WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/103 
6 July 2010 
 (10-3650) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
IEC ACTIVITIES IN DEVELOPING COUNT RIES  (NOVEMBER 2009 – MARCH 2010) 
 
Update provided by the IEC
 
  
 The following information was provided by the IEC
 (International Electrotechnical 
Commission) at the TBT Committee meeting of 23-24 June 2010.   
 
_______________ 
 1. This report to the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Committee highlights the activities of the 
IEC and its 162 Members and Affiliates, related to  increasing the participation of developing and 
newly industrialized countries in IEC Internationa l Standardization and Conformity Assessment 
activities. 
2. The IEC
1 is the world leading organization that prepares and publishes International 
Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies – collectively known as 
"electrotechnology". The IEC also administers th ree global Conformity Assessment systems, IECEE, 
IECEx and IECQ2, for testing, certification and approval of equipment, systems, components – and in 
selected areas services and personnel – to its International Standards. 
3. On the technical front, the IEC continues to work across a broad range of electrotechnology 
through its 174 technical committees and subco mmittees. The Commission continues to address 
strategic areas of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies, Ultra-high voltage (UHV), the Smart 
Grid and Low-voltage (up to 1500 V) DC distri bution systems through its respective Strategic 
Groups. Regarding the UHV Group, the IEC is movi ng forward with a roadmap for HVDC (high-
voltage direct current) and UHVDC (ultra-high voltage direct current) technologies and is 
coordinating standards developmen t among all relevant IEC technical  committees and subcommittees.  
I. SMART GRID ACTIVITIES GATHER PACE  
4. To support economic development and a more re liable energy supply, power grids in many 
developing countries need to be updated; intelligen ce needs to be added. Overloading of system 
components, lack of reactive power support, low metering efficiency and power theft are just some of 
the areas where Smart Grids will be of help. Financ ial losses related to all of the above can reach 
staggering levels, in the case of India 1.5 per cent of GDP and growing.  
5. Smart Grids are a prerequisite to fixing funda mental grid problems, increasing the share of 
renewable energy sources in electricity generation, improving energy efficiency, and overcoming poor 
power quality, capacity shortfalls and blackouts.  
                                                      
1 www.iec.ch  
2 www.iecee.org; www.iecex .com;  www.iecq.org G/TBT/GEN/103 
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  6. The IEC is developing many of the Internationa l Standards that allow the roll-out of Smart 
Grids, adding information technology to existin g equipment. The IEC Smart Grid Strategic Group 
(SG 3) comprises technical experts from 14 countries representing several areas of Smart Grid 
development (bulk generation, tr ansmission, distribution, metering and the customer). SG 3 is 
currently developing a roadmap for Smart Grid d esigns/projects using International Standards. 
7. See in March 2010 e-tech
3 how the IEC SMB is actively promoting the successful 
development of Smart Grids around the world, and also the Smart Grid zone4 on the IEC website. 
II. IEC LAUNCHING MENTORING APPROACH FOR DEVELOPING AND 
INDUSTRIALIZING COUNTRIES 
8. Through the new Affiliate Plus status, th e free IEC Affiliate Country Programme is 
encouraging countries within the IEC Family to lear n and benefit from each other’s experience. This 
approach aims at stimulating and enhancing th e participation of developing and industrializing 
countries in international electrotechnical standard ization work, thus complying with the WTO TBT 
Agreement. 
9. The IEC National Committee of Canada paved the way by facilitating the participation of IEC 
Peruvian Affiliate in the 2009 IEC General Meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is renewing its support in 
2010. The Standards Council of Canada mentored the Peruvian Affiliate in Tel Aviv and this has 
already borne fruit. Peru’s participation in IEC is increasing, with national adoption of more IEC 
International Standards and progress in establis hing a national electrotechnical committee.  
10. The IEC National Committee of South Africa has also been offering gu idance to IEC African 
Affiliates when requested. Staff members from th e national standardization bodies of Rwanda and 
Botswana visited the IEC South African NC Secretar y in SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) 
in order to get more familiar with IEC Standardi zation work and were advised on how to form their 
national electrotechnical committee.  
11. This is the start of what the IEC Affiliate Country Programme hopes to develop on a technical 
level, i.e. to have IEC technical experts assi sting and guiding Affiliate  experts from developing 
countries in participating in the work of their respective committees or subcommittees.  
12. On the regional level, the Forum of the IEC National Committees of the Americas (FINCA) 
has already announced its intention to help IEC A ffiliates in the region. At the FINCA annual meeting 
on 21-22 September 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argen tina, members discussed such subjects as how to 
improve contact and facilitate co mmunication among countries in the Am ericas which are participants 
in the IEC Affiliate Country Programme. In this respect, they debated how they might stimulate 
participation within the various affiliated countries in IEC technical meetings , fora and other events. 
Members of FINCA are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States of America.  More in October 2009 e-tech
5 
III. IEC FAMILY KEEPS GROWING  
13. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman jo ined the IEC in April 2010, both as full 
members, bringing the number of full and associate members to 81 and the IEC Family to 162 countries. 
                                                     
