVELOPMENT DIMENSION  
20. WTO Members have long recognized that sta ndardization activities require specialized 
expertise with knowledge and skills that take time  and resources to build, and that a demand-driven 
approach is needed to prioritize sectors and is sues of importance to developing countries.  WTO 
Members can play an important role in directing an d sustaining attention to the role of international 
standards in economic development.  
21. Therefore, we propose the following text: 
 
The TBT Committee shall establish a work program on the role of international standards in 
economic development.  The goal of this pr ogram is to develop understanding and best 
practices for successful engagement by d eveloping country Members in international 
standards development in pursuit of national pr iorities.  Such a work program would make 
use of case studies by Members in building na tional export strategies, in establishing 
transparent and robust stakeholder outreach pr ograms, in developing effective mirror 
committees, in building civil and professional societies to foster the development of specialized expertise, and in promoting effec tive and appropriate participation by relevant 
stakeholders from government and the private sector (e.g., engineers, scientists and other 
technical experts) in international standards development. 
 
 
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