Joint Meeting of APEC’s Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance Trade Facilitation Task Force and APEC Chemical Dialogue Workshop on the Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS)

Summary Background Terms of Reference TFTF Recent Activities

Background 2004 Korea and Japan initiated a more focused dialogue in the SCSC on ways to promote interaction and cooperation in international standardization activities. They raised the awareness of implications of various new and developing EU product standards and Directives.

Background They jointly proposed ‘a dialogue channel’ for the discussion of key issues of mutual interest of APEC economies and complimentary capacity building products. The APEC Joint Ministerial Declaration in 2004 expressed reservation about product related environmental regulations in the EU.

Highlights TFTF Terms of Reference Discussion and cooperation forum Issues having commercial implications proposed current regulations by aAPEC or non-APEC members. Trade facilitation in the field of standards and conformance.

Highlights TFTF Terms of Reference Tasks Special trade issue arising from the EU directives and regulations related to product environmental aspect Information exchange and discussion to enhance the understanding on the above trade issue and to foster common approaches to resolving issues of mutual interest. Cooperation in the IEC/TC111, IEC/ACEA Cooperation in the WTO TBT Committee Cooperation on Standards and conformance issues relevant to the EU’s product related environmental directives (eg. EuP, RoHS, WEEE, ELV) and REACH regulation.

Highlights TFTF Terms of Reference Organization Trade Aspect Technical Aspect Ad hoc basis – open to all interested delegates (aim to improve cooperation with other APEC fora) as well as private sector experts Reports from the SCSC and TFTF meetings as well as the detailed presentations from the workshops are available on the APEC website:

TFTF Activities 2005 Korea The SCSC established the “Trade Facilitation Task Force” (“TFTF”) to facilitate continued dialogue. First Seminar on Product Related Environmental Regulations in the EU. APEC approved a complementary capacity building e- learning project lead by Korea. The SCSC/TFTF met jointly with the Chemical Dialogue Steering Group to exchange information and to discuss issues of mutual interest, including the EU environmental regulations (REACH, EuP, RoHS) and related international discussions.

TFTF Activities 2006 Vietnam Second Seminar on Product Related Environmental Regulations in the EU. Presentations on RoHS-like regulations were also included in 6 th SCSC Conference on Standards and Conformance.

TFTF Activities 2007 Australia SOM I - Seminar was held on EU’s Energy Using Products (EUP) Directive. SOM I – TFTF and Chemical Dialogue Steering Group agree to hold joint workshop at SOM III in Cairns. World Electronics Forum proposal to discuss Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) accepted. An APEC-funded project to provide an e-learning course on the practical use of the environmental product standards in the ISO series covering EL, LCA, Ecodesign and the EU's Energy Using Product (EuP) was offered during November February 2007.

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