WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/W/254 
14 June 2005 
 
 (05-2493) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICE 
 
Communication from the European Communities
  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 13 June 2005,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the European Communities.  
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. At the Third Triennial review, the TBT Comm ittee noted that the issue of good regulatory 
practice is "important, evolving, and worthy of further discussion in the Committee".  This 
contribution seeks to advance the discussions on this subject.  In particular the European Communities 
would like to focus on the second bullet point of the recommendations stemming from the Third 
Triennial review, i.e. "focus on choice of policy in struments, mandatory versus voluntary measures, 
and the use of impact assessments to facilitate good regulatory practice".  In this contribution we will 
address: 
(a) policy instruments for technical regulations; 
(b) better regulation (including impact assessments); and  
(c) regulatory co-operation  
2. The European Communities would also urge Memb ers to continue to submit descriptions of 
their approaches on good regulatory practice with the aim to foster a common understanding of the 
issues involved. 
3. In the view of the European Communities, good regulatory practice can, among other things, 
help to avoid "unnecessary obstacles to international tr ade" and to make sure that legislation is not 
"more trade restrictive than necessary" as indicated in Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement.  It would be useful for the Committee to further e xplore what this implies in practice, in order to limit the scope for 
interpretation of these statements.  
4. At the same time regulators, as recognised in th e TBT Agreement, have the right to set public 
policy objectives (for instance in relation to human, animal and plant life and environment) at the 
levels they consider appropriate, provided that  they are not applied in a manner which would 
constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination.  
5. Against this general background, it would be u seful to shed further light on what role good 
regulatory practice can play in th e context of the TBT Agreement. 
 G/TBT/W/254 
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 II. POLICY INSTRUMENTS FOR TECHNICAL REGULATIONS 
6. Some Members have made submissions in the NAMA negotiations, which contain proposals 
for strengthening the disciplines in the TBT Agre ement.  These proposals relate to requiring a 
substantial increase in the proportion of  Members technical regulations to be  performance based 
rather than based on detailed product requirements (in line with Article 2.8 of the TBT Agreement 
which stipulates that, " Wherever appropriate, Members shall specify  technical regulations based on 
product requirements in terms of performance ra ther than design or prescriptive characteristics ").  
Performance based regulation is more easily adap table, and encourages innovation.  It also 
considerably reduces the requisite number of legisl ative acts as a wide product range is covered. 
7. The European Communities is generally in favour of the use of performance based 
regulations and feels that they are one way to help avoid unnecessary obstacles to trade.  In 
performance based regulations the objectives of the re gulation can be more easily assessed.  This in 
turn promotes understanding of the regulations and assists in the consultation phase prior to adoption 
of regulations.  
8. In light of the above we find it worthwhile to  explore further within the Fourth Triennial 
Review of the TBT Agreement how the use of performance based regulations, where appropriate
1, 
could contribute to ensuring that un necessary obstacles to trade are avoided.  
9. It might also be appropriate for the Committee to pursue discussions on different approaches 
to technical regulations which could also lead to  the recognition of preferred regulatory options. 
III. BETTER REGULATION 
10. The European Communities is very much committed to simplifying and improving the 
regulatory environment in the European Union.  The right regulatory framework helps business and 
builds consumer confidence. 
11. Better regulation comprises measures to simplify existing legislation, to enhance the 
preparatory stages of new legislation and efforts to reduce regulatory burdens.  The right regulatory 
framework will also strengthen consumer confidence and help contribute to growth.  Over regulation 
or bad regulation also disproportionately affects small and medium sized enterprises, which usually 
have limited resources to deal with the administration such regulations often imply. 
12. An important element in the discussion on good re gulatory practice is the need for regulatory 
bodies to question, on a case by case basis, whether there is a need to regulate at all.  In a number of 
instances there is simply no need  to legislate and reliance on market-based or voluntary instruments 
may be perfectly adequate. 
13. Better regulation has a significant positive imp act on the framework conditions for economic 
growth, employment and productivity by improving qua lity of legislation, thereby creating the right 
incentives for business, cutting un necessary costs and removing obs tacles to adaptability and 
innovation.  This activity also applies to memb er States who are also pursuing their own better 
regulation policies. 
                                                      
