. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/803 
16 November 2006 
 (06-5551) 
  
 
 
REPORT (2006) OF THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
 
 
1. The Committee held its thirty-ninth to forty-first regular meetings on 15 and 17 March, 
7-9 June and 9 November 2006 under the Chai rmanship of Mr. Margers Krams (Latvia).1   
2. At each of the meetings in 2006, the Committe e heard statements by a number of Members 
informing the Committee of measures taken to ensu re the implementation and administration of the 
Agreement.  Several new specific trade concerns we re brought to the attention of the Committee with 
regard to their potential adverse trade effects, or inconsistency with the Agreement, and the 
Committee heard exchanges on trade concerns that had been previously raised.   
3. During the reporting period, the Committee con tinued to discuss issues arising from the Third 
Triennial Review of the Operation and Implem entation of the Agreement under Article 15.4 
(G/TBT/13).  With a view to improving Members'  implementation of Articles 5-9 of the Agreement 
and promoting a better understanding of Member s' conformity assessment systems, the Third 
Triennial Review set out a Work Programme2 to address a number of issues, among others, different 
approaches to conformity assessment, including the acceptance of conformity assessment results.3  
Pursuant to this Work Programme, the TBT Comm ittee held a Workshop on the Different Approaches 
to Conformity Assessment on 16-17 March 2006.4 
4. The TBT Committee conducted the Fourth Trienni al Review following the Work Programme 
of November 2004 and based on the various submissions by Members.5  The Review addressed:  
Implementation and Administration of the Agreem ent; Good Regulatory Practice;  Conformity 
Assessment Procedures;  Transparency;  Techni cal Assistance;  and Special and Differential 
Treatment.  The Committee concluded the Review at its 9 November 2006 meeting.6 
5. The Committee carried out, at its meeting of 15 and 17 March 2006, the Eleventh Annual 
Review of the Implementation and Operation of the TBT Agreement (G/TBT/18) and the Eleventh 
Annual Review of the Code of Good Practice fo r the Preparation, Adoption and Application of 
Standards.  This work was based on the followi ng background documents:  a list of standardizing 
bodies that have accepted the Code in 2005 (G/TBT/CS/ 1/Add.10), a list of standardizing bodies that 
have accepted the Code since 1 Janua ry 1995 (G/TBT/CS/2/Rev.12) an d the Eleventh edition of the 
WTO TBT Standards Code Directory prepared by the ISO/IEC Information Centre.   
                                                      
1  G/TBT/M/38-40. 
2 G/TBT/13, paragraph 40. 
3 The Third Triennial Review instructs the Committee to "take stock of the progress made on this Work 
Programme and reflect it in its Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods" (G/TBT/13, paragraph 41). 
4 A Report of the workshop is contained in G/TBT/M/38/Add.1. 
5   G/TBT/M/35, Annex 3. 
6 The Report of the Fourth Triennial Review of the Operation and Implementation of the Agreement on Technical 
Barriers to Trade under Article 15.4 is contained in document G/TBT/19. G/L/803 
Page 2  
 
  6. The Committee carried out, at its meeting of 9 November 2006, the Fifth Annual Transitional 
Review mandated in the Protocol of Accession of the People's Republic of China.
7 
7. During the regular meetings of the TBT Comm ittee held in 2006, representatives of the 
Codex, IEC, ISO, ITC, OECD, OIML, UNCTAD and UNIDO updated the Committee on the activities relevant to the work of the TBT Co mmittee, including on technical assistance.  
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7 The Report of the Committee's Fifth Annual Transiti onal Review is contained in document G/TBT/20.