Chanchal C Sarkar DY. Director, Trade Policy Division Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry TBT Agreement : Key Principles

Department of Commerce, Government of India 2 What measures are subject to TBT provisions? Technical RegulationStandard Mandatory Measures Voluntary Measures Conformity Assessment Procedure

COVERAGE All technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures that apply to trade in goods i.e. to all agricultural and industrial products. Document which lays down product characteristics or their related processes and production methods, including the applicable administrative provisions, with which compliance is mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method. Document approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, with which compliance is not mandatory. It may also include or deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method.

Department of Commerce, Government of India 4 Salient Features of TBT Agreement Non-Discrimination (MFN, NT, Harmonization, Transparency, Article 2) Notifying Local Regulations (Article 3) Acceptance and compliance with the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and application of Standards in Annex 3. Information and Assistance (Article 10) Technical Assistance(Article 11) S&DT (Article 12) Review ( Article 15)

Transparency Requirements in TBT Agreement and How these work The TBT Agreement allows WTO Members to adopt any TBT measures including technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, they consider suitable provided such measures are based on science and do not act as unnecessary barriers to trade or are discriminatory.

In order to ensure non-discrimination or obviating unduly trade distortive practice, transparency provisions have been built into the TBT Agreement. Transparency provisions appear in a number of places of the TBT Agreement. Art. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 What is Transparency ? The notion of transparency is closely linked with notification requirements and also associated with the following.

1.Ensuring proposed regulations are published at an early appropriate stage so that comments of other Members could be incorporated at the appropriate time. 2. Notify Technical Regulations and conformity assessment procedures (CAP) to other WTO Members in the appropriate WTO format. 3. Establishing Enquiry Point and Providing copies of proposed regulations/ CAPs on request of others. – BIS is India’s National Enquiry Point.

Who would Notify ? A single central Government Authority, to be designated by Members for notification. Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry - for India. Notifications, were often not made due to a lack of awareness of TBT Agreement; notifying authority was not made aware of draft regulations by other national authorities. The above problems were also not absent in India

Notifications of Measures at the Local Government Level

Under what circumstances to Notify ? 1.A relevant international standard does not exist; 2.The technical content of a proposed measure is not in accordance with the technical content of the standard; 3. The proposed measure may have a significant effect on the trade of other Members.

What are the TBT related international standards ? Standards set by ISO and IEC are generally treated as international standards, consistent with the TBT Agreement, though this can be questioned. What is Significant Effect on Trade ?

When or at what stage to notify ? Notifications at draft stages when amendments can still be introduced based on comments received. For urgent reasons, notification must be made immediately upon adoption.

How much Time is Allowed for Comments ? At least 60 days time for other Members to make comments by other Members in writing; Discuss these comments upon request and take into account of these discussions and written comments.

The Notification Format Notifications must contain information on the products covered, together with a brief indication of the objective and rationale of the proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure. Notifications must be made using a particular format prepared by WTO:

Addenda, corrigenda and revisions Members, in addition to their original notifications, can also provide supplementary information in 3 different forms as mentioned above.

Processing and Circulation by WTO Secretariat Notifications are made either in English, French or Spanish and sent to the WTO Secretariat - (CRN) and takes 2 days to circulate in original language. All notifications are placed on WTO website. distribution has been set up to facilitate Members' access to notifications. _mailing_list_e.htm

Documents Online Facility access to all official documentation of the WTO. The database is important source of information for all and can be used in a number of ways. Through the "simple search" symbol (G/TBT/N/COUNTRY CODE/Number )

Processing of Requests An enquiry point is mandated to answer all "reasonable" queries. Step-1- acknowledge the receipt of the enquiry, without further request. Step-2 provide information regarding future course of the regulations etc for all on the following Functioning of Enquiry Points

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