GSO UPDATE TO THE TBT COMMITTEE
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY the GCC Standardization
organization (GSO)
This document contains information provided by
GSO for consideration at the TBT Committee meeting of 12-14 November 2025 under
Agenda Item 6.a on Updates by Observers.
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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. Its 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,
technical regulations, 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 whereby 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 29,407 Unified Gulf Standards and
Technical Regulations. Almost 93% of GSO standards are adopted from international standards,
including the International Standardization Organization (ISO) (62%), the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) (20%), CEN-CENELEC (4%), the
ASTM International (ASTM) (4%), and (7%) prepared by GSO, and the remaining
percentage (3%) is adopted from other international and regional organizations.
5.2. Technical regulations account for
only 4% of the total Gulf standards, while the remaining 96% are voluntary
standards, within GSO's strategic approach to minimize mandatory standards
(whenever possible) and follow international practices to facilitate trade.
5.3. 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 53 GSO/TCs, TCs sub-committees, working groups and task
forces for standards development representing all GSO member States.
5.4. 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.
5.5. GULFMET has published 105 measurement
capabilities and calibrations in the International Bureau of Weights and
Measures KCDB BIPM database and organized 38 Inter-laboratory comparisons
(ILCs).
5.6. In terms of research, the GULFMET published scientific research in
the field of hardness measurements at the International Conference of the
International Metrology Federation (IMEKO).
5.7. GSO and GULFMET organized the second Gulf
Metrology Forum, through which a memorandum of understanding was signed between
GULFMET and the International Metrology Federation (IMEKO) and a technical
cooperation was signed with EUROLAB.
5.8. The GulfMet members are GSO member
States in addition to associate members (Bosnia and Herzegovina; Egypt;
Türkiye; South Korea; Hong Kong, China; and Iraq).
6.1. 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 the GSO Technical Regulation for Water Consumption
Conservation Products.
6.2. GSO has developed the MUTABIQ platform to facilitate the
certification procedures, enhance the quality of serves, shorten the time of
review and have 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 555,516
conformity certificates for vehicles, tires, and motorcycles.
6.3. GSO follows the TBT Agreement's notifications
rules and procedures. For example, on 4 February 2025, the United Arab
Emirates submitted, via the ePing platform, a joint notification on behalf of GSO member
states regarding a Technical Regulation for electric vehicles, allowing the
manufacturers to access the final texts of this technical regulation and
relevant dates of its implementation and to provide any technical comments
before approval stage by MC.
6.4. GSO is the notifying authority by
decision of the Board of Directors, May 2013. GSO approved
130 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 75,098 products have received the
G-Mark through the GCC Conformity Tracking System. Additionally, 1,062 free
Proficiency Testing Programs (PTs) for 788 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.
8.1. GSO has developed a range 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-CENELEC, 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
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 79 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 Committees, the International Organization of Legal
Metrology (OIML), 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), and 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.
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