2022 part4

77/ WTO members discuss good practices for regulations and standards, raise 81 trade concerns

16 NOVEMBER 2022

At a meeting of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) on 15-18 November, WTO members held thematic sessions on adopting good regulatory practices and standards. Members discussed a total of 81 trade concerns, 20 of which were raised for the first time, addressing environmental and safety issues, among other topics. Delegations continued their work on drafting guidelines for conformity assessment procedures.

The first thematic session held on 15 November highlighted the importance of adopting good regulatory practices to ensure a business-friendly and transparent trading environment. These practices are particularly beneficial for small businesses that do not have the resources usually to overcome regulatory burdens. The session underscored that strong partnerships amongst governments, businesses and civil society can foster good regulatory practices and that engagement with stakeholders at the early stage of regulatory development is essential. The session emphasized the need for adequate capacity building for regulatory agencies.

The second thematic session on standards development by Codex highlighted the interplay between the work of Codex and the TBT Committee in protecting consumers’ health through labelling measures on nutrition and allergens. The session was an opportunity for members to highlight the main challenges and good practices in relation to participation in Codex activities.

Climate change and plastics will be next on the agenda as members agreed these two topics would be the focus of discussion in March 2023.

Specific trade concerns: Environmental and product safety issues

Members discussed 81 specific trade concerns at the Committee meeting, of which 20 were discussed for the first time. The full list of trade concerns raised can be found here.

Several of the new concerns were related to measures taken to ensure the safety of products, such as carrying out random sample testing on products in the marketplace and prohibiting certain toxic substances.

Environmental issues were prominent amongst the new concerns, such as energy conservation standards or banning the use of mineral oils in packaging and printed materials to improve the recycling of waste and protect public health. Other concerns addressed the availability of reusable packaging and reducing the amount of pollution caused by packaging waste.

Kenya intervened on the topic of raising specific trade concerns (STCs). Lucy Ikonya, of the Kenya Bureau of Standards, said: “The extensive preparations back in the capital with the TBT National Consultative Committee and the involvement of the private sector, especially producers’ associations, in the discussions has resulted in Kenya raising specific trade concerns which are pertinent to the farmers and exporters.”

She added: “The recent training held in Kenya with facilitators from the WTO Secretariat was very useful to increase the capacity of the National TBT Committee on how to evaluate notifications made by other WTO members and make use of WTO tools like ePing. This enabled the team to draft the STCs after analysing the implications of the notifications.”

Conformity assessment guidelines

Members continued their negotiations on guidelines for conformity assessment procedures. The guidelines are meant to support regulators in selecting and designing conformity assessment systems that are consistent with the TBT Agreement.

ePing information session

On 14 November, the Secretariat held an information session where the key functions of ePing,  a platform for tracking sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and TBT measures, were explained to members. WTO members also outlined different ways in which they have been incorporating ePing into their workflows and how they have benefited from system efficiency gains. The session heard from the experiences of The Philippines, Viet Nam, Kenya, the United States and Ecuador.

The Philippines updated members on their national awareness seminar, where the private sector highlighted how ePing is used to manage risks and improve supply chain planning.  Viet Nam said that its Foreign Trade University includes ePing in its trade policy courses. Kenya explained how it benefits from ePing to improve coordination and increase engagement with national and international stakeholders. The United States noted that it is now transitioning its stakeholders from the Notify US alert system to ePing and highlighted how their officials utilise ePing to communicate with counterparts in other members.

Ecuador noted that ePing simplified reaching out to public and private stakeholders, in addition to receiving feedback on trading partners’ measures that might impact Ecuador’s exports. Ecuador also pointed out that contacting fellow TBT enquiry points around the world has become much easier, allowing potential trade issues to be resolved early on.

TBT Transparency Champions Programme

Two Transparency Champions shared their experiences of the new Champions Programme for Africa.

Lahya Hambinga from the Namibian Standards Institution (NSI) said that the Programme had changed her outlook on how to apply the transparency provisions of the TBT Agreement by using tools such as ePing to enhance coordination between all stakeholders in Namibia. Since the launch of the programme, NSI has already successfully implemented various initiatives such as stakeholder engagement with both regulators and businesses, training workshops on ePing and the use of good regulatory practices, said Ms Hambinga.

“Meeting fellow transparency champions from the region was exciting as it allowed all to share experiences and challenges that can be faced together,” she added. She stressed that continuous capacity building and support are essential for the successful implementation of all the Champions Action Plans.

Sibusiso Jama from the South African Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition said that the comprehensive programme was relevant to the daily work across the TBT team in South Africa, be it the Enquiry Point, national TBT domestic coordination or the policy development level. ePing has now become the main tool in South Africa for managing information and communicating with domestic stakeholders and trading partners, said Mr Jama. “What was most unique and interesting about this programme was how the champions will implement what they’ve learnt through their actionable ideas and plans in their respective countries,” he said.

Source: wto.org