STANDARDS AND TRADE

Eileen HillTeam Leader for Standards

International Trade AdministrationU.S. Department of Commerce

September 16, 2015

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Standards Related Trade Challenges and Tools

Standards-related trade issues are the number one trade barrier facing U.S. exporters

Tools to address them include:

• WTO TBT and SPS Agreements

• Free Trade Agreements; Ongoing negotiations/T-TIP

• U.S. Commercial Dialogues – Brazil, China, India, Canada, Mexico, North American Leaders Summit

• Regional Groups (APEC, ASEAN)

• Capacity Building (TEEs, Standards Alliance)

• Monitoring Standards Development in ISO

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Standards Trade Barriers

Overly prescriptive or unique standards

Duplicative or burdensome testing or inspection procedures

Difficulty in knowing how to comply with mandatory

requirements

Labeling requirements that are not meaningful or

are misleading

Concerns about release of proprietary information

during testing

Product bans (not justified by science; may be

discriminatory)

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WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade

• Concluded in 1994; all 161 WTO Members are TBT Agreement Members

• Aims to ensure that technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures do not constitute unnecessary barriers to international trade

• Recognizes the right of Members to take regulatory measures to achieve legitimate objectives

• Doesn’t cover services (only covers products); sanitary or phytosanitary measures (food safety, etc.); or purchasing specifications prepared by governments

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WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade

TBT Agreement Principles:

• Avoid unnecessary obstacles to trade

• National Treatment/Non-Discrimination

• Transparency/National Inquiry Point

• Equivalence of Technical Regulations/Mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures

• Harmonization/reliance on international standards

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WTO COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE: DECISION OF THE COMMITTEE ON PRINCIPLES FOR THE

DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS, GUIDES AND RECOMMENDATIONS (2002)

• Transparency

• Openness

• Impartiality and Consensus

• Effectiveness and Relevance

• Coherence

• Development Dimension

WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

• Covers WTO Member’s adoption of rules and regulations that govern food safety and animal and plant health; measures adopted by Members must be science-based

• Encourages Governments to use international standards and to recognize other countries' compliance procedures as equivalent if they achieve the same level of SPS protection (to encourage harmonization)

• Addresses unjustifiable discrimination, disguised restrictions to trade, transparency

• Recognizes three international standards setting organizations

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WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

The three recognized international standard-setting bodies in the SPS Agreement are the:

• Joint Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) for food safety;

• FAO International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for plant health; and

• World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for animal health and zoonoses

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Standards in U.S. Free Trade Agreements

• 14 FTAs covering 20 countries (Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordon, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore)

• Only Israel FTA is lacking TBT obligations

• Each agreement is unique, but they share provisions relating to standards-related measures

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TBT Provisions in U.S. Free Trade Agreements

• Affirmation of the TBT Agreement

• International standards

• Conformity assessment procedures

• Transparency

• Cooperation

• Information Exchange

• Administration/FTA Subcommittees on Standards

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TBT Provisions in U.S. Free Trade Agreements

• U.S. FTA approach is “TBT plus”

• “Plus” elements: transparency, mechanisms for more in depth consultation on specific trade concerns, and facilitating cooperation and coordination on systemic issues

• Trans Pacific Partnership also includes a chapter on “regulatory coherence” and has annexes addressing specific sectoral issues

• T-TIP also will address regulatory coherence and seek to address sector-specific regulatory cooperation

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Standards in U.S. Commercial Dialogues

• U.S. Commercial Dialogues – Brazil, China, India, Canada, Mexico, North American Leaders Summit

• Activities in each vary; depends on mutual interests

• Brazil/June 2015 “Memorandum of Intent”

• China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade/JCCT

• India Strategic Commercial Dialogue/S&CD

• Canada/Regulatory Cooperation Council

• Mexico/ High-Level Regulatory Cooperation Council

• North American Leaders Summit – Trilateral Regulatory Cooperation

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Regional Groups: APEC

• Founded in 1989

• 21 member economies, including the United States, China, Russia, and Australia

• Accounts for 55 percent of global GDP, purchases 58 percent of U.S. goods exports, and comprises a market of 2.7 billion customers

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Regional Groups: APEC• Work on standards related measures takes place

in the APEC Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance/APEC SCSC

• U.S. plays a leadership role; U.S. private sector is a strong partner in this work

