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ICPHSO 2011 Annual Meeting
“The Art of Information Sharing”
T. Khoi Do
© 2011 Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
Agenda
UL Overview
Processing the Information
Issues with Information Sharing
Recommendations for Information Sharing
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UL Overview
• Founded in 1894 by William Henry Merrill
• Standards Development Organization – Over
1,400 Standards in UL Family
• Tests and Certifies a Vast Range of Products –
Over 19,000 Types, and over 20 Billion UL Marks
worldwide
• Product Safety Mission Expanding [UL
Environment, Verification Services, Health and
Life Sciences, and UL University]
• Approximately 7,000 Employees Based in 27
Countries
• Customers Located in 102 Countries
• Private Sector Company: Not Government
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Agenda
UL Overview
Processing the Information
Issues with Information Sharing
Recommendations for Information Sharing
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Information
• There are 153 WTO Member Countries
• Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required
under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to
report to the WTO all proposed technical regulations that could affect trade
with other Member countries.
• There are 40 ICS Codes, and the most pertinent to product safety is “ICS 13
= Environment, Health, Safety” – This has ranked in the top 2 categories
notified since 2005
• 2003-2011 – Total WTO TBT notifications = 8300, Notifications classified as
Health, Safety: 932 (little more than 10% of all notifications)
• In 2009, 46% of WTO TBT notifications listed “Protection of health and
human safety,” as their rationale
• 2005-2010: Health and Safety was in the top 5 of all search terms used in
Notify U.S. by US industry
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Agenda
UL Overview
Processing the Information
Issues with Information Sharing
Recommendations for Information Sharing
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Common Problems
• Translation of Technical Documents
• WTO Members are only required to notify in English, French or
Spanish, but actual technical documents sometimes need extensive
translation
• Multiple administrations or agencies having jurisdiction over product
safety in a given country
• Regional Trading Blocs (Mercosur, ASEAN, and Gulf Cooperation Council)
• Potential for multiple sources of information and differing
interpretations, varying levels of enforcement and implementation
time, and inefficient commenting process
• Comment period may not adequately allow for dialogue and meaningful
feedback
• Comment period is usually 60 days, but are sometimes less
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Regional Trading Bloc Issue Example
GCC Country
Bahrain
Product Safety
G/TBT/N/BHR/79 - 2009;
G/TBT/N/BHR/11 - 2007
Kuwait
Oman
G/TBT/KWT/17 - 2008
G/TBT/N/OMN/24 - 2007
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
G/T/TBT/SAU/25 - 2009
G/TBT/ARE/15 - 2009
CA Procedures
G/TBT/BHR/42 or 41 (Conformity
Marking) - 2008
G/TBT/KWT/11 or 12 (Conformity
Marking) - 2008
G/TBT/QAT/55 (Conformity
Marking) - 2008;
G/TBT/N/QAT/213 - 2010
G/TBT/SAU/1 or 2 (Conformity
Marking) - 2008;
G/TBT/N/SAU/201 - 2010
G/TBT/ARE/16 - 2009
This draft technical regulation lays down the safety requirements applied to all products placed on the GCC market,
whether manufactured in or imported into GCC. In the absence of more specific provisions, within the framework of GCC
legislations covering safety of the products, all the provisions of this regulation should apply in order to ensure
consumer health and safety. If specific GCC legislation sets out special safety requirements to the specific products then
those determined by the provisions of the specific legislation supersede this general product safety regulation.
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Agenda
UL Overview
Processing the Information
Issues with Information Sharing
Recommendations for Information Sharing
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Practical Recommendations
• Translation of Technical Documents
• A strong need for translation services at the multilateral level with
WTO TBT Committee to facilitate timely translation (potential for
funding from all member states)
• Jurisdiction Issues
• Members need to communicate clear and transparent organizational
charts, jurisdiction of relevant agencies and administrations, and
distinction of each group’s role in the product safety process
• Regional Trading Blocs
• Regional trading blocs should register notifications as a bloc and find
ways to communicate as a group when designing regulations
• Comment Period
• Process should be instituted to allow for constructive feedback and a
perhaps a mechanism for member country response to comments if
substantial
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Recommendations for Information Sharing
Multilateral and bilateral forums can serve a critical role for member
countries to share information and increase transparency
• Facilitating transparent communication and increased information sharing on
standards, technical requirements, and conformance programs to streamline
market access for manufacturers and to support adequate testing capacity.
• Identifying priority efforts or emerging issues where standards, testing
requirements, and certification/labeling programs will be shared and
cooperatively developed in an expedited process
• Organizing platforms where economies can provide technical assistance and
training with one another to improve standards and conformance regimes and
understand the standards and specific editions being used internationally.
Private sector engagement in this dialogue will better position efforts for
global adoption and use of international best practices
• Specifically, standards organizations and product certification bodies familiar
with standards and conformity assessment schemes can help drive and
support harmonization and information sharing activities.
• Proactive monitoring of these notifications and developments will help to
minimize the amount of burdensome standards and ineffective requirements
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THANK YOU.
T. Khoi Do
Global Government Affairs Specialist
[email protected]