WTO/TBT enquiry point

WTO TBT National Enquiry Point

The World Trade Organization(WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (The TBT Agreement) is an international legal mechanism adopted to ensure that technical regulations adopted by WTO Members are not more trade-restrictive than necessary to fulfill the objectivesof protection of human health or safety, animal or plant life or health, or the environment;national security requirements; and prevention of deceptive practices. The Agreement aims to ensure that technical regulations, standards and testing, inspection and certification procedures do not create unnecessary distortions to international trade.

Article 10 of the TBT Agreement concerns provision of information about technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures. The article requires each WTO Member to establish a National Enquiry Point.

In fulfillment ofArticle 10 of the TBT Agreement, government established the TBT National Enquiry Point at UNBS.  The Enquiry Point answers enquiries from other Members and provide relevant documents regarding:

• • technical regulations,standards, conformity assessment procedures adopted or  proposed by Uganda;
  • membership and participation of Uganda in regional and international standardizing bodies and conformity assessment systems.
  • membership and participation of Uganda in bilateral and multilateral arrangements within the scope of the TBT Agreement.

In addition, the TBT National Enquiry Point also carriesout the following functions:

• • obtaining and disseminating relevant TBT notifications and documents issued by WTO to stakeholders in Uganda;
  • operating the Secretariat of the National TBT/SPS Committee.
  • identification and obtaining technical requirements for market access for the business community;and

The TBT National Enquiry Point disseminates relevant TBT notifications and documents through the Membership of the National TBT/SPS Committee. The private sector is represented in the Committee by Private Sector Foundation Uganda and the respective sector associations such as Uganda Manufacturers Association. Business enterprises can obtain copies of relevant TBT notifications and documents from the Secretariats of their sector associations or Private Sector Foundation Uganda.