 
3 www.iec.ch/online_news/etech/arch_2010/etech_0410/world_5.htm 
4 www.iec.ch/zone/smartgrid 
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  14. In 2007, the UAE joined the IECEE, one of th e IEC's three Conformity Assessment systems, 
and began the process of establishing a fully representative National Committee to apply for IEC membership. As members of GSO (the Gulf Coopera tion Council Standardization Organization), both 
Oman and the UAE have been interested in the IEC's work for some time. Representatives from both 
countries also participated in the first conference on standardization and conformity assessment in the 
Gulf region, held in December 2009. 
15. As full members of the IEC, both countries may participate fully in the IEC's activities. For 
the moment the UAE plans to participate in the IE C's work related to energy efficiency and the 
performance of household electrical appliances, in cluding cooling appliances, while Oman plans to 
participate in areas such as house hold appliances, cabling, fibre opti cs, automobile batteries and solar 
energy, as well as conformity assessment activiti es, among several others. More in May 2010 e-tech
6 
IV. ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND ELECTRICAL SAFETY IN THE AMERICAS 
16. On 9-11 March 2010 IEC was invited to take pa rt in the annual meeting of the regional 
organization CANENA (Council for Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standards of the Nations of 
the Americas), which was organized this year in collaboration with INTECO, the Costa Rican 
institute of technical standards, and BUN-CA, the regional organization for cooperation on energy 
efficiency in Central America. The Executive Direct or of INTECO, Carlos Ro dríguez, is the Leader 
of the IEC Affiliate Country Programme. 
17. The conference this year was held under the banne r of energy efficiency and electrical safety. 
It provided an excellent opportunity for Amaury Santos, Regional Manager IEC-LARC (IEC Latin 
America Regional Centre) to report on some of  the IEC’s global as well as regional activities. 
Organizations like CANENA are important partners of the IEC. They play a significant role in 
harmonizing IEC International Standards on a re gional level and underlining the benefits of 
electrotechnical standards and conformity assessment test requirements in their respective areas.  
18. The CANENA annual conference gave IEC the opportunity to present its work on energy 
efficiency and safety on a global level and to ex change ideas with CANENA Members, industrial 
representatives and local figures on environmental and energy efficiency questions concerning their 
region.  More in April 2010 e-tech7 
V. TRAINING IN ASIA-PACIFIC THROUGH IEC REGIONAL CENTRE 
19. The mission of the IEC Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (IEC-APRC)8, located in Singapore, is 
not only to promote awareness of the IEC in the region and to increase the use of IEC International Standards but also to enhance participation of a ll countries in the region in the Commission's work. 
The staff members provide additional support to t echnical committees and subcommittees in the same 
way IEC Central Office does in Geneva. Support to the technical work has grown from six technical 
committees and subcommittees in 2006 to 57 committees this year. The IEC-APRC also coordinates 
and organizes training events, seminars and workshops  that match the needs of the region. Events 
range from seminars on the use of IT tools in th e IEC to workshops on specific technical areas.  
20. Back to back with the 33
rd Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) annual meeting held in 
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 28-31 May 2010, IEC-APRC officer in charge, Dennis Chew, offered some training to the Mongolian Agency for Standardiza tion and Metrology (MASM). Mongolia joined the 
IEC Affiliate Country Programme in 2001 and since th en has adopted more than 50 IEC International 
                                                     
