WTO, NAFTA and ISONET

NCSCI serves as the U.S. Inquiry Point in response to obligations resulting from the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the International Organization for Standardization Information Network (ISONET) (Directory of ISONET Members).

NCSCI, with other national inquiry points, forms networks - for WTO and ISO - that regularly exchange standards-related information. These networks also provide NCSCI with access to foreign trade-related technical standards, regulations and conformity assessment procedures.

Signatories to the WTO TBT Agreement are required to notify proposed governmental and state regulations which may significantly affect trade.  NCSCI maintains information on notifications of proposed foreign regulations issued through the WTO Secretariat and disseminates them to interested parties in the United States for their review and comment. NCSCI staff are responsible for notifying the WTO Secretariat of proposed U.S. technical regulations which may affect trade.

NAFTA Partners

Canada -- Standards Council of Canada

Mexico -- Secretaría de Economía

Related Acts and Guidelines

Presidential Executive Order 13422, Regulatory Planning and Review (72 Federal Register 2763, January 23, 2007). This Executive Order describes the principles and procedures that govern centralized regulatory oversight in the U.S.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Guidelines for Ensuring and Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity, Utility and Integrity of Information Disseminated by Federal Agencies (67 Federal Register 8452, February 22, 2002). These OMB guidelines are aimed at enhancing the quality of information--including scientific and analytic information--which federal agencies disseminate to the public and use in policy making.

Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 US Code Chapter 6). This statute establishes a principle that Federal agencies endeavor, consistent with the objectives of applicable law, to fit regulatory and informational requirements to the scale of entities subject to a regulation. To demonstrate this effort, Federal agencies are required to solicit and consider flexible regulatory proposals, and explain the rationale for their actions to assure that flexible regulatory proposals are given serious consideration.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Draft 2007 Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations (72 Federal Register 11061, March 12, 2007) describes recent regulatory reform activities.

U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Economic Analysis of Federal Regulations under Executive Order 12866 (January 11, 1996); Guidelines to Standardize Measures of Costs and Benefits and the Format of Accounting Statements (OMB Memorandum M-00-08, March 22, 2000). These documents are the technical guidance OMB provides federal agencies on how to perform regulatory impact analyses.

For Further Information On:

• existing U.S., foreign and international standards
  
• foreign regulations and conformity assessment
  
• TBT Agreement, NAFTA and notifications of proposed foreign regulations

Contact:

National Center for Standards and Certification Information
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, MS 2100
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2100

Telephone: (301) 975-4040

Fax: (301) 926-1559

Email: ncsci@nist.gov