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The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade

The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. Transparency Provisions. PUT THE AGREEMENT INTO LAW. PUBLISH. NOTIFY / TAKE COMMENTS. ANSWER ENQUIRIES. Overview of Transparency Provisions. Notification Obligations 1. Statement on Implementation

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The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade

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  1. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade Transparency Provisions

  2. PUT THE AGREEMENT INTO LAW PUBLISH NOTIFY / TAKE COMMENTS ANSWER ENQUIRIES

  3. Overview of Transparency Provisions • Notification Obligations 1. Statement on Implementation 2. Notification of Technical Regulations or Conformity Assessment Procedures by Central and Local Governments (publication requirement) 3. Notification of Bilateral or Multilateral Arrangements 4. Notification of Acceptance or Withdrawal from Code of Good Practice, & of Existence of Work Programmes(publication requirement) • Designation of a Government Authority for Implementation of Notification Obligations • Enquiry Points

  4. Statement on Implementation and Administration (1) (Article 15.2) "Each Member shall promptly ……. inform the Committee of measures in existence or taken to ensure the implementation and administration of this Agreement. Any changes of such measures thereafter shall also be notified to the Committee." 63 countries have notified

  5. Statement on Implementation and Administration (2) The TBT Committee Decided on Inclusion of: • Laws, regulations, administrative orders that apply the Agreement • Publications in which technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures are published • Time for comments • Enquiry point(s) • Other agencies with functions under the Agreement • Measures to ensure that national and sub-national authorities provide early information on proposals (G/TBT/1/Rev.7)

  6. Notification of Proposed or Adopted TRs or CAPs by Central and Local Governments (1) (Articles 2.9, 2.10, 3.2, 5.6, 5.7, 7.2) Conditions 1. Whenever a relevant international standard does not exist, or the technical content of a proposed measure is not in accordance with the technical content of relevant international standards, guides or recommendations 2. If the measure may have a significant effect on trade of other Members

  7. Notification of Proposed or Adopted TRs or CAPs by Central and Local Governments (2) Related Obligations • Publish a notice in a publication at an early stage • Notify the WTO Secretariat of the measure, the products covered, its objective & rationale, at a stage when amendments can be introduced • Upon request, provide copies of regulations or procedures • Without discrimination, allow time for Members to comment in writing (normal limit – 60 days)/ discuss comments/ & take them into account • Publish or make available adopted measures

  8. Notification of Proposed or Adopted TRs or CAPs by Central and Local Governments (3) Urgent Problems When safety, health, environmental protection or national security problems arise or threaten to arise, upon adoption of new requirements Members shall: 1. Notify the measure immediately to the WTO Secretariat, the products covered, the objective and rationale, and nature of urgent problem 2. Upon request, providecopies of the measure 3. Without discrimination, allow reasonable time for Members to comment in writing/ discuss comments/ & take them into account 4. Publish or make available adopted measure See TBT Committee Decision on Notification Procedures (G/TBT/1/Rev.7)

  9. Notification of Bilateral or Multilateral Agreements (Article 10.7) “Whenever a Member has reached an agreement with any other country or countries on issues related to technical regulations, standards or conformity assessment procedures which may have a significant effect on trade, at least one Member party to the agreement shall notify other Members through the Secretariat of the products to becovered by the agreement and include a brief description of the agreement".

  10. Notifications Under Paragraph C of the Code of Good Practice on Standards (1) (Annex 3) Notifications are made to the ISO/IEC Information Center, copies are sent by ISO/IEC to the WTO Secretariat, and notifications under parag. C are circulated to WTO Members Paragraph C (see G/TBT/W/4) (1) Acceptance of the Code -form A- - Name and address of standardizing body, - Type of body (central, local or non-governmental), and - Scope of standardizing activity (2)Withdrawal from the Code -form B-

  11. Notifications Under Paragraph J of the Code of Good Practice on Standards (2) (Annex 3) Paragraph J (1) Publication of work programme at least once every 6 months & a notice of its existence in national/regional publication on standardizing activity(hard copies / internet too if possible, G/TBT/1/Rev.7) (2) Notification of its existence to ISO/IEC Information Center no later than its time of publication - form C- - Name & issue of publication in which programme is published, - Period to which it applies, - Its price, & Where and how it can be obtained - Annual ISO/IEC “WTO TBT Standards Code Directory” (3) Publication of a notice announcing comment period (60 days - para L)

  12. Acceptance of Code of Good Practice 124 standardizing bodies from 85 members have accepted the Code - 55 Central Government Bodies - 60Non-Governmental Bodies - 3 Non-Governmental Regional Bodies - 2 Parastatal Bodies - 2 Statutory Bodies - 1 Central Governmental/ Non-Governmental Body - 1Autonomous Body

  13. Designation of Government Authority (Articles 10.10, 10.11) WTO Members must designate a single central government authority to be responsible for the implementation of notification obligations at the national level If this responsibility is divided amongst two or more central government authorities, information must be provided to WTO Members on the scope of responsibility of each these authorities

  14. Enquiry Points (Article 10.1, 10.2, 10.3) (one or more to be established) Must respond to enquiries & provide relevant documents: (1) Technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures whether adopted or proposed (2)Membership and participation in international and regional standardizing bodies and conformity assessment systems, as well as in bilateral and multilateral arrangements (3) Location of notices published pursuant to the Agreement Total of 107 enquiry points have been established (G/TBT/ENQ/18)

  15. Enquiry Points (G/TBT/1/Rev.7) • Biennial meeting on information exchange in WTO • Booklets on enquiry points • documents available (regulations, notifications, publications used, etc.) • facilities offered (charges, languages used, translation, etc.) • Types of enquiries they should be prepared to answer • Handling of requests for information

  16. Electronic Transmission of Information; An Encouragement • In sending notifications by email to WTO Secretariat • In obtaining and translating documents • In presenting comments • In communicating the work programmes of standardizing bodies (although hard copies must always be available) G/TBT/1/Rev.7

  17. Notification/Document Symbols http://docsonline.wto.org/gen_search.asp

  18. WTO Notification Forms, and ISO Forms A, B and C [All notifications may be transmitted electronically to the WTO Central Registry of Notifications crn@wto.org]

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