WTOSlide 1 The WTO TBT Agreement ITU-WTO Workshop on Telecom & ICT Regulation Geneva, 2 December 2004 Erik Wijkström WTO Trade and Environment Division.

WTO Slide 1

The WTO TBT Agreement

ITU-WTO Workshop on Telecom & ICT Regulation

Geneva, 2 December 2004

Erik Wijkström WTO Trade and Environment Division

[email protected]+41 22 7395729

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%

20041947

NTBstariffs

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Avoid: unnecessary barriers to trade

Allow: regulatory autonomy (legitimate objectives)

Use: international standards!

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Relevance of Telecom?

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1

Year 1995-2004

nu

mb

er o

f n

oti

fica

tio

ns

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

TBT Notification related to “Telecom”

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365

460

794648 669 611

538581

794

274

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

(J an-

J un)

All notifications

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TBT Agreement is applicable to:

“1.3 All products, including industrial and agricultural products, shall be subject to the provisions of this Agreement.”

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In the TBT Committee, approximately 120 specific trade concerns raised

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Telecom: equipment

use of internation

al standards

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(selected observer international organizations in TBT Committee)

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Telecom: equipment

use of internation

al standards

certification requirement

s

approval

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Conformity Assessment

Familiar WTO disciplines (MFN, NT ...)

TBT Committee “renewed emphasis” → 2006

21 March 2005 Workshop on

SDoC

Early 2006 workshop o “different

approaches”

June 2004“Special Meeting”

on CAP

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In sum...

TBT covers all goods

telecom equipment

standards / conformity assessment

TBT Committee: work program

21 March 2004 Workshop on SDoC

objective: NTBs

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