WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/W/252 
8 June 2005 
 
 (05-2333) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
FOURTH TRIENNIAL REVIEW OF THE AGREEMENT ON  
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
 
Communication from the People’s Republic of China 
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 7 June 2005, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the People's Republic of China. 
 
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 I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The Fourth Triennial Review of the Technical  Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBTA), to be 
completed by the end of next year, offers an oppor tunity for the Committee to  "review the operation 
and implementation of this Agreement, including th e provisions relating to transparency, with a view 
to recommending an adjustment of the rights and obligations of this Agreement where necessary to 
ensure mutual economic advantage and balance of rights and obligations, without prejudice to the 
provisions of Article 12…."(Article 15.4 TBTA).  This  is the first time that China has participated in 
the whole process of the Review for the TBTA sin ce its accession to the WTO.  China regards this 
Review as an important opportunity to clarify some  elements of the Agreement in order to better 
facilitate its implementation by all Members. 
2. Following the Work Programme  agreed by the TBT Committee for the Fourth Triennial 
Review, China submitted topics for the Review in mid-February this year as (i) transparency, 
(ii) technical assistance, (iii) special and differential treatment,  and (iv) intellectual property rights 
issues in standardization. 
3. Transparency, technical assistance and special and differential treatment have been on the list 
of topics for all the previous three Triennial Revi ews, and also as agenda items for all Committee 
meetings.  This demonstrates the significance of these issues to the implementation and operation of 
the Agreement. 
II. TRANSPARENCY 
A. B
ACKGROUND  
4. Transparency is one of the main principles of  the TBT Agreement, many discussions have 
been held within the Committee and some important  achievements have been made.  It is clearly 
recommended in Chapter III, paragraph 6 of document G/TBT/1/Rev.8 that "the normal time limit for 
comments on notifications should be 60 days".  Howe ver, China realizes that some issues remain to 
be further clarified, for example, the counting of  (calculation method for) the comment period;  time 
provided (required) for considering (taking into account ) the comments made (between the end of 
comment period and adoption of the notified tec hnical regulations and conformity assessment 
procedures);  the acquisition of the proposals, or final texts of the notified or ratified technical G/TBT/W/252 
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 regulations and conformity assessment procedures;  the adaptation period between the adoption of the 
technical regulations and conformity assessment pr ocedures and their entry into force;  and the 
sharing of translations, etc.  
5. The counting of comment period .  Due to the absence of specific recommendations, it often 
results in less than 60 days for inviting comments (nea rly 40 per cent of all TBT notifications made on 
the normal basis in 2004 provided a less-than 60 day comment period).  The insufficient comment 
period has prevented Members from exerci sing their rights to submit comments.  
6. The time required for considering comments.   Article 2.9.4 of TBTA provides "without 
discrimination, allow reasonable time for other Members to make comments in writing, discuss these 
comments upon request, and take these written comments and results of these discussions into account".  However, no recommendation or stipulation exists now for th e interval to take into account 
the comments made on notification.  
7. The acquisition of the notified documents.  Sometimes, the full text of the notified 
documents are only available from the regulatory aut horities instead of national enquiry points and it 
could take quite some time to communicate with these regulatory authorities for the full texts, and 
occasionally, no response is provided even after the comment period concludes.  
8. The final text of notified documents.  Mostly, the final text of notified technical regulations 
or conformity assessment procedures may deviate from the original notification due to comments 
taken etc. It is important for Members to know wh ether their comments have been taken into account 
and whether there are deviations from the originally  notified text, so that the producers could better 
meet the new technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures.  
9. The adaptation period.  Pursuant to Articles 2.12 and 5.9, Members must leave a reasonable 
interval between the publication of technical regul ations and conformity assessment procedures and 
their entry into force, except in the case of urgent circumstances.  The objective of this requirement is 
to allow time for producers in e xporting Members, and particularly in developing country Members, 
to adapt their products or methods of production to the requirements of the importing Members.  
10. The Committee has incorporated the Doha Ministerial Decision in Chapter X of 
G/TBT/1/Rev.8, stating that " the phrase 'reasonable interval' had to be understood to mean normally a 
period of not less than six months, except when th is would be ineffective to fulfil the legitimate 
objectives pursued."  At the Third Triennial Review, the Committee reiterated the importance of this 
decision.  
11. Sharing translations. Notified documents in national languages can make it difficult for 
Members to comment.  As some Members often have  these documents translated into English, it 
would be very useful if their transl ations could be shared among Members. 
B. S
UGGESTIONS  
12. China would like to make the following suggestions:  
