Standards Influences in the Middle East and North AfricaRenee HancherOffice of Multilateral AffairsMarket Access and Compliance/ITA

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Overview

• United States and the European Union (EU)– World’s largest markets– World’s biggest standards developers

– U.S. standardization system is market-driven and private sector-led.

– European standardization system is government-driven and top down.

Both the United States and European Union are undertaking

standards activities in many countries and regions.

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Europe’s Standards Activities in the Middle East

• Neighborhood Policy• Delivery of Technical Assistance• CEN/CENELEC Agreements

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European Neighborhood Policy

• A framework for relations with the European Union’s eastern and southern neighbor states.– Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,

Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia.Bilateral Action Plans identify areas for cooperation

and influence technical assistance provided by the EU;

• Association Agreements address standards and conformity assessment.– Active agreements: Israel, Jordan, Morocco,

Palestinian Authority and Tunisia.– In process: Algeria, Lebanon and Syria

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European Technical Assistance

• Encourages institution building and development of regulatory infrastructure to support standards and conformity assessment;

• Promotes Europe’s regulatory system and standards;• Free standards• Commercial Service Brussels estimates European

standards technical assistance to the Middle East since 1996 at $72 million.

Algeria $500,000Jordan $4.6 millionLebanon $7.2 millionMorocco $1.9 millionTunisia $6 millionMEDA $7 million

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CEN and CENELEC Partner Agreements

• Solidify standards ties in specific sectors;• For countries that are ISO members, but cannot join

CEN or CENELEC;• CEN (Partner Standardization Bodies)

– Obligated to implement European standards as national standards for technical committees where active.

– PSB must withdraw conflicting national standards when adopting European standards.

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CEN/CENELEC PARTNERS

CEN CEN PARTNER STANDARDIZATION BODIES

EgyptTunisiaIsrael (considering)

CENELEC AFFILIATESTunisiaIsrael (considering)

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USG Standards Related Activities in the Middle East and North Africa

• Technical Assistance• Free Trade Agreement TBT chapters• NIST Standards in Trade Workshops• Other Initiatives

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U.S. Standards Technical Assistance

• USAID Trade Capacity Database reports TBT-related technical assistance at $3.4 million for 2000-2004;

• Private sector efforts by ANSI and SDOs are significant;• Delivered to Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and

Morocco.

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Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)

• United States has FTAs with Bahrain, Israel, Jordan and Morocco;

• OMA FTA implementing legislation signed;• UAE FTA in process;

• Recent FTAs have TBT chapters that build on WTO TBT Agreement provisions, encourage use of international standards;

• Israel and Jordan FTAs have no TBT chapters.

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NIST Standards in Trade Workshops

• Raise awareness by foreign government and private sectors representatives about the U.S. standardization system.

• Nine workshops for the region in the last decade:

Iraq Housing and construction sectors MENA/ Life safety/building constructionPakistanIsrael Roadway infrastructure and ITSGCC Electrical appliance safety & metrology

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Other Initiatives

• Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP)– Provides standards-related technical assistance to

WTO members and FTA partners;– Example: 2006 Moroccan delegation studied U.S.

regulatory system.

• Afghanistan and Iraq– USG working to set up standards infrastructures;– NIST standards advisor deployed to Iraq in 2006.

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ITA Follow-Up

• ITA continues to monitor - -private sector input welcome;

• Report market access issues to DOC (tcc.export.gov);• Notify U.S. provides information on proposed foreign

technical regulations that can affect exporters. http://tsapps.nist.gov/notifyus/data/index/index.cfm

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Have Increased Use of European Standards in the Middle East and North Africa or the CEN/CENELEC partner agreements affected:

• Information flows (transparency);• U.S. exports to the region;• Participation in standards development;• Please provide specific examples.