WTO AGREEMENT ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE

What is this Agreement and what does it do?

One of the objectives of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is to ensure that technical regulations, product standards and “conformity assessment procedures” (testing and certification procedures) do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.

The TBT Agreement was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, which was concluded in April of 1994. It expanded on a more limited standards code which was adopted in a previous round of trade negotiations. All WTO members (offsite link) are Parties to the TBT Agreement, which entered into force on January 1, 1995, and which has no expiration date.

Who benefits from this Agreement?

Any company in a WTO member country that is involved in international trade can benefit from certain provisions of the TBT Agreement. The Agreement contains transparency provisions that seek to reduce discriminatory or trade restrictive measures at an early stage in the regulatory process, so that U.S. companies are not faced with unnecessary obstacles to trade. These provisions contain notice and comment provisions that allow interested parties to request copies, review and comment on proposed technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures that may have an impact on trade.

How can this Agreement help my company?

Nondiscrimination

The TBT Agreement states that with respect to technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures, WTO Member governments shall ensure that products imported from another WTO country are accorded national treatment and most favored nation (MFN) treatment. (National treatment means treatment no less favorable than that accorded to like products of national origin; MFN means treatment no less favorable than that accorded to like products originating in any other country.)

Technical Regulations and Standards

The TBT Agreement makes a distinction between technical regulations and standards: technical regulations are mandatory measures imposed by governments, whereas standards are voluntary measures. Both terms are understood to cover measures based upon:

• product characteristics;
• process and production methods related to product characteristics
• terminology, symbols, packaging, marking and labeling requirements as they apply to a product, process or production method.

According to the Agreement, WTO Member governments, wherever possible, shall specify technical regulations and standards in terms of performance rather than design or descriptive characteristics.

The TBT Agreement recognizes that no government should be prevented from adopting technical regulations and standards to fulfill a legitimate objective. The Agreement has identified the following list as examples of legitimate objectives: national security, protection of human, animal or plant life or health, or the environment, and prevention of deceptive practices. In adopting measures to achieve such goals, however, governments should ensure that they do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.

To this end, the Agreement states that technical regulations shall be no more restrictive than necessary to fulfill the government’s legitimate objectives. If relevant international standards exist, the Agreement states that WTO Member governments shall use them as the basis for their technical regulations except where such a standard is ineffective or inappropriate to meet that government’s legitimate objective. (There is a presumption under the TBT that a technical regulation based on an international standard is less likely to be an obstacle to trade.) 

WTO Members are obliged to maintain an Enquiry Point that is able to answer questions from interested parties and other WTO Members regarding technical regulations, standards developed by government bodies, and conformity assessment procedures, as well as provide relevant documents. The TBT Agreement also requires that WTO Members notify the WTO of certain proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures so interested parties can become acquainted with them and have an opportunity to submit written comments prior to their finalization and entry into force. The enquiry point and notification authority for the United States is operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST provides guidance for U.S. stakeholders on commenting on notifications made by WTO Members to the TBT Committee: www.nist.gov/notifyus/commenting.

With regard to standards, with which compliance is voluntary, the TBT Agreement contains a “Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards”, which is a voluntary code that can be adopted by any standardizing body in a WTO member country. The Code provides that standardizing bodies shall use international standards as the basis for the standards that they develop except where such international standards would be ineffective or inappropriate. The standardizing bodies shall also publish their work programs at least once every six months. Before adopting a standard, they shall allow a period of 60 days for the submission of comments by interested parties in other WTO member countries.

Conformity Assessment Procedures

“Conformity assessment” is the procedure used to determine whether a product fulfills the requirements of a technical regulation or a standard. In the context of the TBT Agreement, conformity assessment includes:

• testing a product, process or service by a laboratory;
• certification, by a certification body, that a product, process or service conforms to specified regulatory requirements;
• assessment of the quality management system of an individual manufacturer by a recognized quality assurance registrar; or
• accreditation procedures for the institutions that perform the functions listed above;
• supplier’s declaration of conformity.

WTO Member Countries shall ensure that the conformity assessment procedures are prepared, adopted and applied in a non-discriminatory manner. To this end, products originating in the territory of other Members shall be accorded both national treatment and most favored nation treatment.

To ensure that conformity assessment procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to international trade, the TBT Agreement also provides that:

• foreign suppliers should be provided, on request, with information on the processing period and documentation required for assessing the conformity of the products that they wish to export;
• fees charged to foreign suppliers should be equitable in relation to those charged to domestic suppliers;
• the siting of testing facilities and the selecting of samples for testing should not cause inconvenience to foreign suppliers; and
• conformity assessment procedures should provide for a review of complaints regarding the implementation of those procedures.

Can the U.S. Government help me if I have a problem?

Yes. If your business is being adversely affected because another WTO member country is not complying with the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement, contact the Trade Agreements Negotiation and Compliance at the U.S. Department of Commerce by filling out the Report a Foreign Trade Barrier Form. 

How can I get more information?

The complete text of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade is available from the Office of Trade Agreements Negotiations and Compliance’s WTO Agreements database.

If you think you are facing a foreign trade barrier fill out the Report a Foreign Trade Barrier Form for assistance. 

Under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO TBT Agreement), all WTO Members are obliged to maintain an Enquiry Point that is able to answer questions from interested parties and other WTO Members regarding technical regulations, standards developed by government bodies, and conformity assessment procedures, as well as provide relevant documents. The TBT Agreement also requires that WTO Members notify the WTO of certain proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures so interested parties can become acquainted with them and have an opportunity to submit written comments prior to their finalization and entry into force. The enquiry point and notification authority for the United States is operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST provides guidance for U.S. stakeholders on commenting on notifications made by WTO Members to the TBT Committee: www.nist.gov/notifyus/commenting.

Register for ePing to receive e-mail notification alerts from the WTO TBT Committee and the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee. Contact usatbtep@nist.gov for questions about or training on the use of ePing.