GSO REPORT ON SPS ACTIVITIES
GSO REPORT TO THE WTO committee on SANITARY AND
PHYTOSANITARY measures
The following communication,
received on 16 February 2025, is being circulated at the
request of the secretariat of the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO).
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1 Introduction
1.1. GCC Standardization Organization
(GSO) is a non-profit (intergovernmental) Standardization Organization,
established by the resolution of the GCC
Supreme Council (22nd Session, Muscat, Oman, 30‑31 December
2001) and became operational in May 2004, whose membership consists of the
governments of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, which joined
GSO in January 2010.
2 GSO MISSION
2.1. The GSO mission is to assist the States of the
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) to achieve the
objectives set forth in its Charter and in the GCC Economic Agreement by
unifying the various standardization activities and following up on implementation
and compliance matters in cooperation and coordination with the standardization
bodies in the member States to develop the production and service sectors,
foster intra-GCC trade, protect consumers, the environment and public
health, enhance the GCC economy and its competitiveness and meet the
requirements of the Gulf Custom Union and Gulf Common Market.
3 GSO GoVernance structure
3.1. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): GSO is working under the umbrella of GCC as one of its
organizations.
3.2. The Ministerial Committee for
Standardizations affairs (MC): is the highest
authority of GSO, vested with all powers relating to its functioning. The MC
consists of respective Ministers of Commerce, Industry, and Investment in GCC
member States.
3.3. The GSO Technical Council (TC): consists of the respective directors of the National Standards
Bodies (NSBs) of GSO member States, and reports to MC.
3.4. The Presidency:
is headed by the President and consists of GSO professional staff to facilitate
the activities of GSO, and reports to MC and TC.
3.5. The GSO Steering and Technical Committees
(STCs): consist of technical experts representing
each National Standards Body of the member States. The STCs report to the GSO
TC and are responsible for the planning, coordination and monitoring of all the
technical work of GSO in standards, conformity assessment, metrology, and
notification.
4 GSO Strategy 2021-2025
4.1. GSO has defined its Strategic Plan for the year 2025, approved by
the Ministerial Committee for Standardization, and that is to be the trusted
regional organization of excellence in standardization activities, and the
first enabler for the Gulf Common Market. To achieve its vision, GSO relies on
the successful implementation of three main strategic themes, the first of
which is organizational excellence - "Accurate implementation of GSO's
activities and operations with high efficiency, lowest costs and on time, to
provide value-added services to GCC member States". The second theme
is being a regional organization pioneer– where GSO becomes a major and
reliable reference in GCC member States for standardization activities by
positioning itself within the global map of standardization organizations and
bodies, and building effective strategic partnerships to support trade,
industry and economy in GCC member States. Finally, the third theme is to
strengthen the economic integration among the GCC member States – by way of
GSO's contribution to achieving a common Gulf market and economic growth for
member States through standardization activities, conformity procedures, and
unified and effective control over products, as the first enablers of the
Gulf Common Market. Moreover, all GSO programmes, projects, and activities have
been aligned with these themes.
5 STANDARDS and METROLOGY
5.1. GSO has developed more than 28,311 Unified Gulf
Standards and Technical Regulations. Almost 53% of GSO standards are
adopted from the International Standardization Organization (ISO), 17% of those
standards are adopted from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
as endorsement, 1% of food standards are adopted from Codex Alimentarius, about
7% prepared by GSO, and the remaining percentage is adopted from other international
and regional organizations. GSO adopted ISO/IEC directives for technical work
as a basis for its own directives to ensure that GSO technical committees follow
international practices in the standards development process. At present, there
are 52 GSO/TCs, TCs sub-committees, working groups and task forces for
standards development representing all GSO member States and covering most of
the GCC sectors.
5.2. GSO established and hosted the Gulf Association for Metrology (GULFMET) as a Regional Metrology
Organization (RMO), bringing together National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) of
GCC countries. The International Committee of Weights and Measures (CIPM)
in BIPM decided to grant
GULFMET full membership in the Joint Committee of the Regional Metrology
Organizations and the BIPM (JCRB), with a voice and the right to vote in CIPM
meeting No. 110 dated on 22‑24 June 2021.
