WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CRI/105 
4 February 2011 
 (11-0569) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   COSTA RICA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible:   Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio, Departamento de 
Reglamentación Técnica  (Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Trade, Technical 
Regulation Department) 
Name and address (including telephone  and fax numbers, E-mail and website 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:  
TBT Enquiry Point 
Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Trade, MEIC 
Apartado Postal 10216-1000, San José Tel.:  +(506) 2235-2700, Ext. 206, or (506) 235-8192 Fax:  +(506) 2297-1439 E-mail:  crotc@meic.go.cr 
Website: http://www.reglatec.go.cr/
 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ], 5.7.1 [ ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.  
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   International 
Classification for Standards (ICS) code 67.100.30 
5. Title, number of pages and lang uage(s) of the notified document:   RTCR 444:2010, 
Reglamento técnico queso Gouda  (Costa Rican Technical Regulation (RTCR) 
No. 444:2010:  Technical Regulation for Gouda cheese) (13 pages, in Spanish) 
6. Description of content:   The notified Technical Regulation establishes the characteristics 
of and requirements for Gouda cheese intended for direct consumption or for further processing. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Consumer information  G/TBT/N/CRI/105 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents: 
• Italy.  Codex Alimentarius.  CODEX STAN 266-1966, Amendment 2008:  Codex 
Standard for Gouda; 
• Costa Rica.  Decreto Ejecutivo  (Executive Decree) of the Ministry of the 
Economy, Industry and Trade No. 30256-MEIC-S, Costa Rican Technical Regulation (RTCR) No. 135:2002:  Etiquetado Nutricional de los Alimentos 
Preenvasados  (Nutrition labelling of pre-packaged food), published in La Gaceta 
(Official Journal) No. 71 of 15 April 2002; 
• Executive Decree of the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Trade 
No. 26012-MEIC of 15 April 1997, Costa Rican Technical Regulation (RTCR) 
No. 100:1997:  Etiquetado de los Alimentos Preenvasados  (Labelling of 
pre-packaged foods) and amendments theret o, published in Official Journal No. 91 
of 14 May 1997; 
• Executive Decree No. 31595-S of 2 December 2003:  Reglamento de Notificación 
de Materias Primas, Registro Sanitario, Importación, Desalmacenaje y Vigilancia 
de Alimentos  (Regulation on the notification of raw materials and the sanitary 
registration, importation, customs cleara nce and monitoring of foodstuffs) and 
amendments thereto, published in Official Journal No. 16 of 23 January 2004; 
• Executive Decree of the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Trade and Ministry 
of Agriculture and Livestock No. 33288-MEIC-MAG-S of 16 May 2006, 
Costa Rican Technical Regulation (RTCR) No. 395:2006:  Para el Uso de 
Términos Lecheras  (Use of dairy terms), published in Official Journal No. 164 of 
28 August 2006; 
• Executive Decree of the Ministry of Forei gn Trade and Ministry of the Economy, 
Industry and Trade No. 33371-COMEX-MEIC of 10 August 2006 issuing Resolution No. 168-2006 (Council of Ministers for Economic Integration 
(COMIECO) XLIX), Central American Technical Regulation (RTCA) 
No. 01.01.11:06:  Cantidad de Producto en Preempacados (Quantity of product in 
pre-packages), published in Official Journal No. 194 of 10 October 2006; 
• Executive Decree of the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Trade and Ministry 
of Agriculture and Livestock No. 33812-MEIC-MAG-S of 6 February 2007, Costa Rican Technical Regulation (RTCR) No. 401-2006:  Leche cruda y leche 
higienizada  (Raw milk and processed milk) and amendments thereto, published in 
Official Journal No. 112 of 12 June 2007; 
• Executive Decree of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Ministry of the Economy, 
Industry and Trade and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock No. 35485-COMEX-S-MEIC-MAG of 15 June 2009 issuing Resolution No. 243-2009 (COMIECO LV) approving Ce ntral American Technical Regulation 
(RTCA) No. 67.04.50:08:  Alimentos.  Criterios Microbiológicos para la 
inocuidad de los alimentos  (Food products.  Microbiological criteria for food 
safety), published in Official Journal No. 184 of 22 September 2009; 
• Executive Decree of the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Trade and Ministry 
of Agriculture and Livestock No. 349 22-MEIC-MAG-S, Costa Rican Technical 
Regulation (RTCR) No. 407-2007:  Reglamento Técnico General para quesos  
(General Technical Regulation for Cheese), published in Official Journal No. 238 
of 9 December 2008.  G/TBT/N/CRI/105 
 Page 3 
 
 
  9. Proposed date of adoption: 
Proposed date of entry into force:  Upon publication in the Official Journal 
La Gaceta 
Six months after publication in the Official 
Journal  
10. Final date for comments:   60 days as from the date of notification 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry  point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, E-mail and website addresses,  if available, of other body: 
TBT Enquiry Point 
Apartado Postal 10216-1000 San José, Costa Rica 
Tel.:  (+506) 2235-2700, ext. 206 
Fax:  (+506) 2297-1439 E-mail: crotc@meic.go.cr
 
Website: http://www.reglatec.go.cr/  
The full text of the document is available at: 
http://www.reglatec.go.cr/cons ulta/quesogouda2010-446.pdf  and 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2011/tbt/CRI/11_0197_00_s.pdf