WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/55 
12 July 2007 
 (07-2964) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
IEC REPORT TO THE WTO TBT COMMITTEE  
 
 
 The following information was provided by th e International Electrotechnical Commission
 
(IEC) at the TBT Committee meeting of 5 July 2007  under Agenda Item 4 (Updating by Observers). 
 
 
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1. The IEC is pleased to report on its membership, the programme for developing countries, IEC 
conformity assessment activities, its regional centr es, and cooperation with other international 
organizations. 
I. MEMBERSHIP 
2. Cuba joined the IEC as an Associate Member in May, and has now access to all IEC 
International Standards and working documents (draft  standards) in addition to voting rights on four 
technical committees. 
3. The IEC Family now counts 143 countries co mprising 68 Members and 75 Affiliates (see 
Affiliate Country Programme below).  
4. Following continued reductions in its membersh ip costs as part of its Masterplan 2006 
Strategic Action Plan, several developing countries have shown their intention to join the IEC.  
Eleven Affiliate countries have already estab lished national electrotechnical committees, a 
prerequisite to working more closely with the IEC. 
II. AFFILIATE COUNTRY PROGRAMME 
5. One of the primary aims of the IEC Affiliate Country Programme is to encourage developing 
countries to use and adopt IEC International Standard s.  In this respect, th e Programme has recorded 
continued success: 
• 52 Affiliate countries have now started an electr onic library of IEC International Standards;  
• Trinidad and Tobago has started to adopt IEC Standards; and 
• In total, 2200 IEC International Standards are now used as national standards in 26 
Affiliate countries. 
6. The IEC Affiliate Country Programme, which w as established in 2001, is a free programme 
which has enabled 75 countries to become familiar  with IEC’s International Standards and its 
technical work programme.  The Programme now counts 75 participants following the change in 
Cuba’s status from Affiliate to IEC Member. 
 G/TBT/GEN/55 
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  7. Since the March 2007 TBT Committee meeting, 17 new experts from IEC Affiliates have 
been nominated by their respectiv e countries (the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Togo, Trinidad and 
Tobago).  This brings the total number of ex perts who have access to IEC standardization 
development process from the Affiliates to 228.  
8. Carlos Rodríguez of Costa Rica has continued to represent the interests of  the Affiliates in the 
IEC as the Leader of the Programme.  Highlights include: 
• He has pursued his commitment to encourage Affiliates to establish a fully representative 
national electrotechnical committee that will serve better their developing economies; 
• He has encouraged Affiliates to participat e in IEC standardization activities and adopt 
IEC Standards; 
• In addition, he has facilitated the use of Sp anish translations of the IEC Standards as 
supplied by the Spanish-speaking members of  the IEC for IEC Affiliates to use in 
adopting relevant IEC Standards. 
III. REGIONAL CENTRES 
9. The new IEC Regional Centre for Latin Ameri ca (IEC-LARC) was officially inaugurated in 
São Paulo, Brazil, in May 2007. The Regional Manage r is Mr. Amaury Santos and his contact details 
are: 
IEC Latin America Regional Centre (IEC-LARC) 
Av. Paulista, 1439 - 11° Andar - Cj 114 - Bela Vista  
São Paulo - SP - Brazil - CEP 01311-200 
Telephone: +(55) 11 3289 1544  
Telefax:  +(55) 11 3289 0882 Email:   as@iec.ch 
 
