G/TBT/2/Add.127/Suppl.1  
 
12 March 2020  
(20-1950) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: French  
 
  
IMPLEMENTATION AND A DMINISTRATION OF THE  AGREEMENT  
STATEMENTS FROM MEMB ERS UNDER ARTICLE 15 .2 
Statement by  Côte d'Ivoire to the  Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  
26-27 February  2020 
The following communication, dated 26 February 2020, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Côte d'Ivoire . 
 
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1.  I am taking the floor today  to inform  you of the implementation of the TBT Agreement in Côte 
d’Ivoire. My name is  Agnimel Fréjus  Lasme  and I am responsible for  international trade agreement s 
at the Direct orate for International and Subregional Cooperation  in the  Ministry of Trade and 
Industry . 
2.  In Februar y 2015, Côte d’Ivoire officially established by decree  the National Inter -Institutional 
Advisory Committee on WTO Agreement s (CNIC -OMC), which is responsible for coordinating the 
implementation of WTO agreements , as well as all multilateral matters related  to international trade . 
3.  This entity comprises focal points  and representatives of government and parastatal agencies , 
the private sector and civil society working on  international trade matters . The CNIC-OMC meets 
once every three months  and whenever the need arises . Furthermore , there are subcommittees for 
matters that may be specific to an agreement or topic area , such as  the SPS/TB T subcommittee , 
which meets once every two months , or at the request of the Chair . 
4.  At the national level , thanks to technical assistance  activities, particularly  the regional trade 
policy course  and the WTO national SPS workshop i n Decemb er 2018,  the SPS/TBT subcommittee's 
attention has been drawn to aspects of the transparency  principle and, more specifically , the non-
notification of certain me asures. Thus, since early 2019, the subcommittee has been compil ing the 
technical regulations that are already in force or have been proposed . The matter was  referred to  
the notification authority  in July 2019 and our first notifications were submitted through the TBT IMS 
online notification system that month . 
5.  In addition , following the regional TBT workshop held by the WTO  in Abidjan  in October 2019, 
the status of notifications by country revealed tha t Article 15.2 on the implementation of the 
Agreement  had not yet  been notified . 
6.  This workshop was attended by key players , namely the notification authority , Côte d'Ivoire 
Normalisation  (CODINORM), the Directorate for Control and Quality , as well as the Service 
responsible for the conformity assessment procedure ( VOC), which led to  the organi zation of  working 
sessions of the SPS/TBT subcommittee  in October 2019 . The draft notification was then shared with 
all CNIC -OMC members  for comments . 
7.  The Secretariat, which assisted us in this process, must be commended for its invaluable support . 
Côte d’Ivoire  eventually  notified  Article 15.2  on 15 January 2020.  G/TBT/2/Add.127/Suppl.1  
 
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  8.  With regard to the implementation  of the TBT Agreement in  Côte d’Ivoire, the country is keeping 
track of  TBT measures taken  at the  international  level, with notifications regularly published on eP ing 
for some time  now. In addition, meetings to raise awareness on this information tool have been 
planned  so that all stakeholders can make better use of it. 
9.  To conclude , I would like to highlight that, to date, Côte d’Ivoire  has notified 18 me asures , 
including : 
• 16 technical regulations , 
• one measure li nked to conformity assessment  procedures and  
• one notification on the implementation of the TBT Agreement . 
10.  Efforts to  compil e regulatory texts are ongoing  so as to fully ensure  transparenc y. 
11.  We wish to once again thank the WTO  for its technical assistance a nd, above all, continued 
capacity  building . 
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