5.3. The GulfMet members are GSO member States in addition to associate
members (Bosnia and Herzegovina; Egypt; Türkiye; South Korea; Hong Kong, China;
and Iraq).
6 CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
6.1. GSO developed the GCC
Conformity Assessment Scheme in pursuance of reducing the technical
barriers of trade and facilitating the free movement of commodities across
borders within the GCC member States and the rest of the world. Within the
framework of the Gulf System for Safety Monitoring of Products in the GCC
Common Market, GSO has issued Horizontal Technical Regulations, Vertical
Technical Regulations, as well as other Technical Guides. Three technical regulations
have been implemented with the Gulf
Conformity Marking, namely, the GSO Technical Regulation on Toys, the GSO
Technical Regulation on Low Voltage Electrical Equipment and Appliances, and
Water-Saving Products.
6.2. GSO has developed the Electronic
Conformity Certificate Scheme (ECCS) to facilitate the certifications
procedures, enhance the quality of serves, to shorten the time of review and to
have a detailed data for the benefit of GSO stakeholders. The main objective
for the GSO Certification Scheme is to verify the compliance of the related
products with GSO Technical Regulations to assure of their safety for users and
to protect the environment in the region. GSO issued 520,717 conformity
certificates for vehicles, tires, and motorcycles.
6.3. GSO is the notifying authority by decision of the Board of
Directors, May 2013. GSO approved 116 notified bodies in many
countries around the world to issue the Gulf Mark for Children Toys, Low
Voltage Electrical Equipment and Appliances, and Water Consumption Conservation
Products. More than 67,000 products have received the G-Mark through the GCC
Conformity Tracking System. Additionally, 1,032 free Proficiency Testing
Programs (PTs) for 755 GCC laboratories have been organized as one of the main
activities of the Gulf Association
for Laboratories (GCCLAB), which is an open network for laboratories and
supporting companies operating in the GCC member States. It was established as
an initiative of the GSO and the recommendations of the first GCC Conference
for Laboratories Proficiency (Dubai, 13 March 2013).
7 CAPACITY BUILDING
7.1. GSO invests in strengthening the knowledge, skills, and know-how of
specialists in NSBs through extensive and blended training and technical
assistance programs. GSO established the GCC Standardization
Training Center to meet the needs and requirements of GSO members, and to
help them participate effectively in the development of international
standards, as well as towards increasing their competence in good
standardization practices (GSPs). An annual training plan is designed based on
the needs of NSBs, and training is to be delivered through highly qualified
experts in cooperation with international and regional standardization
organizations.
7.2. More than 16,000 participants since 2007, and more than 600 training
courses have been organized by GSO in cooperation with member States.
8 Digital Transformation and Support for Member States
8.1. GSO has developed a range of platforms
and e-services to support various standardization activities. These
services are continuously improved based on direct feedback from end users and
the evolving needs of member States. The quick response to those needs,
attracted member bodies to use these platforms for some of their national
activities.
8.1 Standards for Beneficiaries
8.2. Our Standards Information Management System integrates with API
Gateways from leading international standardization organizations, including
ISO, IEC, CEN, and ASTM. This integration has significantly improved the
quality of our standards data and provided accurate reports on Gulf Standards
based on withdrawn or revised international standards, helping our technical
committees take proper action.
8.3. GSO also uses XML technologies for publishing standards, enhancing
the quality of the files. A project is currently in progress to convert
our backlog of standards to this format.
8.4. In addition, GSO has enabled its member bodies to enter national
adoption details, automating the generation of national versions of the
standards. This visibility into national adoptions will eventually benefit all
stakeholders.
8.5. The GSO Standard
Store provides Gulf standards and technical regulations to all
beneficiaries with an efficient search function and accurate information. GSO
also hosts three National Standards Stores for the Kingdom of Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen, delivering National, Gulf, and
International standards to their beneficiaries.
8.2 Standards Development
8.6. GSO has developed a system
to manage technical committees and their projects. It provides all
interested parties access to drafts of standards and technical regulations for
public commenting.
