Lack of technical compatibility might otherwise generate barriers to international trade. Similarly, in order to be marketable in the United Kingdom, French or German motor vehicles need to be adjusted to right-hand drive.
The costs of designing, manufacturing, and delivering the same product in various configurations may be high. Technical harmonization may increase consumer welfare. Within a harmonized regulatory environment, competition ensures that consumers have a wide and economically attractive choice of products.
This presupposes, however, that harmonized standards do not go beyond fulfilling their legitimate regulatory objective, i. For many years, technical experts have worked towards the international harmonization of standards. Their activities have had major impact on trade, especially in industrial products.
For example, ISO has developed more than 9, international standards covering almost all technical fields. Widespread participation in international standardizing bodies can ensure that international standards reflect country-specific production and trade interests.
The TBT Agreement encourages Members to participate, within the limits of their resources, in the work of international bodies for the preparation of standards Article 2. Implementing and enforcing international standards may require technical and financial resources beyond the capabilities of developing countries.
The TBT Agreement eases the impact of certain provisions whose full application would not be compatible with developing country Members' development, financial and trade needs. Moreover, in view of their particular technological and socio-economic conditions, developing country Members may adopt technical regulations, standards or test methods aimed at preserving indigenous technologies and production methods and processes compatible with their development needs Article Finally, developing country Members may request international standardizing bodies to examine the possibility of, and if practicable, prepare international standards for products of special trade interest to them.
The process leading to the preparation of an international standard can be lengthy and costly. Reaching consensus on technical details can take several years. The time gap between the adoption of an international standard and its implementation by national regulators can also be significant.
For these reasons, negotiators introduced in the TBT Agreement a complementary approach to technical harmonization, known as equivalence. Technical barriers to international trade could be eliminated if Members accept that technical regulations different from their own fulfil the same policy objectives even if through different means. Let us assume that country A, wishing to protect its environment from high auto emission levels, requires that cars be equipped with a catalytic converter.
In country B, the same objective is achieved through the use of diesel engines in motor vehicles. Thus, if car manufacturers in country A want to export to B, they will not be obliged to satisfy country B's requirement to fit diesel engines, and vice versa.
This will eliminate the costs of adjusting production facilities to fulfil foreign regulations. As explained in the previous section, demonstrating compliance with technical regulations may impede international trade.
In particular, if products are to be exported to multiple markets, multiple testing may be required. Manufacturers can have difficulties in securing approval for their products on foreign markets, for instance because testing experts disagree on optimal testing procedures, from bureaucratic inertia, or even from manipulation of the testing process by protectionist groups.
Whatever the reason might be, such diversity of procedures and methods significantly increases the costs of producers who sell in multiple markets.
One of the main difficulties exporters face is costly multiple testing or certification of products. These costs would be drastically reduced if a product could be tested once and the testing results be accepted in all markets. In practice, countries would agree to accept the results of one another's conformity assessment procedures, although these procedures might be different.
Article 6. The presence of a high degree of confidence in testing and certification bodies is, in fact, a prerequisite for the good functioning of an MRA. For this reason, Article 6. It also points out that compliance by conformity assessment bodies with relevant guides or recommendations issued by international standardizing bodies can be regarded as an indication of adequate technical competence.
Technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Members must notify when two conditions apply: 1 whenever a relevant international standard or guide or recommendation does not exist, or the technical content of a proposed or adopted technical regulation or procedure is not in accordance with the technical content of relevant international standards or guides of recommendations; and 2 if the technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure may have a significant effect on the trade of other Members Articles 2.
Draft regulations should be notified to the WTO Secretariat, if possible sixty days prior to their formal adoption so as to allow time for other Members to make comments. Regulations can also be notified ex-post whenever urgent problems of safety, health, environment protection arise Articles 2. Local Governments at the level directly below central government are required to notify technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures which have not been previously notified by their central government authorities Article 3.
Statements on the implementation and administration of the Agreement. Each WTO Member must, promptly after the Agreement enters into force for it, notify Members of the measures in existence or taken to ensure the implementation and administration of the Agreement and of any subsequent changes to them Article March 21, Go To.
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