© International
Trade Centre, International Trade Forum - Issue 3/2005
Standards experts recommended measures to help
developing countries, so that standards on goods don't act as trade
barriers.
Experts on product standards from around the world met to
discuss how to help developing countries overcome market access
barriers relating to technical standards at a workshop in Geneva
(June 2005).
While the agreement concluding the Uruguay Round of trade talks
lowered many tariffs, exporting countries still face trade barriers
in the form of high standards for industrial and other goods. To
reduce these barriers, the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Agreements on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) - for industrial
goods - and on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)
measures (for plant and animal imports) require countries to base
their regulations on international standards.
Standards can restrict trade
However, the standards often do not reflect their concerns since
most developing countries, particularly least developed countries,
are unable to participate effectively in setting standards. Lacking
the infrastructure to check and certify technical standards (known
as conformity assessment), these countries face another problem
when trying to prove that their products meet international
standards.
ITC and the Commonwealth Secretariat conducted case studies in
six developing countries to review their implementation of the WTO
Agreements on TBT and SPS, and the technical problems they faced
when exporting. The studies resulted in a joint publication
entitled Influencing and Meeting International Standards:
Challenges for developing countries, which contains
recommendations to help developing countries to overcome technical
problems with market access.
The recommendations for technical assistance include:
- Mentoring and twinning arrangements
to improve developing countries' participation in standardization
activities at international level.
- Creating greater awareness among
industry and trade associations of the need to take more active
interest in standardization activities at national and
international level.
- Practical help to meet requirements
in export markets, for example through brochures that explain
technical regulations and SPS measures applicable to certain
products.
- Help to establish export-alert
systems to signal changes in technical regulations
and SPS measures.
- Assistance to improve recognition of
conformity assessment certificates.
Workshop reviewed recommendations
The meeting in Geneva, organized by ITC and the Commonwealth
Secretariat, was to review the recommendations and eventually lead
to project proposals for technical assistance. Over 60 participants
attended the workshop, including experts on TBT and SPS from 22
developed and developing countries, and representatives of 19
regional and international organizations, including international
standard-setting organizations.
The recommendation for mentoring and twinning arrangements
between countries attracted a lot of attention. Under this scheme,
countries with more experience in setting standards would help
others to participate. The original recommendation was to start
this mechanism on a South-South basis as conditions in developing
countries are similar, with funding coming mostly from the
countries themselves. There were many comments and suggestions to
fine-tune this arrangement, among them that donor funding would be
required and that assistance from international organizations would
need to be coordinated to avoid duplication.
Participants requested both the Commonwealth Secretariat and ITC
to prepare programmes to help developing countries comply with the
requirements of technical regulations and SPS measures of importing
countries, and submit them to donor countries for financial
resources.
Papers presented at the workshop are available on ITC's web
site (http://www.intracen.org/eqm).
For more information, contact Shyam Gujadhur, ITC Senior Adviser on
Standards and Quality Management, at gujadhur@intracen.org