WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/W/283 
7 November 2007 
 (07-4846) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English/ 
 French/  Spanish 
 
 
CANADA - COSTA RICA COMPETITIVENESS DEVELOPMENT FUND PROJECTS  
NATIONAL QUALITY SYSTEM OF COSTA RICA 
 
Submission by Canada and Costa Rica
 
 
  The following communication, dated 5 November 2007, is being circulated at the request of the delegations of Canada
 and Costa Rica . 
 
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I. BACKGROUND 
1. In 2004, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) received a request from the 
Technical Regulations Unit of Costa Rica for tec hnical assistance to improve its regulatory review 
system.  CIDA asked the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) to facilitate the transfer of expertise to 
Costa Rica’s Technical Regulations Unit under th e Canada Costa Rica Competitiveness Development 
Fund (CDF). The CDF contributes to Canada's bila teral development assistance program objective to 
Costa Rica:  
To help the Costa Rican ministries charged with industrial development, 
competitiveness and trade, to better equip th e private sector to compete successfully 
in the global economy. 
2. The SCC is a Crown Corporation with a mandate  to coordinate standardization activities in 
Canada and to represent Canada in ternationally in this area.  SCC also operates Canada’s Enquiry 
Point on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. 
3. Costa Rica’s Law on Quality was enacted in 20 02. It created the National Quality Committee 
(CONAC) which oversees the National Qaulity Syst em (NQS). CONAC consists of four member 
organizations: ORT – Órgano de Reglamentación Técn ica of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and 
Trade (MEIC), ECA – Ente Costarricense de Acredi tación, INTECO - Instituto de Normas Técnicas 
de Costa Rica, and LACOMET – Laboratorio Cost arricense de Metrología.  ORT and ECA were 
created by the Law on Quality. 
4. Three capacity-building projects were identified under the CDF: 
(a) Good Regulatory Practice (GRP) (including TBT Notification Centre) with ORT;. 
(b) Standards Information and De velopment with INTECO; and 
(c) Conformity Assessment with ECA. G/TBT/W/283 
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  5. All three projects addressed the CDF priorities of  contributing to the elimination of technical 
barriers to trade and competitiveness while ensuring significantly improved regulations and standards.   
II. GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICES – ORT  
6. The GRP project was designed to assist ORT to  overcome development challenges affecting 
the economic competitiveness of the private sector at national, regional and inte rnational levels while 
at the same time guaranteeing protection to cons umers. Assistance was provided in four areas: 
(a) development of a procedures manual based  on the principles of good regulatory 
practice and efficient (SMART) regulation to enable officials to revise new and 
existing regulations; 
(b) building understanding of the substan tive obligations of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and 
increasing the capacity of ORT to implement these obligations; 
(c) strengthening ORT capacity to provide clie nts with access to e-information on WTO 
notifications; and, 
(d) providing ORT and other stakeholders in  Costa Rica an increased understanding, 
knowledge, and buy-in of the WTO/TBT obligations, specifically focusing on ORT’s 
capacity to fulfill its obligations as the National Notification Authority. 
7. The result of the project is expected to be reflected in simplified government procedures, 
boosting business efficiency and providing greater  access for small and medium enterprises to 
important resources and markets. 
III. STANDARDS INFORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT - INTECO 
8. The standards project was designed to assist INTECO, Costa Rica’s national standards body, 
to enhance its standards information services and improve its standards development processes by:  
(a) Developing competencies for operating a state-of-the-art ISONET standards 
information center; and,  
(b) Transfering knowledge from the Canadian  National Standards System model, 
including good practices on standards deve lopment, as well as an evaluation audit of 
the INTECO system.  
9. It is believed that the strengthening of INTEC O as Costa Rica’s National Standards Body will 
enhance the private sector’s competitiveness. 
IV. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT (ACCREDITATION) - ECA 
10. Accreditation, as part of a larger national st andardization infrastructure, has become a 
prerequisite for market access and international tr ade. It has proven its benefits to governments, 
regulators, and the private sector and provides opport unities for developing countries to participate in 
multilateral arrangements (MLAs).   The project was designed to assist ECA by: 
(a) Providing ECA and other stakeholders in Costa Rica with an increased 
understanding, knowledge, a nd appreciation of the value of accreditation for the  G/TBT/W/283 
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  public sector,  the private sector and the pub lic leading to a more sustainable National 
Quality System (NQS); 
(b) Enhancing  ECA’s laboratory accreditation program; 
(c) Developing ECA’s accreditation programs for Product Certification (PC) 
organizations; and, 
(d) Developing ECA’s accreditation programs fo r organizations for Quality Management 
Systems (QMS), and Environmental Management Systems (EMS) registration. 
11. It is believed that these projects will allow EC A to operate an improved national accreditation 
program with greater capacity to participate intern ationally as well as to provide additional credibility 
to Costa Rican enterprises. 
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECTS 
12. Overall the implementation of the GRP, standards and accreditation projects has been smooth. 
The most challenging period of the project was its development which took nearly 18 months for the first project alone.  
13. The project required the involvement of 18 Ca nadian experts, who provided training to 
