Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade - Implementation and Administration of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade - Communication from Indonesia - Revision

IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE

AGREEMENT ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE

Communication from INDONESIA

Revision

The following communication, dated 28 February 2017, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Indonesia.

 

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1  INTRODUCTION

1.1.  Pursuant to Article 15.2 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement), the Government of the Republic of Indonesia would like to inform the TBT Committee of the following measures which were taken to ensure implementation and administration of the Agreement.

2   ensuring CONSISTENCY with the tbt agreement THROUGH STANDARDS, TECHNICAL REGULATIONS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES

2.1.  Indonesia established Law Number 20 Year 2014 on Standardization and Conformity Assessments (Law 20/2014) which sets out the framework of standard development, standard implementation including marking, conformity assessment procedure (testing, inspection, accreditation and certification). The development of Law 20/2014 has incorporated TBT principles such as harmonization with international standards used for reference in developing standard, transparency, equivalency, mutual recognition, non-discrimination and avoiding unnecessary barrier to trade. Law 20/2014 will be implemented through implementing regulation in accordance with action plan.

2.2.  According to Law 20/2014, the development of Indonesian National Standard (SNI), will takes into account standardization and conformity assessment development and various aspects inter alia consumer protection, market demands, development of international standard, regional and international acceptance, science and technology, natural resources and environment circumstances, public morals (religions, beliefs, culture and local wisdom).

2.3.  In principle the nature of SNI is voluntary. However, some SNI which addressed matters related to national security requirements, prevention of deceptive practices, protection of human health or safety, animal and plant life/health, and environment, might be adopted to be mandatory. Such adoption will be implemented through regulations formed by Ministries and/or Agencies in charge of specific issues considering various aspects such as cost and benefit analysis, objectivity, consumer protection, infrastructure. Once the process has been completed, Ministries and/or Agencies will transmit draft regulations to the National Standardization Body of Indonesia (BSN) to be listed in the National Programme for Technical Regulations and further discussed by a Board comprising of various stakeholders (Ministries, Agencies and Associations).

2.4.  Implementation of standards is carried out through conformity assessment procedures, including accreditation and certification systems which will be monitored by the National Accreditation Body (KAN). KAN is also responsible for accrediting conformity assessment bodies, including laboratories, inspection bodies and certification bodies.

2.5.  KAN is a signatory member of various regional and international mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) such as the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC), International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), and multilateral agreements (MLAs) such as Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) and International Accreditation Forum (IAF).

3  TRANSPARENCY

3.1  NATIONAL NOTIFICATION AUTHORITY AND ENQUIRY POINT

3.1.  The (BSN) manages daily operational activities of the Indonesian Enquiry Point and Notification Body. In principal, responsibilities of the Enquiry Point and Notification Body includes inter alia responding to technical enquiries from other WTO Members regarding domestic regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, and fulfilling notification obligations under the TBT Agreement, such as the notification of new draft technical regulations to all WTO Members through the WTO Secretariat. The Indonesian Enquiry Point and Notification Body may be reached at the following address:

National Standardization Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BSN)

TBT WTO Notification and Enquiry Point of Indonesia

Gedung I BPPT Lt. 12

Jln. M. H. Thamrin No. 8, Jakarta Pusat, DKI Jakarta 10340

Phone: +62 21 3927422 ext 127

Fax: +62 21 3927527

Email: tbt.indonesia@gmail.com and tbt.indonesia@bsn.go.id

Contact Point:

Ms. Konny Sagala

Head of Center for Cooperation on Standardization

National Standardization Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BSN)

3.2  COMMENTS

3.2.  When formulating technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, Indonesia will give non-discriminatory consideration to comments from the concerned organizations and individuals, including those in other WTO Members.

3.3.  As stated in Standardization National Guideline (PSN) "On Notification and Enquiry for the WTO TBT" provided that, before adopting a TBT measure, all interested parties, would be allowed to submit comments on the draft measures for a period of at least 60 days except in urgent circumstances.

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