WTO/TBT Agreement ( World Trade Organization/ Agreement onTechnical Barriers to Trade)

What is the WTO/TBT Agreement

History: The provisions of the GATT 1947 contained only a general reference to technical regulations and standards. A GATT working group set up to evaluate the impact of non-tariff barriers including technical barriers in international trade. The GATT Contracting parties were signed the plurilateral Agreement, called standards Code standards. The Standards Code laid down the rules for preparation, adoption, and application of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures. In 1994, the TBT agreement, which has strengthen and clarified the provisions of the standards Code, was signed as an integral part of the WTO Agreement.
Contents of the TBT Agreement: The Principles of TBT agreement are as follows ; (1) Avoidance of unnecessary obstacles to trade, (2) Non-discrimination and national treatment, (3) Harmonization, (4) Equivalence of technical regulations, (5) Mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures and (6)Transparency. For example, members shall accord equal treatments for other members on technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures to all products, including industrial and agricultural products. The agreement also requires for members to use relevant international standards or to use a part of relevant parts of them if they exist, as a basis for their technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures.
Triennial Review: The TBT committee reviews the operation and implementation of this Agreement, including the provisions relating to transparency in the three-year period according to Article 15.4. The Committee conducted its triennial reviews in 1997, 2000 and 2003. The results of the triennial reviews are in the page of "Reference".

More information about WTO/TBT is in the following website (Another Website)
Japan's one of the TBT enquiry points: JETRO (Another Website)