Good Standardisation Practice

Good Standardisation Practice Guides

Annex 3 of the WTO TBT agreement
Principles of Good Standards Practice
Principles of good practice for international standards organisations

Regional Good Standardization Practice Course

18-20 July, Bangkok, Thailand

2012
Importance of Standards
 WTO TBT agreement stresses the importance of standards

 Effective and efficient way of including technical aspects in

technical regulations

 Annex 3 provides guidance for bodies on how to develop and

approve standards for use in a way that will allow them to suitable
for use in technical regulations because they would have taken into
account the key principles of the WTO TBT agreement.

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice
Substantive Provisions

D. In standards all products should be treated the same

regardless of where they were made or where they come from.

E. Standards shall not create unfair barriers.

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice
F. If an appropriate international standard exists you should
use it as your own standard. But you don’t have to if it is
not suitable.

G. You should find an appropriate way to participate in

developing international standards so that you can adopt
them as your own in areas that are important to you.

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice
H. Coordinate your work with other bodies in the region or with
whom you trade so that your standards do not conflict..

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice
I. What it does is more important
than how its made.

J. Tell the others what you have

done and what you are busy with
at least once every six months.

K. Be a member of ISONET and let

the world know what you are
doing.

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice
L. Allow at least 60 days for members of the public and your
trading partners to comment on draft standards you intend to
adopt.

L. You should let them know if the draft is based on an

international standard and if you have deviated from it at all.

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice
M. Make the draft available so that people can comment if they
want to – it doesn’t have to be free but if you charge for the
draft, you must charge the same to all.

N. Don’t ignore the comments.

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice

O. Once the standard has been

adopted, it shall be promptly
published.

P. Don’t hide what you are doing

– if someone wants to know
what you are doing you must
let them know.

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Annex 3 – Code of good practice
Q. Be a good neighbour

If one of your trading partners needs some help – you really

should help them and if they have a complaint about what you
are doing you should try to resolve it.

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WTO TBT - Triennial review process

 Agreement is regularly reviewed by the contracting parties

 Identify problems that may have been encountered during

implementation
– Significantly more states now than when agreement was
initially drafted.

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Second triennial review of the TBT agreement
Article 17 ff

1. Acknowledged the importance of international standards in

reducing technical barriers to trade.
2. Strongly encouraged all members to participate internationally
to develop relevant international standards
3. Recognised that the bodies participating in international bodies are
different but their obligation to follow good standards practice is
the same
4. For international standards to be effective they must seek input from
a diversity of members and must be of good quality.

Committee adopted a set of six principles they felt were important

for international standards were suitable

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Key principles of good standards Practice

 Transparency *
 Openness *
 Consensus and impartiality *
 Market relevance and effectiveness *
 Coherence *
 Development dimension *

* explicit principles for the “development of international standards, guides and recommendations with relation to
articles 2, 5 and Annex 3 of the WTO/TBT agreement as described in Annex 4 of the second triennial review of the
WTO TBT agreement

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ISO standardization
Overview of some key principles

 Transparency *
 Openness *
 Consensus and impartiality *
 Market relevance and effectiveness *
 Coherence *
 Development dimension *
 Stakeholder engagement
 Due process
 National implementation/adoption
* explicit principles for the “development of international standards, guides and recommendations with relation to
articles 2, 5 and Annex 3 of the WTO/TBT agreement as described in Annex 4 of the second triennial review of the
WTO TBT agreement

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Applicability of good standards principles
 Principles not unique to WTO or WTO members

 UNECE – endorses the use of international standards in

regulations (recommendation L) and the WTO / TBT principles of
developing suitable international standards (see review March
2012)

 ITU – T adopted same principles

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The basis for codes of good practice
 SDOs Develop standard in the context of own legal environment
and social framework.

 Develop structures, rules, forms etc to ensure that they adhere

to good practice and do so consistently

 Typically, each SDO is comprised of Boards, Committees and

staff who establish and maintain the policies, procedures and
guidelines that help ensure the integrity of the standards
development process, and the standards that are generated as an
outcome of this process.

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Applying Good Standards Practice
 Many National Standards bodies used the WTO / TBT principles
to approve standards as national standards
– See:
» BS 0 (UK);
» SANS 1-1(South Africa);
» SG 001 (Australia)

 Some cases work is done by one or more SDOs

– NSB uses codes based on same principles to approve
standards as national standards
– See:
» ANSI Essential Requirements
» CAN-P-1:2011 Canada

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Implementation of the guidance
Procedural Consistency (Due Process)

 SDOs put in place systems

 Ensure that they meet and continue to meet the objectives
– Records to demonstrate Obligations are met
– Manage Commitments of membership to international
organisations or agreements
– Fairly managing Expectations of stakeholders

 Many organisations have [quality] management systems in place

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ISO Good practice guidance
 ISO/IEC guide 59 – 1994
– Pre-dates WTO TBT agreement
 Principles taken up into WTO TBT agreement
 Sets out to achieve the principles of fairness, openness,
transparency and relevance

 ISO/IEC directives sets rules for the development and

management of international standards
 ISO code of ethics (2004) commits members of ISO to following
key principles of fairness, openness and participation.
 Most members have developed their own rules based on legal
framework; stakeholder input and other obligations (eg WTO/ TBT
requirements). Most are very similar to ISO / IEC directives.

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 ISO process through ISO IEC directives and management of the
standards development process
 Seeks to achieve all of the objectives of the WTO TBT code of
good practice
– Standards meet requirements
– Members can adopt them as their own

 ISO is committed to develop standards that meet objectives of

the WTO TBT code of good practice as articulated in the second
triennial review of the WTO/TBT agreement.

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Measuring Conformity to Good practice guidelines
 Self-assessment guide

 Guidelines not intended as a requirements document

 Substantive provisions of Annex 3 are included under

appropriate principles
– Can you demonstrate that you meet these provisions?
– Substantive provisions can be implemented and verified
– Requirement of membership

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Summary - Good practice guidance
 Lays the foundation for effective stakeholder engagement for the
development of standards
– Incorporates the important interests
– Fair and transparent
– Effective and relevant
– Consensus based

 Effective stakeholder engagement results in more effective

standards:
– Content
– Acceptability
– Relevance

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