WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/W/102/Add.1 
22 April 2008 
 (08-1928) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 
 
Explanatory Note on TN/MA/W/102
 
 
Communication from the People’s Republic of China 
 
Addendum  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 17 April 2008,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the People’s Republic of China.  
 
_______________ 
   
 
  China appreciates the comments made by members on China’s NTB proposal on fireworks. 
Having taken due considerations of the comment s raised by members in the NTB meeting on 
17th March 2008, China would like to make further clarifications on the following concerned issues: 
 
1. International Standards of Fireworks 
  At present, the standards of fireworks of some major importing members such as the US, the 
EU, Japan, Canada, Australia and Korea differ greatly  in terms of classification, sampling, technical 
specifications, testing items and methods, etc. Ta king the classification of fireworks for instance, 
some members’ classifications are based on display site, some are based on motion model, some are 
based on effects of display function, some are ev en based on charge weight. Taking the fusing time 
for another example, for the same fireworks, so me members specify a 2-6 seconds fusing time, some 
specify 3-9 seconds, some 9-12 seconds, and still some  even 9-15 seconds. The diversified standard 
requirements in different members fo rce manufacturers, when exporting to  different target markets, to 
adjust their production to a variety of standards fo r the same kind of products, which not only creates 
great difficulties in their manufacture and manage ment, but increases tremendously the risks of 
production and costs of trade. 
  In spite of the great efforts that China’s fire works enterprises have made, they still feel that 
it’s hard to meet those various and different requi rements of fireworks standards. Therefore, China 
proposes that the WTO urges relevant international standardization bodies to development as soon as 
possible international fireworks st andards, so as to promote the production and trade of fireworks 
effectively and efficiently. This is also in accord ance with article 12.6 of the TBT Agreement which 
stipulates that “Members shall take such reasonabl e measures as may be available to them to ensure 
that international standardizing bodies, upon requ est of developing country Members, examine the 
possibility of, and, if practicable, prepare intern ational standards concerning products of special 
interest to developing country Members.” 
 TN/MA/W/102/Add.1 
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  2. Conformity Assessment Procedures 
 At present, some WTO members require that, the firework samples must be sent to their 
designated domestic testing bodies for sample tests or t ype tests before importing, so as to testify that 
the samples conform to their technical regulations  or standards. This exclusive requirement of 
designating their own domestic testing bodies creat es discrimination to testing bodies within the 
territory of other members. In addition, this pr actice not only goes against the UN Requirements of 
the Rules of Transportation of Dangerous Goods (F ireworks being dangerous chemicals, there are 
huge risks in the overseas transportation of the unc lassified fireworks sampl es), but also violates 
Article 5.2.6 of the TBT Agreement that “the siting of facilities used in conformity assessment 
procedures and the selection of samples are not such as to cause unnecess ary inconvenience to 
applicants or their agents”.   To guarantee the safety in production, transpor tation and consumption of fireworks, Chinese 
enterprises and government authorities of the e xporting Members such as China input tremendous 
personnel and financial resources in safety tes ting facilities, testing capacity building and the 
construction of testing standards, and has estab lished preliminary laboratory networks necessary to 
self-testing by enterprises, and periodic testing by go vernment authorities. Relevant laboratories have 
established their quality-control systems in light of Standard ISO/IEC 17025, and have strong testing 
capacities to meet the requirements in safe ty tests and type tests of fireworks. 
 
 In this regard, importing members should positively consider the possibilities of accrediting 
laboratories of exporting members which run under IS O/IEC 17025 standard within framework of the 
ILAC Agreements, and recognizing their testing results on this basis. Importing members are 
encouraged to make full use of the technical  resources of exporting members (standards and 
laboratories) in the conformity assessment of firewo rks, and conduct testing cooperation such as joint 
experiments and visual tests, etc. 
  The United Nations Economic a nd Social Council's Committee of Experts on the Transport of 
dangerous Goods (UN/TDG&GHS has prepared “R ecommendations on the Transport of Dangerous 
Goods” and “Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Manual of  Tests and Criteria”, 
which stipulate fireworks classification in terms of 1.1G, 1.2G, 1.3G, 1.4G and 1.4S. To facilitate the 
conduct of fireworks international trade, in the li ght of Article 5.4 and 6.1 of the TBT Agreement, 
importing members shall accept fireworks hazard cl assification certificates issued by competent 
laboratories of exporting Member in accordance with UN Series 6 Test of the United Nations 
Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. 
  Some importing Members set stringent registra tion or approvals requirements on fireworks, 
and these registration or approvals ar e often unduly delayed. As for th e periods for registration, some 
Members are 1-2 months, some are 1-3 months, so me others are 2-3 months, and some are even 
7-12 months. 
 
