• Inform members of mutual recognition events and agreements under the TBT Agreement. Whether a measure is a technical regulation rather than a standard depends on whether it is “mandatory”. One. All TBT members are required to set up “information points”, also known as “TBT windows” – offices that provide information on the country`s technical regulations, testing procedures and compliance with various international standards. 2.6 In order to harmonize technical regulations as widely as possible, Members shall participate fully, to the extent possible, in the development of international standards for products for which they have adopted or intend to adopt technical regulations, through appropriate international standardization bodies. A conformity assessment is a direct or indirect procedure for determining compliance with the requirements of a technical regulation or standard. Conformity assessments may include sampling, testing and inspection. 14.2 At the request of a party to the dispute or on its own initiative, a panel may establish a group of technical experts to assist in dealing with matters of a technical nature and to require in-depth expert review. As a general rule, compliance with technical regulations must be confirmed. This can be done through testing, certification or inspection by laboratories or certification bodies, usually at the expense of the company. 2. Participation in technical expert groups shall be limited to persons with a professional reputation and experience in the field concerned.
In order to ensure that conformity assessment procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to international trade, the TBT Agreement also provides that: 3. Citizens of the parties to the dispute shall not be allowed to act in a group of technical experts without the joint consent of the parties to the dispute, except in exceptional circumstances where the panel considers that the need for specialised scientific expertise is not otherwise met. can be. Officials of the parties to the dispute may not belong to a group of technical experts. Members of technical expert panels perform their functions individually and not as representatives of the government or an organization. Governments or organizations are therefore not allowed to give them instructions on matters before a group of technical experts. These criteria go beyond all obligations relating to the content of technical regulations, ensuring that all issues to be negotiated at a later date can be identified as soon as possible. However, in the case of “urgent safety, health, environmental protection or national security concerns”, Article 2.10 provides for an alternative procedure to expedite the process. 4. Technical expert groups may consult any source they deem appropriate and request information and technical advice. Before obtaining such information or advice from a source within the competence of a Member, a panel of technical experts shall inform the Government of that Member. Each Member shall respond promptly and comprehensively to any request from a group of technical experts for such information as it deems necessary and appropriate.
The process leading to the creation of an international standard can be time-consuming and costly. Reaching a consensus on the technical details can take several years. The time interval between the adoption of an international standard and its implementation by national regulatory authorities can also be significant. For these reasons, negotiators introduced a complementary approach to technical harmonization into the TBT Agreement, known as equivalence. Technical barriers to international trade could be removed if MEPs accepted that technical regulations different from their own achieve the same policy objectives, albeit by different means. This approach, which is based on the European Community`s new approach to standardization of 1985, is contained in Article 2.7 of the TBT Convention. A set of technical rules is a document that sets out mandatory conditions. Measures may include terminology, symbol, packaging or labelling requirements and may apply to a product, process or production method. 12.9 In the consultations, members from developed countries shall take into account the particular difficulties faced by developing country members in the preparation and implementation of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, and in their efforts to assist members from developing countries in their efforts in this regard, take into account the special needs of developed countries. developing countries in terms of financing; Trade and development. This includes costs related to assessing the technical impact of foreign regulations, translating and disseminating product information, training experts, etc. 5.1.2 Conformity assessment procedures shall not be prepared, adopted or applied with respect to or with the effect of unnecessary obstacles to international trade.
This means, inter alia, that conformity assessment procedures will not be more rigorous or applied more rigorously than is necessary to give the importing Member reasonable assurance that the products comply with the applicable regulations or technical standards, taking into account the risks that non-compliance would entail. As explained in the previous section, demonstration of compliance with technical regulations can hinder international trade. Especially if the products are to be exported to multiple markets, several tests may be necessary. Manufacturers may find it difficult to obtain approval for their products in foreign markets, for example because testing experts disagree on optimal test methods, bureaucratic inertia or even manipulation of the testing process by protectionist groups. Whatever the reason, such a variety of procedures and methods significantly increases the costs of manufacturers who sell in several markets. 2.3 Technical regulations shall not be maintained if the circumstances or objectives which led to their adoption no longer exist or if the modified circumstances or objectives can be treated less restrictively. .
