World Trade
Organization G/TBT/23
20 February 2008 (08-0765) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade

THIrteenth ANNUAL REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION AND
OPERATION OF THE TBT AGREEMENT

Note by the Secretariat

The Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (the Committee) will conduct its Thirteenth Annual Review of the Implementation and Operation of the TBT Agreement under Article 15.

Forty-five specific trade concerns, twenty-eight of which were new concerns, were brought to the attention of the Committee with regard to the potential adverse trade effects of the measures, or inconsistency with the Agreement.

With a view to deepening understanding of the contribution good regulatory practice can make to the implementation of the TBT Agreement and advancing its work in this area, the Committee agreed to hold a workshop on good regulatory practice on 1819 March 2008.

Figure 1: Total Number of TBT Notifications since 1995

Figure 2: Notifications in 2007 by Article

Amongst the 1,030 notifications received in 2007, the following objectives have been mentioned by Members: protection of human health or safety (in 678 notifications); prevention of deceptive practices (in 184 notifications); protection of the environment (in 173 notifications); consumer information and labelling (in 75 notifications); quality requirements (in 74 notifications); adoption of new domestic law (in 68  notifications); harmonization (in 28 notifications); protection of animal or plant life or health (in 29 notifications); lowering or removal of trade barriers and trade facilitation (in 8 notifications); national security requirements (in 2 notifications); and cost saving and increasing productivity (in 4 notifications).
These notifications pertained to: (i) a m
utual
r
ecognition
a
rrangement on
c
onformity
a
ssessment
between
t
he
Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (TPKM) and the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (Spring) of Singapore
(G/TBT/10.
The ISO/IEC Information Centre has prepared the Thirteenth Edition of the WTO TBT Standards Code Directory which lists all standardizing bodies that have notified their acceptance of the Code together with the addresses of these standardizing bodies and information related to the availability of their work programmes.
Means of access to additional information relevant to transparency
The following is a list of sources where relevant information can be found:
Information on publications used to announce that work is proceeding on draft technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures under Articles 2.
Several observer organizations in the TBT Committee, such as Codex, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Organization for Legal Metrology (OIML), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) participated the workshops.
DISPUTES INVOLVING PROVISIONS OF THE TBT AGREEMENT
The state of play during the year 2007 with regard to disputes that have involved provisions of the TBT Agreement is summarized below.
Pending Consultations DS279 India – Import Restrictions Maintained under the Export and Import Policy 2002-2007 European Communities On 23 December 2002, the European Communities requested consultations with India concerning import restrictions maintained by India under its Export and Import Policy 2002-2007 with respect to particular products of concern to the European Communities (WT/DS279/1).
Implementation status of adopted panel reports DS291DS292DS293

European Communities – Measures Affecting the Approval and Marketing of Biotech Products United States, (DS291), Canada (DS292) and Argentina (DS293) On 13 May 2003, the United States and Canada requested consultations with the European Communities concerning certain measures taken by the European Communities and its member States affecting imports of agricultural and food imports from the United States and Canada (WT/DS291/1, WT/DS292/1).

Argentina (in respect of the United States' and Canada's complaints), Australia, Brazil, Canada (in respect of the United States' and Argentina's complaints), Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Uruguay and the United States (in respect of Canada's and Argentina's complaints) reserved their third-party rights.
On 29 September 2006, the panel reports were circulated to Members (WT/DS291/R, WT/DS292/R and WT/DS293/R).
On 21 June 2007, the United States and the European Communities, Canada and the European Communities, and Argentina and the European Communities respectively notified the DSB that they had agreed that the reasonable period of time for the European Communities to implement the recommendations and rulings of the DSB shall be twelve months from the date of the adoption of the panel reports.
2
Argentina2, 5 and 12

ANNEXES
List of WTO Members and Observers
Members

Albania Ghana Panama Angola Greece Papua New Guinea Antigua and Barbuda Grenada Paraguay Argentina Guatemala Peru Armenia Guinea Philippines Australia Guinea Bissau Poland Austria Guyana Portugal Bahrain Haiti Qatar Bangladesh Honduras Romania Barbados Hong Kong,
of Ukraine Belarus Lebanese Republic Uzbekistan Bhutan Libya Vanuatu Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Yemen Cape Verde Russian Federation Equatorial Guinea Samoa Ethiopia Sao Tomé and Principe

