Geneva, 21 May
1999
ECE/TRADE/99/9
STANDARDIZATION
WILL REDUCE BARRIERS TO TRADE
Technical regulations determine
the characteristics a product must have in order to be sold or to
be imported into a country. Much of international trade is
governed by these regulations or specification. Except within
regional groupings, such as the European Union, any two countries
will typically have similar but not identical technical
regulations and standards for the same product. Although these
differences may be of no great consequence, they often create
barriers to trade.
The representatives of 35
countries, who attended the annual session of the Working
Party on Technical Harmonization and Standardization Policies of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UN/ECE) on 17-19 May, decided that something had to be done
about these barriers to trade. On the basis of recommendations
emanating from an international conference on standardization for
the 21st century, which was held in Berlin earlier this year, the
Working Party proposed that an advisory group be established to
develop recommendations for a global framework model for
regulation which would be coupled with international standards.
The idea is that the technical
content of regulations should be drafted in terms of broad
objectives with references to international standards for any
detailed technical information. This would allow all companies
whose products conform to those international standards to
compete in the marketplace on an equal basis. The International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the European
Commission fully support this work, which is intended, inter
alia, to serve as input to World Trade Organization deliberations
on technical barriers to trade.
The Working Party also reviewed
a draft international agreement on technical harmonization issues
and will finalize the agreement by May 2000. This agreement is
fully aligned with the obligations in the WTO Agreement on
Technical Barriers to Trade and helps to define some of the
implementation aspects of the WTO agreement while also extending
some of its benefits to non-WTO members.
The Working Party will soon
issue a new edition of the UN/ECE standardization list, which is
a list of product areas where UN/ECE=s Member Governments request that further
standardization work be undertaken by international
standardization organizations such as ISO, the International
Electrotechnical Commission and the International
Telecommunication Union.
Further information on
the UN/ECE's Working Party on Technical
Harmonization and Standardization Policies may be obtained from:
Serguei Kouzmine
Trade Division
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 917 2771
Fax: + 41 22 917 0037
E-mail: [email protected]