Request for Observer Status by the CARICOM REGIONAL OrganiSation

for StandardS AND QUALITY (CROSQ) to the wto Committee on

Technical Barriers to Trade

submission from TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

The following submission, dated 7 June 2016, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Trinidad and Tobago.

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1.  The delegation of Trinidad and Tobago notes the request for observer status in the WTO's Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) by the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ).

2.  Trinidad and Tobago would like to inform Members that CROSQ fulfils a central function in the work on TBT-related matters of and among CARICOM Members. The mandate of CROSQ is to facilitate the development and harmonisation of standards and technical regulations and promote the mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures and systems relating to inspection, testing, certification, accreditation and metrology; collectively – Quality Infrastructure (QI) . The objective is to support the sustainable production and intra and extra regional trade of goods and services of the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM's) Single Market and Economy (CSME). CROSQ also has the mandate of providing guidance to the CARICOM Organs and Bodies regarding matters within its competence, that is QI, including dispute settlement and helping Member States integrate into the global economy.

3.  CROSQ therefore functions as an important institution of CARICOM and is governed by a Council comprising the Chief Executives of the 15 National Standards Bureaux from all the member countries of CARICOM including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. It reports directly to the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of CARICOM.

4.  In carrying out its mandate, CROSQ's main focus is the development of the Regional QI for which they have special standing regional committees in charge of the coordination of not only the technical aspect and tenets of QI but also for policy, education and awareness in the CARICOM region. Much of this work is conducted in collaboration with international stakeholder groupings from the European Union, the America's, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the like.

5.  The delegation of Trinidad and Tobago therefore recognizes that CROSQ is a relevant regional inter-governmental organisation that would support the interests of CARICOM Members. CROSQ is especially useful in spearheading the adoption of international and regional standards that are usually incorporated into technical regulations which if not harmonized can create unnecessary obstacles to international trade. The organization's work on conformity assessment naturally relates directly to TBT issues as well. CROSQ is further currently leading the conceptualization of a regional committee whose mandate would include functions akin to those of a TBT committee.

6.  Given the attributes of CROSQ outlined above, the delegation of Trinidad and Tobago supports the request for observer status of CROSQ in the TBT Committee and would like to recommend that the Committee grants the request.

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