personnel from the Costa Rican partner organizations and other stakeholders (private sector chambers, 
government ministries, etc.). It led to 16 visits by  Canadian personnel to Costa Rica and involved five 
internships for Costa Rican personnel in Canada. 
A. P
LANNING  
14. Defining the project requirements required the S CC to make two visits to Costa Rica and 
involved extensive on-going communication between the SCC and Costa Rican authorities. In 
response to the original request from Costa Rica , the SCC worked to: first, understand the needs 
expressed; and second, determine what could be delive red within the scope of the SCC’s expertise as 
well as within the time and funding parameters of the project. This was a lengthy process given that it required extensive information exchange among SCC and the Costa Rican partners, as well as 
building an understanding of the standardization business with those outside the system, including 
CIDA. This was key to agreeing on outcomes and managing expectations.   
15. Project approval involved a two step process: 1)  approval of concept pa pers and, 2) approval 
of proposals. Some proposals considered were determined not to be eligible for funding. 
B. E
XECUTION  
16. Execution of the project was smooth from the outset.  Most of the work was conducted by 
SCC staff, which simplified project management.  Critical elements of successful execution were: 
(a) sound and repeated contact (often redundant to ensure nothing was “lost in 
translation”); communication was especially im portant just before visits to clarify 
final expectations, and right after to ensu re feedback was well-documented. This 
aided planning the next trips; 
(b) scheduling visits, coordinating logistics and preparing the necessary training 
materials well ahead of time and confirming expectations  (i.e. at least 2-3 months 
prior); G/TBT/W/283 
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  (c) strong involvement of CIDA personnel in Cost a Rica for the first year of the project, 
which ensured good understanding of needs; and, 
(d) bringing the Costa Rican partners, including the Chambers of Industry, etc., together 
early and regularly to break down barriers among organizations and help set project 
goals. 
VI. CONSTRAINTS AND LESSONS LEARNT 
17. Conducting work across boundaries has specific cons trains and requirements, many of which 
are predictable but nonetheless important to account for: 
(a) Language capabilities – while some experts from Costa Rica spoke English, most, 
and especially the senior management did not,  so translation and interpretation were 
ongoing requirements.  Training materials had to be translated well in advance to 
ensure accuracy of delivery.  The quality of the interpreters was key to ensuring 
technical specifics were correctly conveyed .  Two interpreters, both of very high 
quality and reliability, were identified early in the project.  Having two translators 
familiar with the projects was important to avoid delays.  Having a project manager 
fluent in English and Spanish was a significant advantage; 
(b) Timing – the CIDA funds must be used by the end of December 2007 for INTECO 
and ORT, and March 2008 for ECA. This c onstraint ensured focus but also limited 
flexibility, especially if gaps were identified that needed more time to resolve. For the 
most part, however, this was not problematic since the scope of work was such that it could be accomplished in the time frame set out; 
(c) Impact on SCC staff resources: the SCC’s main focus is not capacity building and 
there is a very limited number of experts w ith the necessary skills in standardization 
and regulation.  These experts are already in high demand for other core work on behalf of SCC. Some of the work requi red experts in management positions since 
they were the only ones with sufficient experience in these fields. This required 
careful, typically long-range scheduling, with limited flexibility for change if 
required. For the Costa Rican partners, the impact on staff resources was also significant since their organizations are relatively small, so any training or visits greatly impacted their operations; 
(d) Institutional and local culture – reporting,  information, expectations – not just 
country-specific culture, but organizational cultures.  The degree of management 
control and involvement in the day to day varied among the partners. This impacted 
reporting relationships and expectations, w ith all sides having to build understanding 
and accommodate each others protocol of functioning.  From a local culture perspective, it was important to keep in mind that what might be identified as a small 
gap for SCC, might be viewed as a major w eakness for the partner. This could happen 
for many reasons, including political. It was important, therefore, to ensure that the 
Costa Rican partner reviewed reports and w as satisfied with the findings and the way 
they were portrayed.  The technical nature of the projects tempered this constraint; 
(e) Change of personnel – Canada  and Costa Rica. Costa Rica had some change in 
personnel (two permanent, one temporary).  In Canada, the project coordinator role 
changed three times.  Continuity wa s nonetheless possible through extensive 
documentation which also ensured minimal knowledge loss.   G/TBT/W/283 
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  18. If there are two elements of success that  need to be highlighted, they are communication  and 
documentation .  The need for effective communication is  obvious, but it cannot be overstated.  
Projects of this nature need to be set up for e ffective communication.  To do this, communication 
must be frequent, clear and usually needs to be repeated .  Clear communication will avoid erroneous 
assumptions (which are common across cultures a nd organizations) and e rroneous expectations. 
Documentation has proven its value as personnel have changed, and helps ensure the sustainability of 
improvements over the long term, which ultim ately is the true measure of success.  
19. This document was prepared jointly by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and Costa 
Rica’s Órgano de Reglamentación Técnica (ORT). 
 
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