 
6 www.iec.ch/online_news/etech/arch_2010/etech_0510/family_1.htm 
7 www.iec.ch/online_news/etech/arch_2010/etech_0410/family_2.htm 
8 www.iec.ch/about/rc/iec-aprc/ G/TBT/GEN/103 
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  Standards as national standards, using the affiliate  facilitated adoption procedure. The IEC Mongolian 
Affiliate has been granted access to  the working documents in 10 tec hnical fields and is now working 
on the establishment of its national electrotechnical  committee to involve as many stakeholders as 
possible in electrotechnical standardization activ ities.  The IEC-APRC Officer in Charge provided 
guidance on how to download IEC technical documen ts and submit comments on projects of future 
International Standards. Once the Mongolian nationa l electrotechnical commit tee is operational, the 
country will be upgraded to Affiliate Plus status and thus granted more benefits.  
21. At the WTO regional workshop held in Hanoi, Viet Nam, 24-26 November 2009, Dennis 
Chew presented the work of the IEC thro ugh its regional centre in the region.  
VI. INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL STANDARDIZATION IN LATIN 
AMERICA 
22. Recently, the IEC participated in four separat e events on the South American Continent. 
These included a visit to the Argentinean NC (Nati onal Committee), a training course at the Chilean 
NC, an Andean Community even t and the COPANT (Pan American Standards Commission) 2010 
Assembly.  
23. The IEC participated in the CAN (Andean Co mmunity) standardization event on 23 April 
2010 in Lima, Peru. The theme was "Better use of International standardization and Conformity 
Assessment evaluation systems for CAN Member C ountries". Jack Sheldon, Standardization Strategy 
Manager from the IEC Central Office in Geneva, w as joined by Amaury Santos, Regional Manager, 
IEC-LARC (Latin America Regional Centre).  
24. Their presentations were followed by presentations from Colombia (IEC Member) and Peru 
(IEC Affiliate) on their various states of involvement in international standardization and the future 
for conformity assessment in CAN. Peru detailed its  structure and how it has gone about adopting IEC 
International Standards and participating in the IEC General Meetings. Through the IEC Affiliate 
Country Programme, Peru has adopted Internatio nal Standards and has established three mirror 
technical committees: TC 20: Electric cables, TC 34: Lamps and related e quipment, and TC 64: 
Electrical installations and protection against electric shock. 
25. The Colombian presentation described the work of  Colombia in four electrotechnical fields: 
TC 13: Electrical energy measurement, tariff- a nd load control, SC 34A: Lamps, SC 77A: 
Electromagnetic compatibility – Low frequency pheno mena, and TC 81: Lightni ng protection, and the 
increasing awareness of the international standardization process and its benefits. 
26. On 27-29 April 2010, IEC President Jacques Ré gis and IEC Regional Manager for Latin 
America Amaury Santos attended the COPANT Asse mbly in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was 
notable in that it was the first time that COPANT ha d organized TC meetings at the same time as the 
assembly. This provided an excellent opportunity fo r management and technical experts to meet 
together and hear about some of the recent de velopments in standardization and conformity 
assessment while building on relationships with inte rnational and regional organizations.More in the 
May 2010 e-tech
9 
27. The IEC Affiliate Country Programme was also  part of the IEC-LARC Regional Manager’s 
presentation at the WTO workshop held in Mexico  1-3 March 2010. Amaury Santos encouraged 
developing countries in the region to use the IEC fre e Programme to get involv ed in IEC’s work and 
use IEC International Standards as national ones for trade in the global market. More in the April 
2010 e-tech7 
                                                      
