WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/115 
19 April 2011 
 (11-2034) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
 
 
 
INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES OF THE ITC (INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE)  
FROM NOVEMBER 2010 – MARCH 2011 
  
 The following statement was provided by the ITC
 to the TBT Committee meeting of  
24-25 March 2011.   
 
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I. PROJECTS 
A. CENTRAL ASIA (KYRGYZSTAN AND TAJIKISTAN ) 
1. The projects in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, fund ed by SECO, have started their third phase in 
September 2009.  The overall objective of this project is to contribute to the sustainable expansion and 
diversification of SMEs' exports in Tajikistan through increasing th e competitiveness of the textile 
and clothing industry and improving the quality management infrastructure of the country. 
2. The specific objective in the areas of TBT a nd SPS, is to improve the capacity of SQAM1, 
TBT and SPS bodies and the regulatory infrastructure.  
1. Tajikistan 
3. Two laboratories for food and agricultural products  of Tajikstandart (the national standards 
body) have been accredited by DAkkS, the German national accreditation body. 
4. The National Notification Authority for TBT and SPS as well as the National Enquiry Points 
for TBT and SPS have been established. 
2. Kyrgyzstan 
5. The Kyrgyz Accreditation Centre (the national accreditation body) is now ready for pre-peer 
evaluation by the International Laboratory Accredita tion Cooperation which will take place this year. 
6. Information about the "Implementation and Ad ministration of the Agreement on Technical 
Barriers to Trade" submitted to WTO in 2000 will be  revised to take account of developments since 
then and the revised version will be communicated to WTO.  Information about the current National 
Notification Authority and the National Enquiry Point for SPS will be communicated to WTO as 
those on the WTO website indicate the previous NNA and NEP. 
                                                      
1 SQAM: Standards, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Accreditation. G/TBT/GEN/115 
Page 2 
 
 
  B. BANGLADESH  
7. The project "Bangladesh Leather Service Centre for Export Development", funded by the 
Government of Italy, is coming to an end soon.  
8. International accreditation was confirmed for the physical and chemical laboratories of the 
Bangladesh College of Leather Engineering and Tec hnology for testing leather and footwear products 
and the scope of accreditation was enha nced to cover additional tests. 
9. Assistance was provided to five enterprises which have improved pr oductivity and reduced 
costs through the application of good housekeepi ng and quality control practices. Six Trainers-cum-
Counsellors have been recognized and are now ab le to provide assistance to enterprises on quality 
improvement in the leather and footwear sector. 
C. GUINEA  
10. Assistance was provided to five small pilot enterprises under the project on "Strengthening 
capability for international trade in the agro-processing sector", f unded by the Agence Française de 
Développement. They were advised on technical im provements in their processes, calculation of the 
price of their products and on business plans.  The latter has been submitted for funding. 
D. OIF 
11. ITC and Organisation Internationale de la Fran cophonie (OIF) jointly organised a Training of 
Trainers programme in Cameroun on " Improving and Maintaining Market Access through standards 
and conformity assessment" from 7 to 14 December 2010. Seventeen trainers from ECCAS countries 
(Gabon, Cameroun, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Republic  Central African, Congo) were trained. They 
are now equipped to conduct national trai ning workshops in 2011 in this area.  
 
E. OTHER ITC PROJECTS OF INTEREST  
1. Joint ITC-ISO Workshop on "Linking Trade Promotion Organizations and National 
Standards Bodies for Export Success" and Jo int ITC-ISO Publication on the same topic 
12. ITC and ISO organized in partnership a re gional three-day workshop on "Linking TPOs and 
NSBs for Export Success", hosted by the Oficina N acional de Normalizacion (NC) in collaboration 
with the Centro de Promoción del Comercio Exterior  y la Inversión Extranje ra de Cuba (CEPEC) in 
Havana, Cuba from 24 to 26 November, 2010. 
13. Some 40 senior officials from NSBs and TPO s representing 22 countries from regions of 
South America, Caribbean and Central America e xplored how linkages between TPOs and NSBs can 
be strengthened to improve the international comp etitiveness of enterprises and developed joint action 
plans. The joint ISO-ITC publication "Building Linkages for Export Success"  was well received by 
delegates and considered a useful foundation to support the delivery of the workshop. This handbook 
is available in English, French and Spanis h and can be downloaded as PDF from ISO and ITC 
website2; hard copies can be ordered through the ITC and ISO websites respectively. The Swedish 
International Development Cooperation Agency (S ida) partly funded the regional workshop.  A joint 
ISO-ITC article on this event will be featured  in the April issue of the ISO Focus.  
                                                      
2 www.intracen.org/eqm/  (click on “Handbook and Bulletins”).  
  G/TBT/GEN/115 
 Page 3 
 
