Welcome to the
WTO TBT National Enquiry Point of Mauritius
Background
The WTO Agreement on
Technical Barriers to Trade entered into force on 1 January 1995 as one of the
agreements under Annex 1A of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization (WTO). The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT
Agreement) strengthened and clarified the provisions of the “Standards Code” –
the original plurilateral 1979 Tokyo Round Agreement on Technical Barriers to
Trade governing regulations and standards.
The TBT Agreement is
binding on all WTO Member States. It shares many of its fundamental principles
with other WTO agreements – non-discrimination, promoting predictability of
access to markets, and technical assistance and special and differential
treatment for developing countries in the implementation of the Agreement. The
TBT Agreement also includes features specific to the preparation and
application of regulatory measures that affect trade in goods: it strongly
encourages the use of international standards, and it emphasizes the need to
avoid unnecessary barriers to trade.
Transparency is a
cornerstone of the TBT Agreement. It is a fundamental pillar in the
implementation of the TBT Agreement and a key element of Good Regulatory
Practices (GRP). Transparency in the context of the TBT Agreement consists of
three core elements:
- provisions
on the notification of draft technical regulations and conformity assessment
procedures, as well as the “one-time” notification of each member’s
organizational “set-up” for the implementation of the Agreement
-
the
establishment of national enquiry points and a notification authority
-
publications
requirements for technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures and
standards
To
facilitate the exchange of information, each WTO Member State is required to
put in place an enquiry point that is able to answer all reasonable enquiries
from other members as well as providing the relevant documents concerning
standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.
WTO TBT National Enquiry Point in Mauritius
The WTO TBT National
Enquiry Point (NEP) was set up in the Standards Information Centre (SIC) of MSB
and was inaugurated on 8 May 1997.
The essence of its
functions is to ensure applicability of the TBT notification procedure which
helps avoid any potential barriers to international trade. WTO Member States are required to “notify” other members,
through the WTO Secretariat, of proposed measures that may have a significant
effect on other members’ trade and that are not based on relevant international
standards. This notification requirement must take place at an early,
appropriate stage, when amendments can still be introduced and comments
considered. Once a measure has
been notified, the recommended 60-day comment period begins, during which
members can request copies of the draft measure and make written comments on
the measure to the notifying member. However, if for legitimate objectives
pertaining to the protection of human health and environment, a regulation
could not be notified at draft stage, it should be notified even after it is
promulgated.
As the WTO TBT NEP, the SIC is responsible for the
dissemination of information with respect to the notifications, including the
associated technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment
procedures, both domestic and foreign. Foreign notifications are retrieved from
the WTO website and circulated to concerned parties in Mauritius for review and
comments. Comments received are channeled to the countries emanating these
proposals for further consideration.
The responsibilities
of the National Enquiry Point may be summarized as follows:
- To acquire and disseminate information on all relevant
notifications
-
To facilitate the provision of full regulatory text of the
notifications upon request
- To collect comments from stakeholders and inform the
Notification Authority
-
To channel and/or reply to all reasonable enquiries
received within a specific timeframe