WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/52 
23 April 2007 
 (07-1666) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
TBT-RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE BY THE ITC 
 
 
 The following information was provided by the International Trade Centre (ITC)
 at the TBT 
Committee meeting of 21 March 2007 under Agenda  Item 3 (Technical Cooperation Activities). 
 
_______________ 
 
 
1. About ITC 
1. The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the jo int technical cooperation agency of the United 
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization 
(WTO) for business aspects of trade development. 
2. ITC's Mission:  Contribute to sustainable de velopment through technical assistance in export 
promotion and international business development. 
3. ITC's strategic objectives:  
• Enterprises :  Strengthen the international competitiveness of enterprises,  
 
• Trade support institutions:  Develop the capacity of trade service providers to support 
businesses;  
 
• Policymakers:  Support policymakers in integrating the business sector into the global 
economy.  
 
4. The Standards and Quality Management programme aims: 
• to support enterprises to meet standards, tec hnical regulations and sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures in their export markets; and 
• to strengthen the capacities of organizations  dealing with Standardization, Quality 
Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) to provide services to enterprises. 
 5. The programme achieves its objectives through a variety of products and tools. They are 
provided directly to interested parties in devel oping countries and economies in transition or in the 
context of projects implemented by ITC. 
A. P
UBLICATIONS  
A selected list of ITC publications in the area of Standards and Quality Mana gement is given below. 
 G/TBT/GEN/52 
Page 2  
 
  1. Innovations in Export Strategy – A stra tegic approach to the quality assurance 
challenge 
This book is based on the consultation on the sa me subject carried out in Malaysia in 
partnership with SIRIM Berhad, the nationa l research organization of Malaysia. It 
provides a practical approach to setting up a quality infrastructure in developing 
countries, based on the salient points raised during the consultation.  This consultation 
took place under the Executive Forum (www .intracen.org/execforum), which 
provides a venue for senior public-sector decision makers and business leaders to 
debate “best practice” in national e xport strategy design and management. 
 
2. Road Map for Quality – Guidelines for the Review of the SQAM Infrastructure at 
National Level 
This book will be particularly useful to decision-makers in developing countries and 
transition economies who are consideri ng establishing or strengthening their 
standards and conformity assessment infrast ructure and to those carrying out needs 
assessment for SQAM to support th eir export development needs. 
 
3. Influencing and Meeting International Standa rds - Challenges for developing countries, 
Volume One and Two 
This joint publication with the Commonwea lth Secretariat is based on case studies on 
TBT and SPS carried out in Jamaica, Ma laysia, Uganda, Kenya, Namibia and 
Mauritius.  
This publication is divided into two volu mes. The first volume contains background 
information, findings from case studies and technical assistance needs. 
Volume two is divided into three parts: 
- Part One: Notes on procedures followed by selected international standard-
setting organizations (ISSOs) and on international accreditation bodies; 
- Part Two: Country reports on technical barriers to trade (TBT); and 
- Part Three: Country reports on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. 
 
4. ISO 9001 for Small Businesses - What to do – Advice from ISO/TC 176  
This joint publication with ISO gives guidance to a small business on putting a 
quality management system in place based on ISO 9001: 2000. 
5. Export Quality Management - An answer b ook for small and medium-sized exporters  
This publication aims to answer the most frequently asked questions on SQAM. 
6. ITC provides publications free in limited numbers for official trade-related institutions. They 
can be ordered online or by mail (www.intracen.org /eshop). One free copy of each ITC publication in 
the area of Standards and Quality Management is given to ISO members.  G/TBT/GEN/52 
 Page 3 
 
 
  B. PARTNER NETWORK APPROACH  
7. Under ITC’s partner network approach the ITC publication on Export Quality Management – 
An answer book for small and medium-sized exporters can be customized and printed by partner 
organizations through the addition of two annexes that describe the national SQAM infrastructure and 
list the contact details of SQAM organizations in the partner’s country. 
8. National editions of the book have been publis hed in Brazil, Colombia, Malaysia, Cuba, 
Argentina, China, South Africa, Vietnam, Ecuador, United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh. 
9. Partner organizations in Tajikistan, Kyrgy zstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are grouped 
together to produce one combined edition of the book. 
C. TRAINING   MATERIALS  
1. Improving and Maintaining Market Acces s through Standards and Conformity 
Assessment 
This information pack has been devel oped for use in conjunction with the ITC 
publication on Export Quality Management – An answer book for small and medium-
sized exporters to create awareness of the importance of standards and conformity 
assessment in international trade. 
 
