WTO/TBT

Outline

The GATT Standard Code, which was adopted as an international agreement in April 1979, was revised and adopted as the TBT Agreement in May 1994. The TBT Agreement, enacted by way of the WTO Agreement in January 1995, applies to all WTO member countries.
The TBT Agreement stipulates the principles of establishing national standards and the need to ensure transparency so that all countries’ industrial product standards and conformity assessment procedures should not unnecessarily hinder trade. Through this system, countries have worked on preventing the various national regulations and standards from hindering the international trade of products as much as possible.

Basic structure

With regard to the operation of technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures, member countries are required to use international standards and guidelines as a basis of them, granting national treatment and most favored nation treatment, implementing necessary notification procedures, and accepting comments from other member countries.
Technical regulations and the results of conformity assessment procedures are to be accepted as much as possible when recognized as equivalent even when those in other countries are different from national ones but recognized as equivalent.

Triennial review

The TBE Committee conducts reviews on the operation and implementation of the Agreement once every three years, based on Article 15-4 of the TBT Agreement. The triennial review has been conducted once every three years since 1997. The triennial reviews' reports can be downloaded from “Triennial review reports.”

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