WTO's Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Meets to Discuss Trade Concerns, New Issues
The World Trade Organization’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade met Nov. 11 to 14 to approve revised transparency guidelines for how members notify of regulatory updates and to discuss a number of trade concerns and practices, it said in a press release.
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Those revisions include new guidance to assist when members provide updates during the "regulatory lifecycle of" technical barriers to trade (TBT) measures -- for example, when “a notified draft measure is further amended or adopted,” the release said. "The guidance also underscores that providing updates when extending deadlines for comments helps ensure every member benefits equally from the additional commenting time," it said.
The committee considered 70 trade concerns, 12 of them new, involving “a wide variety of regulatory issues related to cybersecurity, steel, tin, paper, food packaging, audio and video equipment, fertilizers, automobiles and cosmetics, among other things.” Among them, the U.S. reported the resolution of a trade concern it had raised regarding India’s food safety regulations for alcoholic beverages, the release said. The U.K. said a concern it raised about a similar issue regarding Malaysia’s alcoholic beverages had been resolved.
The committee held three thematic sessions the first day: “International Standards for Critical and Emerging Technologies,” “Technical Assistance -- the Role of Metrology in Facilitating Trade" and "Good Regulatory Practices -- Regulatory Impact Assessment and Trade-Related Impacts,” the release said. It also held an information session on regulations that would impact trade of information and communication technology products under the WTO Information Technology Agreement.
At the first session, the committee heard from speakers advocating standards for AI development, GPS technologies and semiconductors. At the second, speakers discussed the importance of robust institutes of metrology, the science of measurement. They “highlighted the challenges developing and least-developed members face in building and maintaining metrology systems, such as limited technical and financial resources, inadequate infrastructure and a shortage of skilled personnel,” the release said.
At the third session, committee members discussed the importance of regulatory impact assessments and considered some of the ways they could be conducted despite problems of “limited capacity and data gaps,” the release said, such as by gradual implementation and the use of “digital tools and AI.”
The U.K., Canada, Barbados and Costa Rica also hosted a side event with the UN's Sanitation and Hygiene Fund advocating for a global safety standard for feminine hygiene products, noting concerns regarding some products’ high toxicity and other concerns regarding access and affordability, the release said.