. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/940 
8 November 2010 
 (10-5965) 
  
  
 
REPORT (2010) OF THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 
 
 1. The Committee held its fifty-first to fifty-thir d regular meetings on 18-19 March, 25-26 June 
and 3-4 November 2010, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Aldo (Ami) Levin (Israel) and 
Mr. Amit Yadav (India).
1 
2. At each of the meetings in 2010, the Committe e heard statements from a number of Members 
informing the Committee of measures taken to ensu re the implementation and administration of the 
Agreement.  In total, since 1995, 121 Member s have submitted at least one Statement on 
implementation and administration under Ar ticle 15.2 of the TBT Agreement.   
3. New specific trade concerns were brought to th e attention of the Committee with regard to 
their potential adverse trade effects or inconsiste ncy with the Agreement, and the Committee heard 
exchanges on several trade concerns that have pr eviously been raised (G/TBT/GEN/74/series).  
4. During the reporting period, the Committee initia ted an exchange of experiences on issues 
under Future Work items agreed at the Fifth Trienni al Review of the Operation and Implementation of 
the Agreement under Article 15.4, concluded on 6 November 2009 (G/TBT/26), namely: good 
regulatory practice, conformity assessment proce dures, transparency and technical assistance.  
5. At its meeting on 24-25 March 2010, the Committ ee adopted the Fifteenth Annual Review of 
the Implementation and Operation of the TBT Ag reement under Article 15.3 (G/TBT/28).  At the 
same meeting, the Committee carried out the Fift eenth Annual Review of the Code of Good Practice 
for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of St andards.  This work w as based on the following 
background documents:  a list of standardizing bodies  that have accepted the Code in the period under 
review (G/TBT/CS/1/Add.14), a list of standardiz ing bodies that have accepted the Code since 1 
January 1995 (G/TBT/CS/2/Rev.16) and the Fifteenth Edition of the WTO TBT Standards Code Directory prepared by the ISO/IEC Information Centre. 
6. At its meeting of 23-24 June 2010, the Committe e granted ad hoc observer status to the 
International Telecommunications Union (ITU).  Also , the Committee held the Sixth Special Meeting 
on Procedures for Information Exchange on 22 June 2010.
2  This meeting addressed issues relating to:  
good practices in notification; electronic databases, operation of enquiry points, and transparency in 
standard-setting.  A summary report of the mee ting is contained in Annex 1 of G/TBT/M/51.  
7. At its meeting of 3-4 November, the Committee granted ad hoc observer status to the 
Southern African Development Community (SADC). 
 
                                                      
1 G/TBT/M/50-52. 
2 The programme for the Sixth Speci al Meeting on Procedures for Information Exchange is contained 
in G/TBT/GEN/100.  G/L/940 
Page 2  
 
  8. During the regular meetings of the TBT Comm ittee held in 2010, representatives of the 
Codex, IEC, ISO, ITC, OECD, OIML, UNECE, UNIDO and ITU updated the Committee on activities relevant to the work of the TBT Committee, including on technical assistance. 
 
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