RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/163
22 June 2001
(01-3119)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE FIELD OF
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Submission by the European Communities
I. INTRODUCTION
This note aims to identify realistic and practical options for possible actions in the
TBT technical assistance field, and to contribute to the development of a technical co-operation
programme, as agreed in the Second Triennial Review  of the TBT Agreement. In developing its ideas,
the EC has drawn on its extensive experience as a donor of technical assistance in the TBT field.  Itshould be emphasized that any technical assistance programme must be demand driven and tailored to
fit each recipient’s specific needs.
II. BACKGROUND
1. Technical assistance has been the subject of c onsiderable debate in the TBT Committee.  The
Committee organized in July 2000 a Workshop on Technical Assistance and Special and DifferentialTreatment.  This provided an opportunity for recipients of technical assistance to inform the
Committee of their needs and for donors to inform the Committee about national and regional
technical assistance programmes.
2. The Second Triennial Review of the TBT Agreement was concluded in November 2000.  One
of the major results was that the Review recognized the importance of enhancing the effectiveness of
technical assistance and co-operation and agreed that the Committee should develop a demand driven
technical co-operation programme on the basis of the following elements:
• Design of a survey with the assistance of relevant international, regional and bilateral
organizations to assist developing countries in technical assistance needsidentification;
• Identification and prioritisation by developing and least developed country Members
of their specific technical assistance needs in the TBT field;
• Consideration of existing technical assistance activities by multilateral, regional and
bilateral organizations with a view to the effective and efficient development oftechnical assistance programmes;
• Enhancement of co-operation between technical assistance donors;  and
• Reassessment of needs in light of agreed priorities, identification of technical
assistance partners and financial considerations.G/TBT/W/163
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3. This paper focuses on the second and third elements of the above programme.  The EC
intends to follow-up this paper in due course th rough the submission to the TBT Committee of a list
of existing and planned EC technical assistance and capacity building programmes.
III. TBT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE - IDENTIFICATION OF NEEDS
4. A key requirement for the success of any technical assistance project is to be demand driven.
Therefore it is essential to identify requirements of both private and public sectors and define
priorities in order to take account of the specific needs and characteristics of each developing country.
The needs for technical assistance in developing countries vary considerably depending upon their
own priorities.  A technical assistance project can only be of use to the recipient if it addresses the
right needs.  Donor countries should be flexible in  helping recipient countries meet their prioritised
needs. The EU does finance a large number of technical assistance projects in the TBT field and will
continuously assess the effectiveness of this support based on prioritised needs.
Practical options:
• The first element when planning technical assistance projects is therefore to identify
and prioritise the needs for assistance if they are not already known.
• Assistance could be provided for a needs survey if necessary.  The survey may
describe as background the country’s situation regarding the TBT Agreement and it’s
implementation and present quality infrastructure.  It may specify general
development needs and specific needs e.g. regarding technical regulations,
standardization, accreditation, conformity assessment, metrology and market
surveillance.
• Input from a range of concerned actors, including public authorities, standardization
and accreditation bodies, testing laboratories, manufacturers, trade and consumer
organizations, may enhance the effectiveness of this first phase.
IV. TBT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE – OPTIONS FOR ADDRESSING NEEDS
A. INCREASING KNOWLEDGE
5. The type of knowledge required to achieve maximum benefit varies from country to country.
Knowledge and awareness is needed among all actors in the quality infrastructure field including
government departments and agencies, testing laboratories, conformity assessment bodies andindustry.
Practical Options:
• Information seminars and workshops could be provided to increase knowledge and
raise awareness.
• More specific training for government departments, industry and other concerned
parties of the importance of technical regulations, standards, conformity assessment,
metrology and quality in global trade, as well as of the rights and obligations under
the TBT Agreement.G/TBT/W/163
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• Hands-on training through participating in practical work and solving practical
problems in developed or other developing country organizations could be provided.
• Training trainers, i.e. by improving the skills of trainers, policy-makers, accreditation
professionals, technical assessors, laboratory personnel, industry personnel and other
concerned parties.  This could draw on existing know-how in both developed and
developing countries, possibly through some form of twinning arrangement ormentorship scheme.
B. INFRASTRUCTURE RELATED MEASURES
6. A suitably functioning quality infrastructure wo uld enable countries to make best use of the
provisions of the TBT Agreement and maximise their trading potential.  Issues of importance in this
respect include having the necessary legislation in place, and a general strategy for developing the
infrastructure and necessary bodies for e.g. standardization, accreditation conformity assessment,
metrology and market surveillance.
Practical Options:
• Assistance could be provided to countries to help them be able to comply with
specific technical regulations and standards in their export markets.  These actions
could target vital bottlenecks faced by exporters.
• Support could be provided to countries to develop a general strategy for the quality
infrastructure field.
• Assistance and financial support could be provided for development of specific
bodies e.g. for standardization, accreditation, conformity assessment, metrology and
market surveillance.
• Help establish national information-gathering and dissemination mechanisms related
to technical barriers to trade, notably TBT enquiry points, in order to fulfil theobligations of and benefit from the TBT notification provisions.
• Support in the provision of effective means of communication and information
processing, for example:
- furthering the use of e-commerce applications to allow developing countries to
receive technical notifications by electronic means, thereby encouraging
participation;
- to establish practical means to aid developing countries to procure necessary
e-commerce hardware and networks.
C. SUPPORT FOR PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
7. Developing country participation in internat ional fora such as the TBT Committee itself,
international standardization bodies and also accredit ation organizations is limited.  Reasons include a
lack of technical capacity and financial and human resource constraints.  Participation through
regional representation should be considered as an alternative to direct participation.G/TBT/W/163
Page 4
Practical Options:
• Countries or regions could be supported to participate (at the appropriate level) in
international standardization and accreditation activities, notably in areas that are
important to their economic development and trade. Assistance could also be
provided to help developing countries part icipate in other international activities in
the TBT field.
D. REGIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
8. The rapid growth of regional arrangements and groupings in recent years ought to be better
reflected in the aims of technical assistance, which is still mostly delivered bilaterally or geared to
national, rather than regional solutions.  There is an interest in encouraging standardization, and the
development of technical regulations and conformity assessment on a regional basis.
9. Other fields where regional co-operation is of advantage are in accreditation, metrology and
market surveillance. Useful regional co-operation activities are as follows:
Practical Options:
• Joint seminars and workshops – Joint multi-country seminars and workshops lead to
useful contacts between countries and to th e establishment of informal networks and
also have an economy of scale.
• Multi-country groups – Working in multi-country groups may help solve problems
and lead to the establishment and development of networks.
• Joint use of expertise and facilities in a region – Co-operation between countries in a
region through joint use of the available scarce expertise and facilities in the regionhelps utilise the resources efficiently and effectively.
• Proficiency tests – Multi-country proficiency tests may be effective benchmarking
exercises for determining the competence of laboratories.  They may also help
promote higher standards of performance.
• Joint assessments of countries’ progress – Assessments of progress of a group of
countries in different fields/sectors have proven to be another useful benchmarking
exercise.  These assessments should be based on the same criteria in every country.
• Consistent use of outside experts – Establishing and maintaining a joint database of
outside experts that can be used for short-term technical assistance to several
countries leads to an economy of scale.  It also leads to better and faster assistance
because the experts can use the knowledge and experience they have obtained from
previous assignments to similar countries.
• Direct and indirect representation in international bodies – Another successfully used
form of co-operation between countries in a region is joint representation in
international bodies.  This has the potential to save time and expenses and gives still a
possibility for all the countries in the region to indirectly express their opinions.
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