2. The TBT Agreement – A Business Perspective 
Exporters can benefit tremendously by taki ng advantage of the new opportunities that 
can be derived from the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). 
To help the business community understand the issues involved, ITC has developed 
information/training pack on the TBT Ag reement from a business perspective under 
its WorldTr@deNet programme (www.intracen.org/mts), which aims primarily at facilitating the creation of and providing catalytic support to interactive national networks that bring together all groups d ealing with WTO issues. This pack can be 
used in national or regional workshops. 
D. T
OOLS  
1. World Directory of information sources on standards, conformity assessment, 
accreditation, metrology, technical regulat ions, and sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures 
This tool aims to provide trade support in stitutions and exporters with references of 
useful addresses of organizations which can be contacted to obtain relevant 
information, inter alia, on standards, tec hnical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures, conformity assessment, accredita tion and metrology. This World Directory 
can be consulted online at ITC’s web site (www.intracen.org/eqm). 
 
2. ISO 9001 Fitness Checker 
This tool is designed to assess an enterp rise’s readiness for certification and to 
identify the main areas for impr ovement prior to certification. G/TBT/GEN/52 
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  E. E
XPORT   QUALITY   BULLETINS  
10. ITC produces bulletins which contain informati on on various topics. These bulletins can be 
downloaded from ITC’s web site (www.intracen.org/eqm ). Hard copies are distributed to those on our 
mailing list. Some of the bulletins are listed below. 
• Building Corresponding Technical Infrastructures to Support Sustainable 
Development and Trade 
• Overview of Conformity Assessment in International Trade 
• Improving and Maintaining Market Access using the WTO Agreements on TBT and SPS 
• Legal Metrology and International Trade 
• Introduction to Eco-labelling  
• Information Retrieval on Standards, Techni cal Regulations and Conformity Assessment 
Procedures 
• Introduction to HACCP 
• Introduction to ISO 9000:2000 
 11. ITC is currently finalizing a new bulletin entitled “ Manual of Model Procedures and 
Guidance Notes for the Implementation of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade ”, that 
may be of particular interest to the Committee. It  consists of a manual of model procedures aimed at 
assisting WTO Members on how to exercise their rights, fulfil obligations and promote trade under the WTO Agreement on TBT. It will be made available in April 2007. 
F. P
ROJECTS  
12. Various projects are currently being implemented by ITC in the area of Standards and Quality 
Management with a focus on TBT. Information a bout a number of these projects is detailed below. 
1. Asia Trust Fund  (www.intracen.org/atf)  
13. The Asia Trust Fund, co-financed by the Eur opean Commission and ITC, is a channel to 
provide quick delivery of short-term Trade-Related Technical Assistance. 
14. A project in the cosmetics sector in the ASE AN region has upgraded the capacity of selected 
ASEAN member countries to implement the A SEAN Harmonized Cosmetic Regulatory Scheme. 
15. The project delivered an advanced and in-depth  training programme that started in May 2006 
and was completed in January 2007 for regulators a nd other key players in the cosmetic industry from 
the ASEAN Member Countries and Asia Trust Fund be neficiaries, namely: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao 
PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. In particular: 
• Twenty-two training activities on Post-Marke t Surveillance (PMS) and Good Manufacturing 
Practice (GMP) were conducted at  regional and national level (t wo regional events, 18 national 
events and two semi-regional events as follow-up).   
• More than 800 people from regulatory authorit ies and industry representatives were trained on 
PMS and GMP.  
• A network of more than 24 experts in ASEAN in the areas of PMS and GMP for the cosmetic 
industry was established and it is now available to  further cascade training at national level.  
  G/TBT/GEN/52 
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  2. Integrated Framework (www.integratedframework.org) 
16. The Integrated Framework for Trade-Relate d Technical Assistance to least-developed 
countries (IF) is a multi-agency, multi-donor programme that assists the least developed countries to 
expand their participation in the global economy  thereby enhancing their economic growth and 
poverty reduction strategies. The participating agencies are IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, World 
Bank and the WTO. 
17. An IF project to provide technical support to enhance the SQAM infrastructure is being 
implemented in Malawi. Activities under the project deal, inter alia, with ISO 9001 in enterprises, 
accreditation of laboratories, strengthening of the Malawi Bureau of Standards as an ISO 9001 certification body, and information dissemination on TBT issues. 
3. Bangladesh 
18. Two projects are being implemented in Bangladesh. 
(a) Bangladesh Leather Service Centre for Export Development 
19. The pivotal element of this project, which is fi nanced by the Government of Italy, is the 
creation of a “Bangladesh Leather Service Centre” for the industry, focusing in particular on added-
value products such as footwear and leather goods.  
20. The current activity under the component relate d to quality is to provide assistance to the 
laboratories of the Bangladesh College of Leather Technology, which will be used by the Bangladesh 
Leather Service Centre, to enable them to be accr edited by a member of the International Laboratory 
Accreditation Cooperation. 
 