Observer Organizations

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP)

Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI)30

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)30
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
International Trade Centre (ITC)
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Office International des Epizooties (OIE)

International Organization for Legal Metrology (OIML)30
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)30
World Health Organization (WHO)
WHO/FAO Codex Alimentarius Commission
The World Bank

List of TBT Documents Issued During the Year 2007
Document Reference Date of Issue Title 1.
Working Documents (G/TBT/W/ - ) G/TBT/W/275 19 March 2007 The Report on Result of Standards Alignment Work in APEC (Submission by Japan) G/TBT/W/276 19 March 2007
Report on
the
C
ase
S
tudy to
C
larify
E
ffectiveness of MRAs (Submission by Japan) G/TBT/W/277 10 July 2007
Japan
’
s Experience Concerning Cross-border Designation Systems
(Submission by Japan) G/TBT/W/278 18 October 2007 Transitional Review Mechanism in connection with Paragraph 18 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic of China (Questions and Comments from Japan to China) G/TBT/W/279 22 October 2007 Transitional Review Mechanism pursuant to Section 18 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic of China (Questions and Comments from the United States to China) G/TBT/W/280 30 October 2007 Specific Trade Concerns relating to access of pharmaceuticals to the Argentine market (Communication from Colombia) G/TBT/W/281 6 November 2007 China's Transitional Review Mechanism (Communication from the European Communities) G/TBT/W/282 6 November 2007 Annual Transitional Review Mandated In Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of The People's Republic of China: Information Required in Annex 1a Of WT/L/432 (Submission by The People's Republic of China)
G/TBT/W/283 7 November 2007
Canada - Costa Rica Competitiveness Development Fund Projects National Quality System of Costa Rica (Submission by Canada and Costa Rica)
2.
conformity assessment procedures and standards (Note by the Secretariat) G/TBT/GEN/46
26 January 2007 Statement by ASEAN on REACH
at the 9 November 2006 Meeting of the TBT Committee (Agenda Item 2(B): Specific Trade Concerns) G/TBT/GEN/47
18 April 2007 TBT Technical Assistance Activities in 2007 (Information from the Secretariat) G/TBT/GEN/48
23 April 2007
Update on OECD Activities in the Area of
Good Regulatory Practice and Market Openness
G/TBT/GEN/49
23 April 2007 Update on relevant on-going work in the OIML G/TBT/GEN/50
23 April 2007 ISO Actions in support of Developing Countries in 2006 (Agenda Item 4 – Updating by Observers) G/TBT/GEN/51
23 April 2007 Information on activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and related activities of FAO and WHO (Agenda Item 4 – Updating by Observers) G/TBT/GEN/52
23 April 2007 TBT-related technical assistance by the ITC (Agenda Item 3 – Technical Cooperation) G/TBT/GEN/53
12 July 2007 Information on activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and related activities of FAO and WHO (Agenda Item 4 – Updating by Observers) G/TBT/GEN/54
12 July 2007 FAO/WHO Capacity Building Activities in Food Safety and Quality Covering the period July 2006 – June 2007 (Prepared by FAO and WHO) (Agenda Item 4 – Updating by Observers) G/TBT/GEN/55
12 July 2007 IEC Report to the TBT Committee (Agenda Item 4 – Updating by Observers) G/TBT/GEN/56
12 July 2007 TBT Technical Assistance Activities in 2007 (Information from the Secretariat) G/TBT/GEN/57
12 July 2007 Export quality bulletin - Manual of Model Procedures and Guidance Notes for the Implementation of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (ITC – Agenda Item 4: Technical Cooperation) G/TBT/GEN/58
29 August 2007 Availability of unofficial translations (Communication by Canada) G/TBT/GEN/59 and Rev.
General Documents (G/TBT/GEN/ - ) cont'd G/TBT/GEN/62 21 November 2007 Norwegian Technical Assistance (Agenda Item 4 – Technical Cooperation) G/TBT/GEN/63 4 December 2007 UNIDO Trade-Related Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Activities related to Technical Barriers to Trade: 2001-2007 (Agenda Item 4 – Technical Cooperation) G/TBT/GEN/64 29 November 2007 IEC Report to the TBT Committee (Agenda Item 5 – Updating by Observers) G/TBT/GEN/65 14 December 2007 Attachments to TBT Notifications (Note by the Secretariat) G/TBT/GEN/66 14 December 2007 Unofficial Translations (Note by the Secretariat) 4.
Job documents (JOB(06)/ - ) JOB(07)/29 8 March 2007 21-22 March 2007 TBT Committee Meeting Annotated Draft Agenda JOB(07)/107, Rev.
1 26 June 2007
19 July 2007 Fifth Special Meeting on Procedures for Information Exchange 7-8 November 2007
Draft Programme (one and a half days) JOB(07)/109 26 June 2007 5-6 July 2007 TBT Committee Meeting
Annotated Draft Agenda JOB(07)/139 25 September 2007 Transparency requirements and Procedures JOB(07)/163 1 November 2007 Report (2007) of the Committee on Technical Barriers To Trade JOB(07)/165 1 November 2007 9 November 2007 TBT Committee Meeting
Annotated Draft Agenda JOB(07)/172 7 November 2007 Sixth Annual Transitional Review Mandated in Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of The People's Republic of China Specific Trade Concerns Raised in 2007
I.
European Communities – Dangerous Chemical Substances – Draft Commission Directive amending Council Directive 67/548/EEC Raised by Argentina; Australia; Brazil; Canada; Chile; China; Japan; Malaysia; Turkey; United States Dates raised July 2007 (G/TBT/M/42, paras.
Thailand - Labelling requirement for snack foods Raised by United States, Australia, Canada, European Communities Dates raised March 2007 (G/TBT/M/41, paras 14-15), July 2007 (G/TBT/M/42, paras.
China – Revision of the list of toxic chemicals severely restricted in the People's Republic of China in the regulation for environmental management on the first import of chemicals and the import and export of toxic chemicals In 2007, raised by Japan; European Communities