1 In some cases, using prescriptive characteristics may be the only way to achieve certain objectives 
(e.g. the prohibition of hazardous substances).  G/TBT/W/254 
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 14. In specific terms, the European Communities is  currently seeking to achieve better regulation 
by the following actions: 
1. Impact Assessments 
15. All major EC  legislative proposals contained in the annual Legislative and Work Programme 
will be the subject of integrated impact assessment destined to evaluate their likely economic, social 
and environmental implications and screened fo r their potential impacts on competitiveness and 
competition.  
16. The European Communities will rein force the internal validation of its impact assessment and 
will launch, by early 2006, a comprehensive independent evaluation  of the impact assessment system 
and draw on external expertise to advi se it on its impact assessment methodology. 
2. Administrative Costs 
17. The European Communities is committed to expl ore how to better integrate the measurement 
of administrative burdens in its integrated imp act assessment and to explore the possibility for a 
common approach to administrative cost s at the European Union level.  
3. Simplification of existing European Union legislation and screening of pending 
legislative proposals 
18. In addition to the EC initiative (February 2003)  to reduce the volume and to simplify existing 
Community legislation, and to improve its acc essibility, the European Communities proposes to:  
(a) reinforce the mechanisms for identifying when to legislate in a traditional format and 
when to adopt other less prescriptive regula tory alternatives, including the option not 
to legislate (such as relying instead on vol untary measures) as part of its impact 
assessment; and, 
(b) launch a new phase of the Commission’s simplification programme in 2006/2007 
based on the results of the consultati on and identification phases and develop 
integrated sectoral action plans for simplification where appropriate. 
4. Reinforcing the means of achieving Better Regulation at member States’ level 
5. Consultation Standards  
19. It should also be stressed that these latest proposals build upon the European Communities' 
earlier actions on better regulation (G/TBT/W/219) , which included a statement on the minimum 
standards for consultation.  These standards help ensure that: 
(a) all interested parties - including from non-European Union countries - have an 
opportunity to express their opinions; 
(b) the consultations are made widely know n (e.g. through publicity campaigns and a 
"single access point" on the Europa web-site);  
(c) a minimum of eight weeks is given for responding; and  
(d) appropriate feedback is provided to the responding parties. G/TBT/W/254 
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 20. It would also be useful for Members to ex change information on de velopments in their 
countries on the broader concept of "better regulation".  
21. The European Communities would be pleased to share its experiences with other Members on 
the new and global approaches, which we consider to be a good example of the application of better 
regulation. 
IV. REGULATORY CO-OPERATION 
22. Regulatory co-operation may be viewed as  an element of good regulatory practice. 
Regulatory co-operation is usually a voluntary and "informal" activity, where regulators from different countries exchange information on regula tions and conformity assessment procedures. These 
discussions are often focussed on specific sectors and can sometimes result in a formal agreement.  
23. Regulatory co-operation can be viewed as part of  good regulatory practice.  It is a long term 
process which contributes to avoiding unnecessary obstacl es to trade and making sure that measures 
are not more trade restrictive than necessary.  It can  help to reduce the cost of trade between trading 
partners.  Regulatory cooperation is especially usef ul when applied at a very early stage in the 
planning and development of regulatory proposals. 
24. Regulatory co-operation can help to: 
(a) achieve a better understanding of each part y’s regulatory systems and the manner in 
which regulations are implemented and comp liance is achieved.  This also includes 
conformity assessment procedures; 
(b) understand the rationale behi nd regulatory choices and examine the possibilities for 
greater convergence on the objectives and scope of regulations; 
(c) advance bilateral co-operation between re gulators and policy makers in order to 
promote transparency and predictability in the development and establishment of 
regulations; 
(d) improve the planning and development of  regulatory proposals, avoid unnecessary 
regulatory differences (through means such as achieving harmonized, equivalent or 
compatible solutions), and minimize administrative costs; 
(e) contribute to the improvement of competitiveness and efficiency of industry by 
reducing duplicative regulatory requirement s and pursuing compatible regulatory 
initiatives when possible; 
(f) encourage, as appropriate, joint co-operati on in relevant international bodies involved 
in regulatory activities; 
(g) provide an early warning system for measures which might create “unnecessary 
obstacles” or be unnecessarily "trade restrictive". 
25. Regulatory co-operation, that should be pursued  with full respect of Members' legitimate 
public policy objectives and within the limitations  of Members' resources, helps Members move 
towards increased market access.   G/TBT/W/254 
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 V. CONCLUSION 
26. This contribution has addressed three separate  aspects of good regulatory practice. However 
in practice one should consider that these three aspect s all address, in different ways, the fundamental 
issue of avoiding "unnecessary obstacles to trade".  If used in combination, synergy may be found to 
reinforce good regulatory practices. 
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