 
  14. ITC and ISO are planning to organise a third event for the Anglophone countries in Africa in 
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on 21-23 June 2011.  This  event follows on from the first two such regional 
events organized in Malaysia in December 2009, an d in Cuba in November 2010. The event would be 
hosted by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS ) in cooperation with Tanzania Trade Development 
Authority (TanTrade).  
2. Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) 
15. Exporters, producers and retailers can now compar e dozens of different voluntary standards in 
one place. The ITC new Standards Map website (www .standardsmap.org) is the first comprehensive 
database on voluntary standards such as Fairtrade, Fo rest Stewardship Council, Marine Stewardship 
Council, GlobalG.A.P. and others. 
16. Standards Map covers voluntary or ‘private ’ standards developed by non-governmental 
organizations and private entities. Compliance to  these standards is not legally required by 
governments or regulations, but it could lead to  more sustainable environmental practices or 
potentially open up new markets.  
17. Standards Map was set up by ITC as privat e standards experienced unprecedented growth, 
becoming in many cases de facto requirements for Southern exporters wishing to enter developed 
country markets. Accompanying this growth is an  increasing need for information and transparency.  
18. There are currently 30 standards or codes of conduct available for comparison on the website. 
These standards operate in more than 140 countries and collectively certify or verify over 60 product 
groups. Additional standards will be continually added to the website. The website will be translated 
into Spanish and French by the end of April 2010.  
19. For more information about T4SD, please c ontact Joseph Wozniak, Programme Manager 
(wozniak@intracen.org). 
3. ACCESS! Programme 
20. The ACCESS! Programme, initiated under the Canadian-funded Programme for building 
African Capacities for Trade (PACT), is a gender-fo cused, regional trade support programme aimed at 
improving the trade support services offered to Afri can businesswomen in international trade, with a 
view to promoting their economic empowerment.  
21. The ACCESS! Programme's Business Counselling co mponent was started in partnership with 
UWEAL3 and CAWEE4, the ACCESS! Focal Point (AFP) institu tions in Uganda and Ethiopia, to 
provide post-training assistance, coaching and bus iness counselling services to participating women 
entrepreneurs, and will run over the course of the year 2011. Meanwhile, 19 AFPs (including 
UWEAL and CAWEE) have finalised their nationa l ACCESS! Export Training implementation plan 
which will be implemented during 2011 starting in the second quarter. 
4. Non-Tariff Measures project 
22. ITC assists countries to better understand the obstacl es to trade experienced by their business 
sectors when complying with non-tariff measures (NTM ). In this regard, ITC continued launching the 
NTM surveys in a number of countries including Keny a and Mauritius. NTM workshops were held in 
two countries where the survey had been complete d, namely Burkina Faso (8 November 2010) and 
                                                      
3 Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited. 
4 Center for African Women Economic Empowermen. G/TBT/GEN/115 
Page 4 
 
 
  Sri Lanka (22 November 2010). During the workshop s, a number of recommendations were made on 
technical barriers to trade, SPS,  and TBT, amongst others. In Burkina Faso, the need to streamline 
SPS infrastructure was identified. There was also a need  for accreditation of LNSP (‘Laboratoire 
National de Santé Publique’). In Sri Lanka this included developing capability of a designated trade 
support institution to provide comprehensive inform ation on technical requirements in export markets 
in a friendly and easy-to-understand language and to keep track of new developments. ITC continues 
to follow up with its local partners. 
23. For more information about NTM project, please contact  Ms Poonam Mohun, ITC, NTM 
Market Analyst, Market Analysis  and Research, Tel.:  +41 22 730 0277 - Fax:  +41 22 730 0577,  E-
mail:  mohun@intracen.org  
II. PUBLICATIONS AND BULLETINS 
A. ITC INTERNATIONAL TRADE FORUM MAGAZINE , ISSUE 3, 2010  QUALITY & STANDARDS 
(AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH , FRENCH AND SPANISH ) 
24. The Quality & Standards magazine issued in E nglish in 2010 is now also available in French 
and Spanish.  It looks at standards and quality and their role for the promotion of exports from 
developing countries. Online version is available at www.tradeforum.org . 
B. JOINT ITC AND ISO TOOL ON ENVIRONMENT  
25. ITC and ISO have released a new joint to ol "ISO 14001- Environmental Management 
Systems - Are You Ready?" in hard copy including an interactive, trilingual (E, F and S) software on 
CD-Rom. The tool aims at making easier for or ganizations to understa nd and implement an 
environmental management system (EMS) and enha nce their access to export markets.  The tool 
guides small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the requirements of the ISO standard.  
The tool is available from the ISO website and ITC e-shop ( http://www.intracen.org/about/e-shop/ ) in 
English, French and Spanish. 
26. For more information: 
Shyam K. Gujadhur 
ITC Senior Adviser on Standards and Quality Management 
Tel: +41 22 730 03 96 Fax: +41 22 730 05 76 
E-mail: gujadhur@intracen.org 
 Ludovica Ghizzoni,  
ITC Adviser on Export Quality Management  
Tel: +41 22 730 06 38  Fax: +41 22 730 05 76 
E-mail: ghizzoni@intracen.org 
Web address: www.intracen.org/eqm 
 E-mail address: quality@intracen.org
 
 
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