10. The IEC-LARC is the focal point and resource for the IEC in Latin American, helping to: 
• Promote awareness of the IEC in the region;  
• Increase the use of IEC International Standard s and IEC Conformity Assessment Schemes;  
• Enhance participation and membership of countries in the region.  
 11. All of the above will be achieved by improve d communication with businesses, industries and 
governments in the region.  Located in central Sã o Paulo, the IEC-LARC offers meeting facilities for 
IEC activities.  
12. The IEC-LARC also coordinates and organizes training events and seminars and workshops 
that match the needs of the region.  Events range from seminars on the use of IT tools in the IEC to 
workshops on specific technical areas. 
13. The IEC Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (located in Singapore) continues to support IEC 
Members and Affiliates in the Asia-Pacific region,  most notably with training sessions in Lao PDR 
(Affiliate) and Cambodia (Affiliate), including assistan ce in establishing its national electrotechnical 
committee.  In addition, through its regional centre th e IEC continues to participate in all relevant 
APEC and ASEAN groupings.  G/TBT/GEN/55 
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  IV. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION 
14. Since the last TBT meeting, the IEC has pa rticipated in two WTO regional workshops 
(Bahrain and Botswana).  
15. A special joint meeting in Cartagena, Colombia  in April, of two key regional bodies for the 
Americas (COPANT) and the Pacifi c Rim (PASC) provided an opportunity for IEC President Renzo 
Tani to update the respective memberships on IEC activities. 
16. IEC participated in SADCSTAN General M eeting held on 25 April in Antananarivo, 
Madagascar, and took the opportunity to conduct trai ning at the Bureau des Normes de Madagascar 
(BNM), also helping to establish a national electrotechnical committee by meeting with BNM 
stakeholders. 
17. On 28-29 May, the IEC attended the electrotechni cal standardization forum organized by the 
African electrical utilities (UPDEA) in Cape Town, South Africa.  IEC shared its experience during 
the African Electrotechnical Standardizati on Commission (AFSEC) stakeholders’ forum. 
18. In an effort to help the experts supporti ng the assistance provided by the United Nations 
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to developing nations, the IEC joined ILAC at a 
training session in May aimed at helping the UNIDO  experts to understand better the conformity 
assessment world and the possibilities offered by the peer assessment model (IEC) and the 
accreditation model (ILAC). 
19. As part of IEC efforts to coor dinate its developing countries prog ramme with that of its sister 
organization, ISO, the International Organizati on for Standardization, the IEC undertook several 
initiatives including: 
• The IEC Affiliate Country Programme was pre sented at the ISO DEVCO Chair’s Advisory 
Group in March.  This session provided the opportunity for this specialist ISO group to understand better the IEC’s programme for deve loping nations and find areas to improve co-
ordination and co-operation; 
• In addition, the IEC’s Conformity Assessmen t Board Secretary participated in an ISO 
regional workshop on conformity assessm ent held in South Africa in May. 
20. IEC continued its coordination efforts with JCDCMAS, the grouping of the world’s leading 
organizations in metrology, accreditation and standard ization. While not an organization in its own 
right, JCDCMAS does offer the potential for organi zations to coordinate their assistance to 
developing countries (avoiding, for example, duplication of training etc.). 
V. FURTHER INFORMATION 
21. If you have any questions relating to this report,  or would like to receive further information 
on the IEC, its work and its International Standa rds and Conformity Assessment activities, please do 
not hesitate to contact our Geneva Offi ce or one of the IEC regional centres: 
IEC Central Office 
3, rue de Varembé P.O. Box 131 CH - 1211 Geneva 20 
Switzerland 
Tel: +(41) 22 919 02 11 Fax:  +(41) 22 919 03 00 G/TBT/GEN/55 
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  Email:  info@iec.ch 
 www.iec.ch  IEC Asia-Pacific Regional Centre  2 Bukit Merah Central 
SPRING Singapore Building 
SP - Singapore 159835 Tel: +(65) 6279 1831 Fax: +(65) 6278 7573 Email:  dch@iec.ch 
 
IEC Latin America Regional Centre  Av. Paulista, 1439 - 11° Andar Cj 114 - Bela Vista BR - São Paulo - SP – Brazil 
CEP 01311-200.  
Tel:  +(55) 11 3289 1544 Fax:  +(55) 11 3289 0882 Email: as@iec.ch  IEC Regional Centre for North America  
446 Main Street, 16th Floor 
US - Worcester, MA 01608 United States of America  Tel: +(1) 508 755 5663 Fax:  +(1) 508 755 5669 
Email:  tro@iec.ch 
 
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