(b) Bangladesh Quality Support Programme 
21. This project is co-financed by the European  Commission and ITC.  The objectives are to: 
• Improve private sector understanding on qualit y and packaging requirements in export 
markets; and 
• apply the value chain approach to find ways to enhance enterprise competitiveness in these 
markets (including the development of sectoral strategies).  
 4. Central Asia 
22. There are two projects, financed by the Gove rnment of Switzerland dealing with trade 
promotion in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. 
(a) Kyrgyzstan 
23. The component related to quality is focused  on providing assistance in the areas of SPS, 
technical regulations and the strengthening of the national laboratory accreditation body. 
24. Assistance will be provided to six enterprises, inter alia , in the area of food safety and quality 
management systems. G/TBT/GEN/52 
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  (b) Tajikistan 
25. The component related to quality is focused on th e review of the current legislation on SQAM 
and the regulatory infrastructure, SPS, accreditation of laboratories and awareness about ISO/IEC 17011. 
26. Assistance will be provided to six enterprises, inter alia , in the area of food safety and quality 
management systems.  
5. Romania 
27. The project aims at achieving the conti nuous improvement of the international 
competitiveness of export oriented companies in Romania. 
28. Activities related to quality are a generic wo rkshop on standards and conformity assessment 
and sector-specific workshops in the areas of so ftware, garments, wooden furniture and organic 
agriculture. 
 
6. “Influencing and Meeting International Standards: Challenges for developing 
countries”  
29. ITC jointly with the Commonwealth Secret ariat published “Influencing and Meeting 
International Standards: Challenges for developi ng countries” which is based on case studies carried 
out in six countries in the areas of Technical Ba rriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Measures. An international workshop was organi zed in June 2005 in Geneva to discuss the 
recommendations for technical assistance from the case studies, in particular those related to improving the participation of devel oping countries in international standardization. As a follow-up of 
the workshop, ITC together with the Commonwealth  Secretariat is now developing proposals for 
providing assistance to developing countries to influen ce international standards which form the basis 
of technical regulations as well as meet the technical requirements of importing countries, taking into account assistance being provided in this area to avoid duplication. 
G. F
UNDING  
30. ITC is a technical cooperation agency, not a funding agency. Its projects are funded by 
donors, mostly developed countries but also developing countries acting singly or jointly, in the form 
of trust funds. Often the recipient country itself might fund a project as a funds-in-trust programme. 
An example of such a project is the review of the role and organizational structure of the national standards body in Mauritius. 
31. Some larger global projects, such as the Wo rldTr@deNet programme, are funded collectively 
by a number of donors, whereas the Asia Trust Fund is  funded by the European Union and is aimed at 
short-term trade-related in terventions at national a nd regional level in Asian countries. There are also 
a number of national projects. ITC can however make  short-term interventions under its Global Trust 
Fund, and requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, ITC tools and publications are available to organizations in all developi ng and transition economies under specific terms and 
conditions. 
 
 
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