Dates raised March 2007 (G/TBT/M/41 paras.
China - Measures on the Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances In 2007, raised by European Communities Dates raised March 2007 (G/TBT/M/41, paras 81-82) First raised November 2006 (G/TBT/M40, paras.
European Communities – Draft Commission Decision regarding the Classification of the reaction to fire performance of construction products In 2007, raised by Japan; Korea; Philippines; Thailand; United States Dates raised March 2007 (G/TBT/M/41, paras.
European Communities - Directive 2005/32 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2005 establishing a framework for the setting of Ecodesign requirements for energy-using products and amending Council Directive 92/42/EEC and Directives 96/57/EC and 2000/55/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council In 2007, raised by China Dates raised July 2007 (G/TBT/M/42, paras.
1, G/TBT/N/USA/281

Notifications Made by Members and by Relevant Articles of the tbt Agreement in 2007 and since the Entry into Force of the Agreement

Members Number of notifications made in 2007 Number of notifications made under the relevant Articles in 2007 Total number of notifications made since 1995 2.
2 Not specified Albania 19 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 Argentina 23 22 0 0 3 0 0 0 284 Armenia 15 15 0 0 2 0 0 0 62 Australia 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 156 Austria 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Bahrain 21 21 0 0 1 0 0 0 30 Barbados 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 Belgium 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 208 Benin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Bolivia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 Botswana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Brazil 35 24 0 0 17 1 0 0 380 Brunei
Darussalam 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Cameroon 7 6 0 0 5 0 0 0 7 Canada 34 31 0 0 14 0 0 0 358 Central African Republic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Chile 10 9 0 0 6 0 0 0 139 China 90 90 0 0 15 0 0 0 329 Colombia 22 16 3 0 7 0 0 2 147 Costa Rica 12 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 84 Croatia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 38 Cuba 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Cyprus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Czech Republic 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 236 Denmark 11 8 3 0 0 0 0 0 228 Dominica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 Dominican Republic 9 5 1 0 0 3 0 0 51 Ecuador 18 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 33 Egypt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 El Salvador 11 11 0 0 6 0 0 0 168 Estonia 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 European Communities 35 33 1 0 5 0 0 0 356 Fiji 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Finland 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 France 13 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 136 Georgia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Germany 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Ghana 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Grenada 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 Guatemala 5 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 66 Guyana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Honduras 12 12 0 0 1 0 0 0 54 Hong Kong,
China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 58 Hungary 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 21 Iceland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 India 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 77 Indonesia 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Israel 42 28 0 0 21 0 0 0 246 Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Jamaica 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 39 Japan 45 44 1 0 6 0 0 0 471 Jordan 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Kenya 31 29 2 0 0 0 0 0 116 Korea, Republic of 37 37 0 0 5 0 0 0 258 Kuwait 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 Kyrgyz Republic 8 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 8 Latvia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 Lithuania 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 9 Macao, China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Malaysia 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 174 Mauritius 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Mexico 12 11 0 0 2 0 0 0 314 Moldova 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 Mongolia 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 Morocco 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Netherlands 7 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 609 New Zealand 9 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 68 Nicaragua 5 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 88 Nigeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Norway 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 75 Oman 15 14 0 0 2 0 0 0 26 Pakistan 25 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 Panama 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 Papua New Guinea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Paraguay 12 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 Peru 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 17 Philippines 18 18 0 0 1 0 0 0 149 Poland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Qatar 20 17 0 0 7 0 0 0 34 Romania 25 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 Rwanda 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Saint Lucia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 45 Senegal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Singapore 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Slovak Republic 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 43 Slovenia 12 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 74 South Africa 12 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 120 Spain 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 71 Sri Lanka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 45 Sweden 14 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 183 Switzerland 15 15 0 0 1 0 0 0 166 Chinese Taipei 11 11 0 0 1 0 0 0 54 Thailand 37 34 0 0 27 0 0 0 362 Trinidad and Tobago 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 37 Tunisia 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Turkey 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Uganda 14 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 United Arab Emirates 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 United Kingdom 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 United States 101 71 0 30 0 0 0 0 530 Uruguay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Venezuela 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 Zambia 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 TOTAL 1030 930 18 30 162 4 0 7 8774 Objectives and Rationales stated in TBT Notifications in 2007

Objectives and Rationales
First objective stated in the notifications received in 2007 Number of times that the objective was mentioned as the first, second or third objective in the notifications received in 2007 National security requirements
1 2 Consumer information, labelling
49 75 Prevention of deceptive practices and consumer protection
106 184 Protection of human health or safety
592 678 Protection of animal or plant life or health
10 29 Protection of environment
94 173 Quality requirements
60 74 Harmonization
19 28 Adoption of new domestic law and technology
67 68 Lowering or removal of trade barriers 1 3 Trade facilitation
4 5 Cost saving and increasing productivity
4 4 Others
21 32 Not specified
2 2 Total
1030 1357

