REPORT (2014) OF THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE

1.  The Committee held its 62^nd, 63^rd and 64^th regular meetings on 19-20 March, 18-19 June and 5-6 November 2014, respectively. The 62^nd meeting was chaired by Mr. Jingo Kikukawa (Japan), and the 63^rd and 64^th meetings were chaired by Mr. Filipe Ramalheira (Portugal).^[1]

2.  During these meetings, the Committee heard statements from Members regarding measures taken to ensure the implementation and administration of the TBT Agreement, under Article 15.2. In total, since 1995, 129 Members have submitted at least one such statement. In addition, 47 new specific trade concerns were discussed by the Committee on certain measures, or proposed measures, taken by Members. The Committee also heard exchanges on 101 trade concerns that had been previously raised.

3.  During the reporting period, the Committee held thematic sessions on issues related to the operation and implementation of the Agreement. These sessions focused on Standards^[2], Good Regulatory Practice^[3], Transparency^[4], Conformity Assessment Procedures, and Special and Differential Treatment and Technical Assistance.^[5]

4.  At the meeting of 19-20 March 2014, the Committee adopted its report of the 19^th Annual Review of the Implementation and Operation of the TBT Agreement under Article 15.3 (G/TBT/34 and G/TBT/34/Corr.1). At the same meeting, the Committee carried out the 19^th Annual Review of the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards (hereafter "the Code"). This work was based on the following background documents: a list of standardizing bodies that have accepted the Code in the period under review (G/TBT/CS/1/Add.18), a list of standardizing bodies that have accepted the Code since 1995 (G/TBT/CS/2/Rev.20) and the 19^th Edition of the WTO TBT Standards Code Directory, prepared by the ISO/IEC Information Centre.

5.  At the meeting of 18-19 June 2014, the Committee adopted a recommendation on coherent use of notification formats (G/TBT/35).

6.  During the reporting period, representatives of the Codex, ISO, IEC, BIPM, UNECE, ITC and WHO updated the Committee on activities relevant to the work of the TBT Committee, including on technical assistance. At the 5-6 November meeting, the Committee granted ad hoc observer status to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Standardization Organization (GSO).

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