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  VII. MORE AFFILIATE NATIONAL ELECTR OTECHNICAL COMMITTEES IN LATIN 
AMERICA 
28. The IEC Affiliate Country Programme, and in particular its Leader, Carlos Rodríguez, 
Director of INTECO, Costa Rica, is encourag ing participating countries to form a national 
electrotechnical committee (NEC) to ensure the invol vement of all relevant national stakeholders.  
29. A first questionnaire was sent to all participants  in 2008 to evaluate their situation and need 
for guidance. In 2009, guidelines were issued to he lp developing countries establish an infrastructure 
that would help them benefit as much as possible from the Programme.  
30. In a developing country which is not a member of the IEC, the NEC can start with a few 
representatives, and then add more over time. Ideally , it ought to have high-level representatives from 
all national stakeholders, such as power genera tion/distribution bodies, governmental departments 
dealing with electricity and electronics, the national standards body (NSB), manufacturers of 
electrotechnical goods, consumer associations, tes ting laboratories, academia and R&D (research and 
development). However, many developing countries are not in a position to bring together so many 
stakeholders at first. Therefore, a "basic" NEC can be created initially with just one or two individuals 
from representative groups (such as electrical utilities and the NSB).  
31. Honduras and Uruguay have recently reported th e establishment of their NEC, offering a 
good representation of both pub lic and private sectors.  The Honduran NEC is now considering 
following the work of IEC technical committees on en ergy efficiency and renewable energies as well 
as audio, video and multimedia systems and equipmen t. As for Uruguay, establishing its NEC allowed 
the country to upgrade its status, becoming the 9th Affiliate Plus country. Having already declared the 
adoption of 117 IEC International Standards as national ones, Uruguay will now receive additional 
IEC International Standards for adoption (400 instead of 200).  More in the March 2010 e-tech10 
VIII.  COOPERATION STRENGTHENS BETW EEN IEC AND ILAC AND IAF 
32. The agreement that the IEC has reached with  ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation 
Cooperation) and IAF (Internationa l Accreditation Forum) is an international cooperation of 
laboratory, inspection and certification bodies to help  remove technical barriers to trade. ILAC and 
IAF accreditation in conjunction with the IECEE – the IEC System of Conformity Assessment 
Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Compone nts – registration allows people to make an 
informed decision when selecting a laboratory, as it demonstrates competence, impartiality and 
capability. It helps to underpin the credibility, safety and perfo rmance of electrical goods. IECEE 
registered Testing Laboratories and Certification Bodies around the world, which have been evaluated 
by peers as competent, have signed an multilateral agreement (MLA) that enhances the acceptance of 
products across national borders.  
33. The purpose of the tripartite collaboration betw een IEC, ILAC and IAF is to create an 
international framework to support international tr ade through the removal of technical barriers (as 
stipulated in the terms of reference of the Steering Committee). IECEE counts as its members laboratory, inspection and certification bodies re presenting more than 320 third-party testing 
laboratories, 70 certification bodies and 1800 manufacturer's testing laboratories spread over 80 economies and regions. In this way, the free- trade goal of “product tested once and accepted 
everywhere” can be achieved. 
 
                                                     
 
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  34. The IEC, ILAC and IAF Steering Committee is tasked with developing policy and procedure 
to: 
• develop and harmonize laboratory, inspecti on and certification practices as per ISO/IEC 
17025, ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC Guide 65 (future ISO/IEC 17065); 
• promote laboratory, inspection and certificati on to industry, governments, regulators and 
consumers; 
• carry out one-stop reassessments of laboratory, inspection and certification bodies; 
• use common formats of Assessment Reports and assessment procedure.  More in November 
2009 e-tech
11 
IX. EX CERTIFICATION OF PERSONNEL COMPETENCIES IS KEY TO SAFETY 
35. The recent explosion that caused an oil spill from an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of 
Mexico shows the need for extremely strict safet y measures for equipment and personnel in such an 
environment. IECEx – the IEC System for Certifica tion to Standards Relating to Equipment for use in 
Explosive Atmospheres – is getting ready to approve th e first Certification Bodies to be able to issue 
IECEx Certificates of Personnel Competencies.  
36. Already IECEx has received numerous requests from industries all over the world seeking to 
obtain this form of certification. While the bene fits of an internationally accepted and UN-endorsed 
system for verifying the competency of workers in  a highly specialized field is obvious, there are 
special benefits to less developed countries. These may not have the in-house knowledge or expertise 
to know whether or not someone is competent to wo rk on plants that may use special Ex equipment. 
All they now need to do is simply specify that pe rsons working on their plants must hold a current and 
valid IECEx Certificate of Personne l Competencies as part of the c ontract requirements. As these 
certificates are to be issued live on the IECEx website, their verification is easy. 
X. IEC, ISO AND ITU REACH OUT TO ACADEMIA  
37. The wider the adoption of standardization, the gr eater the benefits. In order that standards in 
general, and International Standa rds in particular, are fully embraced by professionals, businesses and 
organizations, it is important to create an awareness with decision-makers at an early stage. Many of 
today's students will become the decision-makers of tomorrow. 
38. The WSC (World Standards Cooperation), established jointly by the IEC, ISO (International 
Organization for Standardization) and the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), is 
organizing a week of sessions addressing Academia  to take place on 5-9 July 2010 at the CICG 
(International Conference Centre) in Geneva, Switz erland. The week aims to promote exchanges 
between academic institutions and the interna tional standards community, as well as to raise 
awareness and foster present and future cooperation. 
39. The workshops are geared for representatives fro m academic institutions, national standards 
bodies, governmental agencies and internationa l organizations, as well as industry and media. 
                                                      