Observation of the Recommended Comment Period by Members in 2007

Number of notifications made with comment period Members Less than 45 days 45-59 days 60 days or more Not specified,
7 Total Albania 0 0 19 0 0 19 Argentina 11 4 0 8 0 23 Armenia 4 2 6 3 0 15 Australia 2 1 1 1 1 5 Austria 0 1 1 0 0 2 Bahrain 2 0 0 19 0 21 Belgium 0 0 1 0 0 1 Brazil 16 2 10 7 1 35 Brunei Darussalam 0 0 0 1 0 1 Cameroon 0 0 0 7 0 7 Canada 3 11 19 1 0 34 Chile 0 6 4 0 0 10 China 2 1 86 1 0 90 Colombia 0 1 16 5 3 22 Costa Rica 0 0 12 0 0 12 Czech Republic 4 2 0 1 0 7 Denmark 2 0 4 5 3 11 Dominican Republic 0 0 0 9 4 9 Ecuador 0 0 18 0 0 18 El Salvador 0 0 11 0 0 11 Estonia 0 0 1 0 0 1 European Communities 2 1 29 3 1 35 Finland 0 0 4 1 0 5 France 2 0 7 4 0 13 Germany 1 0 0 0 0 1 Ghana 0 0 1 0 0 1 Grenada 0 0 4 0 0 4 Guatemala 0 0 5 0 0 5 Honduras 0 0 11 1 0 12 Hungary 0 0 1 0 0 1 India 0 3 7 0 0 10 Indonesia 0 0 2 0 0 2 Israel 0 0 42 0 0 42 Jamaica 1 2 0 0 0 3 Japan 11 6 28 0 0 45 Jordan 0 0 1 0 0 1 Kenya 0 1 28 2 2 31 Korea, Republic of 10 6 18 3 0 37 Kuwait 0 0 1 1 0 2 Kyrgyz Republic 0 0 0 8 0 8 Lithuania 0 0 2 0 0 2 Malaysia 0 0 4 3 0 7 Mexico 2 7 0 3 0 12 Moldova 1 0 1 4 0 6 Mongolia 0 0 0 2 2 2 Morocco 0 0 2 0 0 2 Netherlands 1 1 4 1 1 7 New Zealand 2 2 4 1 1 9 Nicaragua 0 0 5 0 0 5 Norway 0 0 3 1 0 4 Oman 0 1 14 0 0 15 Pakistan 0 0 25 0 0 25 Panama 1 1 0 0 0 2 Paraguay 0 0 6 6 0 12 Peru 0 0 0 1 1 1 Philippines 1 12 3 2 0 18 Qatar 2 0 18 0 0 20 Romania 6 4 15 0 0 25 Rwanda 0 0 0 8 0 8 Singapore 1 0 0 0 0 1 Slovak Republic 0 1 1 0 0 2 Slovenia 0 0 12 0 0 12 South Africa 2 6 3 1 0 12 Spain 0 0 1 0 0 1 Sweden 0 0 14 0 0 14 Switzerland 0 3 12 0 0 15 Chinese Taipei 1 0 9 1 0 11 Thailand 0 0 35 2 0 37 Trinidad and Tobago 1 1 0 0 0 2 Tunisia 1 0 0 1 0 2 Turkey 0 0 1 0 0 1 Uganda 0 0 14 0 0 14 United Arab Emirates 0 0 5 0 0 5 United Kingdom 0 0 1 0 0 1 United States 27 19 35 20 0 101 Zambia 5 0 0 0 0 5 TOTAL 127 108 647 148 20 1030
TBT Technical Assistance undertaken by the WTO Secretariat in 2007
Geneva-Based Events
Date Activity Participants Venue Organized by 7-8 November 2007 TBT Fifth Special Meeting on Procedures for Information Exchange All Members Geneva WTO
Regional Workshops
Date Region Venue Organized by Other participating organizations 24-26 April 2007 Arab and Middle East countries Bahrain WTO Codex,