(a) The interval to take into account the co mments made on notification be no less than 
15 days; 
(b) Notifying Members make sure that the full te xt of the notified documents are always 
available at the national enquiry point, and/ or as an alternative, provide the URL in 
the notification form as appropriate so th at Members could download the full text;  G/TBT/W/252 
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 (c) The adopted final text be notified as an addendum to the original notification, 
pointing out the deviations from the original notification if there are any, and providing the URL or link for downloading the full text as appropriate, which will 
help exporters in other Members adjust production to meet the requirements of the importing Members and facilitate the trade; 
(d) The TBT Committee unify the date of notification as the date of circulation by the 
Secretariat, and notifying Members allow no less than 60 days for inviting comments; 
(e) Members share their translation of notified documents through their websites or the 
WTO website; 
(f) Developed Members be encouraged to provide  an adaptation period of more than six 
months so that producers in Developing Country Members could have relatively 
sufficient time to adapt to the new technical requirements;  and 
(g) The Committee continue its discussion on the transparency issue for the 4
th Triennial 
Review and make recommendations as necessary.  
III. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (TA) 
A. BACKGROUND  
13. Technical assistance has been an impor tant issue under discussion on the occasion of 
Triennial Reviews. The TBT Committee has been making efforts in this regard to ensure the 
implementation of Article 11 of TBTA. China belie ves it is necessary to continue such a discussion 
and make further recommendations as necessary. 
1. TA provided on an urgent basis  
14. To date, the Committee has completed (i) the design of a survey to assist developing countries 
in needs identification;  and (ii) an identification and prioritization by developing and least developed 
country Members of their specific needs. The Co mmittee has been discussing how to better match the 
demand and supply of technical assisstence.  It seems that solutions are coming out through the 
discussions.  
15. However, sometimes TA needs to be provided on an urgent and ad hoc basis, for example, 
when developing Members have difficulties in fulf illing the new technical requirements of developed 
Members which are often complicated and beyond the capacity of developing Members to meet. 
Therefore, it is necessary for Members making su ch technical requirements to grant technical 
assistance regarding the methods by which their technical  regulations can best be met, in order not to 
adversely affect bilateral trade . 
2. The webpage of Technical Assistance related to Technical Barriers to Trade 
16. The Committee has made some decisions on Technical Assistance in Document 
G/TBT/1/Rev.8.  The Committee has develope d the webpage for Technical Assistance 
(http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/tbt_tech_e.h tm) related to Technical Barriers to Trade. 
Members also suggested that the website should be si mple, dynamic and user-friendly.  It seems that 
there is still room for its improvement. G/TBT/W/252 
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 3. Making full use of the survey of TA needs 
17. 53 Members have submitted responses to the "Questionnaire for a Survey to Assist 
Developing Country Members to Identify and Prioritize their Specific Needs in the TBT Field"(G/TBT/W/178). The Secretariat has co mpiled and analyzed the responses received 
(G/TBT/W/186 and Add.1, G/TBT/W/193). According to the analysis, the area of TA needs is very 
broad.  
18. China believes the Committee should encour age the developed Members and related 
international or regional organiza tions to give a positive response to these TA needs submitted by the 
developing Members. Though most TA projects are impl emented on a bilateral basis, the role of the 
Secretariat and the Committee is irreplaceable in pushing forward and organizing some TA activities.  
A. S
UGGESTIONS  
19. China would like to make the following suggestions: 
(a) That the Committee collect more informati on and add updated TA information, both 
bilaterally and regionally provided.  Deta iled information such as summary of the 
project, the donor information, the beneficiary information, final goal, content, 
duration, total amount of TA, and the outcome should be provided.  Useful 
documents, training materials should be provided if possible, so that interested 
Members could participate in the TA; 
(b) That the webpage include an ongoing  column, which provides news on the finished 
or ongoing TA project. This can easily catch  the attention of potential information 
users. The website should also be able to support TA information subscription 
through E-mail registration, following the TBT/SPS notification subscription format;  
(c) That the Committee discuss how developing  Members can obtain the TA for urgent 
need on an ad hoc basis from the developed Members in the 4th Triennial Review; and 
(d) That the Secretariat and the Committee annually prioritize addressing certain 
common, or urgent, needs or by providing training courses, or holding seminars, for 
example, within the limitation of the available resources. 
IV. SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT 
20. China believes it is necessary to discuss the impl ementation of Article 12 of TBTA so as to 
have the developing Members substantially en joy the special and differential treatment. 
A. SUGGESTIONS  
21. China suggests: 
(a) Developed Members inform the Committee of the S&D Treatment given to the 
developing Members and LDCs, and the de veloping Members and LDCs explain how 
they have benefited from the S&D Treatm ent of the developed Members;  and 
(b) The Committee publish an annual report on the S&D Treatment. 
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