• Focus is on good regulatory practice in specific areas and initiating early regional engagement in emerging technology areas

• Areas covered include food, green building, wine, electric vehicles, ICT energy efficiency, toys, and solar

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Regional Groups: ASEAN

• Association of Southeast Asian Nations founded in 1967

• ASEAN Members: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam

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Regional Groups: ASEAN• U.S. DOC carries out standards cooperative work

under the ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality

• Priority sectors: medical devices, building products, dietary supplements, food safety, green chemistry, electrical and electronic goods, and information and communications technology (ICT) products

• This work helps ensure that U.S. products have access to the ASEAN regional market

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Capacity Building: Standards Alliance, USTDA

• The Standards Alliance supports implementation of WTO TBT commitments in ten partner countries/regions: http://standardsalliance.ansi.org

• Public-private partnership between ANSI, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); announced in 2012

• The U.S. Trade and Development Agency provides funding for private sector projects in developing and middle income countries that promote U.S. exports: http://www.ustda.gov/program/

Capacity Building: ITA’s Total Economic Engagement, MDCP

• ITA’s Total Economic Engagement/TEE program funding important to address standards issues; launched in 2008

• Market Development Cooperator Program/MDCP awards support private sector projects addressing U.S. competitiveness; have been used to tackle standards issues; launched in 1993

• http://trade.gov/mdcp/About/About.html

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Standards Alert

New ITA Service to alert stakeholders to new ISO standards development work so

they can protect their equities; working with ANSI

Goal:

• To head off trade barriers by increasing U.S. company in developing new international standards

Standards In ITA:Office of Standards and Investment Policy

I&A/Office of Standards and

Investment Policy:

Lead on ITA International

Standards Team Principal ITA Advisor on Standards

Issues

T-TIP Coordinator for

Sectorial Regulatory

Cooperation

Standards in bilateral

commercial dialogues

Liaison to private sector

(ANSI, U.S. SDOs) and

other agencies on standards

issues

Lead on standards

development in ISO, including cross-cutting

policy standards

Industry Trade Advisory

Committee on Standards and

Technical Barriers to

Trade (ITAC 16)

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Chris Rosettie; Director, Office of Standards and Investment PolicyChris.Rosettie@trade.gov; 202-482-3227

Eileen Hill; Standards Team Lead, Office of Standards and Investment Policy Eileen.Hill@trade.gov; 202-482-5276

Renee Hancher; Lead, Trade Policy and Negotiations, Office of Standards and Investment PolicyRenee.Hancher@trade.gov; 202-482-3493

Michael Boyles; Manager, Emerging Issues, Office of Standards and Investment PolicyMichael.Boyles@trade.gov; 202-482-1935

Marianne Drain; U.S. Mission to the European Union; Brussels, BelgiumMarianne.Drain@trade.gov

Cathy Feig; Beijing, ChinaCathy.Feig@trade.gov

Everett Wakai; Sao Paulo, BrazilEverett.Wakai@trade.gov

Sarah Cook; Mexico City, MexicoSarah.Cook@trade.gov

Standards Attachés

ITA Office of Standards and Investment Policy

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Standards in ITA

Industry & Analysis/Industry Offices

• Lead on sector and industry specific standards issues and initiatives

Enforcement & Compliance/Trade Agreement Negotiation and Compliance

• TBT, SPS in the WTO and FTAs, including TPP and T-TIP

Global Markets/Commercial Service

• Manage bilateral commercial dialogues; Commercial Service network, including Standards Attachés

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Standards and Trade: Other DOC Partners: NIST

• NIST is a technical advisor to trade agencies on standards issues and is participating in standards-related trade negotiations like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations with the EU

• NIST administers the U.S. Enquiry Point under the WTO TBT Agreement/NotifyUS

• NIST also operates the Standards Information Center

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Standards and Trade:Other Agency Partners/USTR

• ITA is part of an interagency community – the Trade Policy Staff Committee – that addresses trade issues, including those related to standards

• USTR chairs the TPSC Subcommittee on Technical Barriers to Trade/leads on standards issues related to trade agreements – negotiation of current and compliance with existing agreements

• Regulatory agencies (FDA, EPA, NHTSA, CPSC) also are very active in trade-related standards issues

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QUESTIONS?

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