IEC, ISO, OIML, UNIDO
19-21 June 2007 Africa (English) Botswana WTO Codex, IEC, ISO, OIML, SADC, UNIDO, Botswana Bureau of Standards, and Standards South Africa 20-22 November 2007 Asia and Pacific Malaysia WTO IEC, ISO, OIML, UNIDO
Member Workshops
Date Venue Organized by Other participating organizations 25-26 April 2007 Niger (TBT/SPS) WTO 10-11 May 2007 Paraguay WTO Codex, ISO 21-22 June 2007 Gabon WTO 25-26 September 2007 El Salvador (TBT/SPS) WTO ISO 18 October 2007 Chile Ministry of Economy in Chile 25-26 October 2007 Nigeria WTO 13-15 November 2007 Nicaragua (TBT/SPS) WTO 23 November 2007 Malaysia WTO Trade Policy Courses covering, inter alia, the TBT Agreement
Geneva-Based
Date Name of course (language) Organized by January-April 2007 39th Trade Policy Course (English) WTO (ITTC) January-April 2007 40th Trade Policy Course (English) WTO (ITTC) April-July
2007 41st Trade Policy Course (French) WTO (ITTC) Sept.
eTraining: Online Courses

Date Name of course (language) Organized by February-March 2007 Introduction to Technical Barriers to Trade (English) WTO (ITTC) April-May 2007 Introduction to Technical Barriers to Trade (Spanish) WTO (ITTC) June –July 2007 Introduction to Technical Barriers to Trade (French) WTO (ITTC) November –December 2007 Introduction to Technical Barriers to Trade (English) WTO (ITTC)

__________

This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice to the position of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO.
The programme for the Fifth Special Meeting on Procedures for Information Exchange is contained in G/TBT/GEN/59/Rev.
Other relevant background documents to this review are: the list of standardizing bodies that have accepted the Code in 2006 (G/TBT/CS/1/Add.
standardizing bodies from seven WTO observers - Algeria (2003), Belarus (2001), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1997), Kazakhstan (2006), Montenegro (2007), Serbia (2005) and Ukraine (1996) - have already notified to the ISO/IEC Information Centre their acceptance of the Code of Good Practice.
Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe were invited.
Experts from the European Communities participated in the Bahrain and Malaysia workshops; experts from the United States participated in the Malaysia workshop.