WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/W/353 
4 June 2012 
 (12-2923) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
SIXTH TRIENNIAL REVIEW OF THE TBT AGREEMENT 
 
Submission by the Republic of Korea 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 4 June 2012, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Republic of Korea 
  
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 1. The Republic of Korea welcomes the opportunity to review the Sixth Triennial Review of the 
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement.  Korea would like to offer four suggestions, one 
concerning international standards and three concer ning transparency. Our suggestions are as follows:  
(a) The harmonization process for internationa l standards should proceed at a pace 
commensurate with the rate at which Member countries, especially developing 
countries, are participating.  
(b) It is necessary to develop more precise criteria to assess the "significant" effects 
mentioned in Articles 2.9 and 5.6 of the TBT Agreement. 
(c) For the sake of greater transparency, each Member, whenever possible and on a 
voluntary basis, provides an electronic version of the impact assessments with the 
notification format. 
(d) The TBT Agreement should reaffirm the importance of mechanisms for intra-
governmental coordination and interaction with relevant non-governmental parties as 
mentioned in Articles 3.2 and 7.2. 
I. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 
2. While Korea understands that inte rnational standards can facilitate trade and the transfer of 
technology, Korea is also concerned about their potential to serve as barriers to trade unless the 
process of developing standards is open and balan ced.  Hence, Korea would like to reemphasize the 
content of the discussions that took place at the 2000 Triennial Review of the TBT Agreement.
1. 
3. Strengthening the voices of developing countries in the process of developing international 
standards must be a high priority in the interests of  transparency and fairness.  As a first step it is 
necessary to ensure that Members' national standa rdization bodies participate, without any hindrance, 
in the development of international standards in c ooperation with internationa l standardization bodies. 
                                                      
1 G/TBT/9, para. 20 and Annex 4. G/TBT/W/353 
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  4. We therefore feel that the harmonization process for international standards should proceed at 
a pace commensurate with the rate at which deve loping Members are participating and should reflect 
their perspectives.  
II. TRANSPARENCY 
A. 
CLEARER CRITERIA FOR "SIGNIFICANT " EFFECTS IN ARTICLES 2.9 AND 5.6 OF THE TBT 
AGREEMENT  
5. Articles 2.9 and 5.6 of the TBT Agreement state that the obligation to notify the TBT 
Committee of a proposed technical regulation or a draft conformity assessment procedure depends in 
part on whether the technical regulation or the c onformity assessment procedure in question is likely 
to have "significant" effects on trade with other Members.  In 1995, the TBT Committee established 
three criteria against which to assess the significan ce of a regulation's potential effects on trade.2  
6. Korea considers Articles 2.9 and 5.6 of the TB T Agreement to be ambiguous with regard to 
the criteria used to determine "significant" effects.  More specifically, the three criteria are not based 
on any concrete evidence or evaluation procedur es but instead seem dependent on the subjective 
judgment of the competent authorities, which may fi nd it difficult to judge whether a notification is 
appropriate. 
7. Although there may be various reasons for the fa ilure of Member countries to notify the TBT 
Committee of important technical regulations, we wond er whether the use of abstract criteria to assess 
the significance of a regulation's effects on trade may increase the likelihood of such a situation.  In this regard, Korea believes that more precise criteri a are necessary.  As a fi rst step, we hope the WTO 
Secretariat will consider investigating STCs that  have not been the subject of TBT Committee 
notifications, and will undertake a comprehensive an alysis of the rationale behind this failure to 
notify. 
B. 
PROVISION OF IMPACT ASSESSMENTS  
8. For the sake of greater transparency, Korea suggests that each Member, whenever possible 
and on a voluntary basis, provide the WTO Secretariat with an electronic version of the impact 
assessments (in the national language) together with the notification format and hyperlink the impact 
assessments within the form.  This  will make it easier for other Me mbers to assess the significance of 
a regulation’s effects on trade.  
C. REAFFIRMATION OF NEED FOR INTRA -GOVERNMENTAL COOR DINATION MECHANISMS  
9. In the 2006 and 2009 Triennial Reviews of the TBT Agreement, the Committee clarified 
Articles 3.2 and 7.2 of the TBT Agreement and agr eed that the TBT Committee should be notified of 
local government measures.3 Korea appreciates that there has b een an increase in the number of 
notifications concerning proposed technical regul ations by local governments under Articles 3.2. 
10. However, Korea recognizes that many technical regulations proposed by local governments 
are still not being notified to the TBT Committee - the number of such notifications remains low 
relative to notifications concerning central governme nt regulations.  In some respects, Korea has 
noticed disharmonizations between technical re gulations proposed by the central and local 
governments.  Thus, at the upcoming Triennial Revi ew, Korea would like to reaffirm the importance 
                                                      
2 G/TBT/M/2, para. 5; G/TBT/W/2/Rev. 1, p.8. 
3 G/TBT/19, paras. 52 and 68(b)(i); G/TBT/26, para. 38.  G/TBT/W/353 
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  of mechanisms to ensure intra-governmental c oordination under Articles 3.2. and 7.2 of the TBT 
Agreement.  
11. Korea welcomes comments from Members with regard to the above proposal at the 
Committee’s discussion of substantive propo sals for the Sixth Triennial Review. 
 
 
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