8.7. Part of GSO's projects is translating ISO standards into Arabic. We
even host the ISO Arabic Translation Group's projects on our platform with
users from various Arab standardization bodies.
8.8. Following the success in supporting our member bodies with sales and
publishing, we have launched a new initiative in progress for member States to
host their national committees and projects on our platforms.
8.3 Conformity Assessment
8.9. GSO has developed a platform to automate the tracking of conformity
certificates issued by manufacturers or by Gulf Notified Bodies for the use of Gulf
Conformity Mark. All certificates come with QR codes for tracking (GCTS),
and some include labels for fuel
efficiency or water consumption.
8.10. GSO has developed Rapid Alert System for
Exchange of Information on Dangerous Products (Aajel), ensuring the rapid
exchange of information between member States and GSO regarding the measures
and procedures taken with regard to products destined for the consumer that may
pose a critical risk to his health and safety.
8.11. The same pattern is repeating here, and we are using our platform to
support our member bodies for the notification of conformity assessment bodies
in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen, and the tracking of conformity
certificates or energy efficiency labels approval letters.
9 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
9.1. The GSO, with the objective to establish mutually beneficial
cooperation with the relevant international and regional organizations,
continues to promote international standards through 77 MoUs
and Cooperation agreements with many international and regional
organizations.
9.2. GSO is an observer member in many international organizations,
including the ISO, the IEC, the Codex Alimentarius (CAC), the WTO TBT/SPS, the
International Organization of Legal Metrology (OMIL), CEN CENELEC, Standards
and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC), Arabic Industrial
Development and Mining Organization (AIDSMO), Pan American Standards Commission
(COPANT), African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), the Southern African
Development Community (SADC). GSO is a full member of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), and a member of the Consultation Group to the
WOAH Observatory, and the Energy and Carbon Advisory Council (International
Code Council).
9.3. GSO is participating in many key international and regional annual meetings
and assemblies within the framework of the MoUs signed with its partners.
10 GSO Contribution - SPS Committee
10.1. So far, GSO issued 1,409 standards and 609 Technical Regulations in
the food and agriculture sector. Recently, the 59th Technical
Council Meeting (14-15 October 2024, Doha) approved 1,130 standards and
technical regulations, including 106 standards and technical regulations and
their amendments in food and agriculture sector, as follows:
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78 Gulf
standards;
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10 Gulf technical
regulations;
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12 technical
regulations/standard translation projects;
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4 technical
amendments and typographical corrections (Gulf technical regulations); and
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2 technical
amendments to international standards adopted in the Gulf.
10.2. GSO participates in the regular meetings of the SPS Committee and
the thematic sessions.
10.3. In 2024, GSO has participated and presented many papers in many
activities including:
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GSO developed
(recently) 16 Gulf technical regulations and their amendments, which were
initially approved by the GSO Technical Council in its 57th meeting
on 30‑31 January 2024 in Doha, and were submitted to the Ministerial
Committee at its subsequent meeting in May 2024;
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GSO participated
in organizing the Bahrain Halal Expo 2024: Bridging the Gap between Halal
Industry and Islamic Finance, held under the patronage of His Excellency
Minister of Industry and Commerce of the Kingdom of Bahrain, 6-7 February 2024,
Manama. A keynote speech was delivered by the GSO President. GSO was a
part of the panel discussions highlighting its pioneering role with its members
to develop Gulf standards, including standards for Halal products and services,
in accordance with an annual work plan to meet the needs identified by the
member States and relevant authorities, relevant technical committees
representing all member States;
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GSO participated
in the regular meeting of the SPS Committee, held in hybrid format on 20‑22
March 2024;
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GSO participated
in organizing the Food Safety and Nutrition Summit, in cooperation with USDA,
Ministry of Public Health in Qatar, and Qatar General Organization for
Standards and Metrology (QGOSM), held in Doha, 20-21 May 2024;
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Since January
2024 till now, GSO participated in five meetings and four regional seminars
related to Arab Codex coordination meetings;
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The second
symposium of the Arab section of the AOAC International, online, 7‑8 May 2024;
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11th
Gulf Food Week and 3rd Annual Food Safety and Nutrition Summit, Doha,