 To improve efficiency, shorten the pro cessing period and reduce unnecessary costs, taking 
account of the actual testing period. It’s suggested to finish registration or approval and issue the 
registration code within 60 da ys and avoid undue delay. 
 
 Current conformity assessment procedures of fireworks of major importing members are 
considerable complicated. Firstly, sample test  or type testing must be passed by designated 
organization to ensure the conformity with the requ irements of technical regulations or standards. 
Secondly, export products are inspected lot by lot; Moreover, import samplings or market 
surveillances are reserved. Only in sampling, taki ng a common shipment of 500 firework products for 
example, the above triple tests consume 39-60 samples, which account for 8%-12% of the total 
shipment. These conformity assessment procedures overlap in requirements and are much too  TN/MA/W/102/Add.1 
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  complex, causing unnecessary delay and obstacles to international trade, and increasing export cost of 
fireworks significantly.  
 With respect to the principle of trade fac ilitating of the WTO, it’s suggested that importing 
members simplify their conformity assessment procedures conditionally. Namely, those firework tested by exporting members’ competent testi ng bodies should be exempt from pre-shipment 
inspection and port inspection. 
 3. Labelling 
 Presently, the labelling requirements of firework s of members differ from each other greatly 
in terms of content, pattern, colour difference and position, etc. As for content, some Members require 
charge weights to be contained, some require fuse location, some require relevant standards, some 
others require the whole information of manufacturer  or importer, and some even require labelling in 
more than one language. Manufacturers have to prepare a number of kinds of labels for the same kind 
of fireworks to meet the different requirements of  importing countries, which brings to a significant 
increase of production and management cost. 
 
 Meanwhile, some importing countries revise their labeling requirement for contents periodically or aperiodically, which brings the result that the products with old version label can’t be 
exported as expected. Re-labeling usually delays the shipment and causes overstock due to missing 
the selling season.   Therefore, with regard to the unnecessary barri ers to the exporters created by the current 
complicated, divergent and unpredictable changing labeling requirements, China suggests to 
harmonize and stabilize the labeling requirements on fireworks. Specifically, the draft label format of 
fireworks and the elements thereof are contained in the annex.  4. Transparency 
 Exporting Members are now facing many difficulties to obtain information of firework 
technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures of importing Members. For 
example, some Members don’t notify to the WTO the modification on their technical regulations, some Members don’t notify the alteration on la belling requirements, some don’t notify their 
conformity assessment procedures, while some othe rs’ technical regulations refer to undefined 
standards which are confusing and not available. 
 
 These problems on transparency lead to a great  deal of uncertainties and unpredictability in 
fireworks international trade, and create ma ny unnecessary difficulties and economic loss to 
manufacturers and exporters. It’s hard for firewo rk companies and exporters to get the above 
mentioned information by means of current TBT no tification approach. Therefore, it’s suggested by 
China to strengthen the transparency requirements in firework technical regulations, standards and 
conformity assessment procedures, to fulfill the tr ansparency provisions of the TBT Agreement in 
firework sector. TN/MA/W/102/Add.1 
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ANNEX： Elements and a format of fireworks label 
 
To ensure the stability and security of firework s, labeling should be simple, perspicuous and 
consistent. Consumers could be di rectly acquainted with characteris tics and function requirements of 
fireworks items. Based on the labeling requirements of relevant importing countries, China has listed 
the elements of the fireworks label as fo llows and prepared a specific format.  
 
A format of fireworks label 
 
 
__________ 
 
 ELEMENT DESCRIPTION 
name The name of item for sale.  
category Category based on item structure and moving modality.  
Safe area of function According to classification of fireworks, the safe area of workable function could 
be determined as how many meters consumers should be apart from fireworks article ignited.  
Caution or warning Caution or warning includes common requirements and special instruction for 
function details of fireworks item. 
Manufacture or dealer The name and address of Manufacture or dealer 
(Name of item)               V olcano 
(Category of item)          Fountain 
(Safe area of function)    Safe area of function >1m (Caution or warning)      Warning  
For outdoor use only. Keep away from flammable and explosive material. Use only under adult 
supervision. Light fuse and get safe area. Audience shoul d be in safe area. Do not hold in hand. Place 
on hard and smooth surface. (Manufacture or dealer)  company, area, country