Submitting Comments on WTO TBT Notifications
General Information The following guidance is provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to assist U.S. industry in the preparation of comments in response to notifications of proposed foreign technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures made under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Please note that any comments submitted may be made publicly available by other countries.
This guidance provides suggestions for consideration only; it does not constitute requirements for submissions. In general, comments submitted by U.S. industry do not have to be in any particular format. However, we suggest including the following elements: What to Submit - Comments submitted by:
- Your Name:
- Company Name:
- Contact Name at Company Name:
- Date Submitted:
- Notification commented on (number & title)
- Issue statement:
The reason you are submitting comments should be stated clearly and concisely (e.g., the proposed technical regulation does not reference an existing international standard that would accomplish the same purpose as the proposed regulation).
We recommend you focus your issue statement on technical aspects of the proposed regulation or regulations with which you may have issues.
- Supporting rationale statement:
You should provide rationale to support your issue statement.
We recommend you focus your supporting rationale statement on technical aspects of the proposed regulation or regulations with which you may have issues.
- In case of a problem meeting proposed date of entry into force:
If your company will not be able to comply with the proposed regulation or conformity assessment procedure by the proposed date of entry into force, it would be helpful to suggest a date by which your company will be able to comply.
How to Submit Please submit email comments at least three business days before the closing date for comments and email to: ncsci@nist.gov
Please submit hard copy comments by postal mail at least 10 business days before the closing date for comments and mail to: National Center for Standards and Certification Information (NCSCI)
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, MS 2100
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2100
Questions? Please contact us for more information:
Telephone: (301) 975-4040
Fax: (301) 926-1559
E-mail: ncsci@nist.gov | 