Qatar, 19‑23 May 2024;
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The Third Arab
Codex Colloquium, Amman-Jordan, 11-13 June 2024;
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Regional Seminar
of the Joint Programme of FAO and WHO, in preparation for the Executive
Committee of the Codex Alimentarius, online, 21 June 2024;
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Meeting with the
Gulf Center for Disease Prevention and Control to discuss and follow up on
developments in adopting the "Marketing Requirements of Food directed to
Children", online, 21 July 2024;
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Harnessing
Technology to Support Seamless Exchange of Food Safety Information for
Imported/Exported Food, Webinar, 17 September 2024;
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SMIIC TC Week 13,
online, 23-28 September 2024;
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"Titanium
Dioxide: Safety Assessment as a Food Additive", online, 1 October 2024;
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FAO/WHO Regional
Seminar on Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food (CCRVDF27),
organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
and the Interafrican Union Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), online, 1 October
2024;
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Regional Seminar
on the Agenda Items of the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Labelling,
online, 9 October 2024;
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Webinar: The 45th
CROSQ Council Meeting and InDiCo-Global ESS Workshop, 9 October 2024;
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The 27th
Meeting of the Arab Countries' Focal Points in the Codex Alimentarius, online,
10 October 2024;
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Webinar:
Veterinary Residues Monitoring Hormones in Food (GFoRSS), 15 October 2024;
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Workshop to
discuss the experiences of the GCC countries in accrediting establishments
exporting to the GCC countries, and its topics on halal issues, Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, 16-17 October 2024;
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18th
Dubai International Food Safety Conference DIFSC: Future Foresight in Food
Safety. Hybrid, 21-23 October 2024;
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Webinar: Joint
CCAFRICA/CCLAC/US/CCNE Codex Alimentarius Colloquium on CCRVDF27, 1 October
2024;
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The 28th Meeting
of the Arab Contact Points in Codex, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 21 October
2024;
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The 29th Meeting
of the Arab Contact Points in Codex, 29 October 2024;
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Webinar:
Threshold Driven Risk Management Practices for Allergens in Food and Improving
Reliance on Precautionary Allergen Labelling (PAL), 29 October 2024;
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Webinar:
Regulation on Requirements for Health and Nutrition Claims on Products, 10 November
2024;
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Webinar: Methods
of Analysis supporting Halal Food Certification – event supported by the Arab
Section of AOAC INTERNATIONAL and the AOAC Southeast Asia Section, 12 November
2024;
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ABCE 2024
Conference & Exhibition, (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 13-14 November 2024);
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The 30th
Meeting of the Arab Contact Points in Codex, 13 November 2024;
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The 31st
Meeting of the Arab Contact Points in Codex, 20 November 2024;
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The 47th
Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC47), Geneva, 25‑30 November
2024;
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Webinar: The Food
Regulatory Science Webinar Series: Supporting the development of Camel-derived
products – Why a proposed standard for Camel Milk, 26 November 2024;
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The 10th Meeting
of the Executive Committee of the Arab Section of AOAC INTERNATIONAL, 10
December 2024;
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Webinar: Food
Regulatory Science Webinar Series: Defining Processed and Ultra-Processed
Foods, 10 December 2024;
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Webinar:
Delivering an introductory workshop on food safety legislation, 26 December
2024;
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Regional seminar
to prepare for the 23rd session of the Codex on Fresh Fruits and
Vegetables, 22 January 2025;
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The Halal
industry, Trade and Standardisation, and topic, Halal Standards and Their
Contributions to the Growth of Halal Economy and potential for Intra-African
Trade under the AfCFTA, 23 January 2025;
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The 32nd
Meeting of the Arab Contact Points in Codex and the Near East Region, 4 February
2025;
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Several Meetings
for the Gulf Technical Committees for Food and Agriculture, Halal, Labelling,
etc.
10.4. For more information on GSO Outreach Reviews, please click here.
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