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  XI. IEC AND ISO JOINTLY HOLD SECRETARIAT OF DCMAS NETWORK  
40. The Network on Metrology, Accreditation a nd Standardization for Developing Countries 
(DCMAS Network) held its 10th annual meeting at the IEC Central Office on 29 March 2010. The 
Network is a group of representatives from speciali zed international organizations promoting and 
implementing MAS (metrology, standardization a nd conformity assessment) activities in developing 
countries. The other DCMAS Network members ar e BIPM, IAF, ILAC, ITC, ITU-T, OIML and 
UNIDO. At the 2010 meeting, Network members o fficially approved membership of the UNECE 
WP.6 (United Nations Economic Commission fo r Europe Working Party 6 on Regulatory 
Cooperation and Standardization Policies).More in the May 2010  e-tech12 
XII. DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AT FORTHCOMING IEC GENERAL MEETING 
41. IEC will hold its 74th General Meeting 11-15 October 2010 in Seattle, USA. Delegates from 
developing and industrializing c ountries will have the opportunity to attend technical meetings, 
workshops and events such as  the Affiliate Forum or  a workshop for industrializing countries on the 
safety of household electrical appliances (see progr amme in annex). Under the terms of the IEC 
Affiliate Country Programme, 16 de veloping countries have alread y registered to attend the 74th IEC 
General Meeting and will be able to attend technical meetings of their choice as observers – more than 
90 technical committees, subcommittees and their worki ng groups, are expected to meet in Seattle.  
For its members, IEC is holding separate forums for the presidents and secretaries of its national 
committees, a workshop for technical committee and s ubcommittee officers and, for the first time in 
2010, a Young Professionals workshop. More on the 74th IEC General Meeting website13 
  
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Workshop for Industrializing Countries 
 
Ensuring performance and safety of household electrical appliances 
in industrializing countries 
 
Wednesday 13 October 2010 
14:00 – 17:30 
Seattle, Washington, USA 
 
Provisional programme  
 
 With the participation of Carlos Rodríguez,  IEC Affiliate Leader, and Evah Oduor, IEC 
Affiliate Coordinator for Africa  
 
14:00 - 14:30 Welcome address : IEC Affiliate Leader  
 Mr Carlos Rodríguez, IEC Affiliate Co untry Programme Leader, Costa Rica 
 14:30 - 14:45 Case study 1: Ghana / Affiliate country 
  Mr Moses Dowuona, Chairman Ghanaian National Electrotechnical 
Committee, Ghana  
 
14:45 - 15:00 Case study 2: Peru / Affiliate country  
  Ms Carmela Morgan, INDECOPI, Peru 
 
15:00 - 15:30 Case study 3: Nigeria / IEC Member   Ms Martha Onyeajuwa, Vice President IEC National Committee of Nigeria  
 15:30 - 16:00 IECEE   
Mr Pierre de Ruvo, Executive Secretary of IEC System of Conformity 
Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components 
(IECEE), IEC Central Office  
 16:00 - 16:30  IEC TC 59: Performance of household and similar electrical appliances 
  Mr Fabio Gargantini, Chairman TC 59, Italy 
 
16:30 - 17:00 IEC TC 61: Safety of household and similar electrical appliances  
  Mr Derek R. Johns, Chairman TC 61, New Zealand 
   
17:00 - 17:30 Discussion  
 
  
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