WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/89 
7 September 2009 
 (09-4231) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES OF THE ITC  
(INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE)  
 
 
 The following information was provided  by the International Trade Centre
 at the 
TBT Committee meeting of 25-26 June 2009. 
 
_______________ 
 
I. PUBLICATIONS 
A. WORLD DIRECTORY OF INFORMATION SOURCES ON STANDARDS , CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT , 
ACCREDITATION , METROLOGY , TECHNICAL REGULATIONS , SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY 
MEASURES  
1. The above was published in June 2009.  The aim of this World Directory is to provide trade 
support institutions and exporters with references of useful addresses and contact details of 
organizations to enable them to  obtain relevant information, inter alia , on standards, technical 
regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, conformity assessment, accreditation and 
metrology. 
2. This World Directory, which is regularly update d online, can be consulted at the homepage of 
the International Trade Centre at the following address: http://www.intracen.org/eqm . The search 
engine gives you the opportunity to search by country,  by scope, by type of institution, and by name 
of institution. Click on the name of  an organization to see its contact details. This World Directory is 
not downloadable in pdf format. 
B. EXPORT QUALITY MANAGEMENT – AN ANSWER BOOK FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM -SIZED 
EXPORTERS  
3.  ITC and PTB (the German National Metrol ogy Institute) will join tly develop the second 
edition of the ITC publication on “Export Quality Management Book: An answer book for small-
medium sized exporters”. The current edition of the book has questions and answers related to the 
following: Technical regulations and standards, Pr oduct certification, Testing, Metrology, Quality 
management, ISO 9000, Other management systems, Accreditation, WTO, and ITC. The questions 
and answers directly related to SPS issues are rather limited. The second edition of the book will increase the number of questions and answers dea ling with SPS issues and will include questions and 
answers dealing, inter alia, with SPS measures,  ISO 22000 and private standards. The book is 
scheduled to be published next year. G/TBT/GEN/89 
Page 2  
 
  II. PROJECTS 
A. B
ANGLADESH LEATHER SERVICE CENTRE FOR EXPORT DEVELOPMENT  
 
4. Two laboratories of the Bangladesh College of  Leather Technology have been accredited by 
the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Cali bration Laboratories (NABL) of India in March 
2009. 
B. BANGLADESH QUALITY SUPPORT PROGRAMME (BQSP) 
1. Workshops on the WTO TBT Agreement 
5. As part of the BQSP, ITC is continuing its  support to Bangladesh through awareness-raising 
among specific exporting business sectors.  An important outcome of the workshop on The WTO 
Agreement on TBT: A Business Perspective  in February 2008, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was the 
identification of a pool of potential Bangladeshi traine rs from those trained.  Sector-specific experts 
were inducted to the team at a later stage.  Th e Trainers, coordinated by the National Consultant, 
customized, updated and further developed the tr aining modules for two export sectors of Bangladesh 
– Leather and leather products, and Textile and textile products. 
6. Following the initial training workshop conducte d by an International Consultant with the 
ITC Senior Adviser on Standards and Quality Mana gement, and two workshops by four Bangladeshi 
trainers under their supervision in 2008, the trai ners independently conducted a first workshop on 
“The WTO TBT Agreement: A Business Perspective”, exclusively for the country’s leather sector on 
28 March 2009.  
7. A second such workshop on “The WTO TB T Agreement: A Business Perspective” was 
conducted independently by the trainers in Chittagong on 26 April 2009.  This workshop was 
customized for textile and textile products.   
2. Light Engineering Sector (LES) 
8. For the purpose of creating awareness amongst li ght engineering enterprises and also for 
selection of six enterprises for providing them di rect technical assistance, two workshops entitled 
“Initiating Quality Improvement in the Light Engine ering Sector” were held in Dhaka (5 May 2009) 
and Bogra (10 May 2009).  Both the workshops were attended by participants from enterprises, 
potential trainers-cum-counsellors and representativ es of industry associations.  Six enterprises and 
six trainers-cum-counsellors were selected for hands-on assistance. 
3. Study tour in Thailand (TBT and SPS) 
9. A study tour was conducted for five participan ts from Bangladesh from 30 March to 4 April 
in Thailand. The study tour provided on-the-jo b training on actual operations,  and management 
techniques of SPS/TBT NEPs and also included vis its to private bodies. The knowledge obtained in 
the study tour will facilitate the implementation of  the action plans for TBT and SPS, especially the 
transparency provisions related to in formation retrieval and dissemination.  G/TBT/GEN/89 
 Page 3 
 
 
  C. BENIN “STRENGTHENING THE CAPACITY FOR TRADE SUPPORT INSTITUTIONS AND 
ENTERPRISES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPORTS ” 
10. A workshop will be organized in July to inform  stakeholders in the cashew nut sector about 
issues related, to operations management, quality an d packaging. This will be followed by advisory 
visits to a selected number of enterprises. A second wo rkshop is scheduled in the third quarter of this 
year, after follow-up visits would ha ve been conducted in these enterprises. 
D. CHAD “STRENGTHENING NATIONAL CAPACITY IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTEGRATED 
FRAMEWORK ” 
11. An advisory mission will be carried out for investigating the possibility of setting-up of a 
national standards body. 
12. For more information, please contact: 
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 Enterprise Value Chain –Export Quality Management  Tel: +41 22 730 06 38 Fax: +41 22 730 05 76 
E-mail: ghizzoni@intracen.org 
 Website: 
www.intracen.org/eqm  
E-mail address: quality@intracen.org  
 
__________