TBT

Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)

Technical regulations and standards in the TBT Agreement

Technical regulations and standards set out specific characteristics of a product — such as its size, shape, design, functions and performance, or the way it is labelled or packaged before it is put on sale. In certain cases, the way a product is produced can affect these characteristics, and it may then prove more appropriate to draft technical regulations and standards in terms of a product’s process and production methods rather than its characteristics per se. The TBT Agreement makes allowance for both approaches in the way it defines technical regulations and standards.

Objectives

Protection of human safety or health

The largest number of technical regulations and standards are adopted to aim at protecting human safety or health. Numerous examples can be given. National regulations that require that motor vehicles be equipped with seat belts to minimise injury in the event of road accidents, or that sockets be manufactured in a way to protect users from electric shocks, fall under the first category. A common example of regulations whose objective is the protection of human health is labelling of cigarettes to indicate that they are harmful to health.

Protection of animal and plant life or health

Regulations that protect animal and plant life or health are very common. They include regulations intended to ensure that animal or plant species endangered by water, air, and soil pollution do not become extinct. Some countries, for example, require that endangered species of fish reach a certain length before they can be caught.

Protection of the environment

Increased environmental concerns among consumers, due to rising levels of air, water and soil pollution, have led many governments to adopt regulations aimed at protecting the environment. Regulations of this type cover for example, the re-cycling of paper and plastic products, and levels of motor vehicle emissions.

Prevention of deceptive practices

Most of these regulations aim to protect consumers through information, mainly in the form of labeling requirements. Other regulations include classification and definition, packaging requirements, and measurements (size, weight, etc.), so as to avoid deceptive practices.

Other objectives

Other objectives of regulations are quality, technical harmonization, or simply trade facilitation. Quality regulations — e.g. those requiring that vegetables and fruits reach a certain size to be marketable — are very common in certain developed countries. Regulations aimed at harmonizing certain sectors, for example, that of telecommunications and terminal equipment, are widespread in economically integrated areas such as the GAFTA, European Union, and EFTA.