Technical regulations and standards vary from country to country. Standards and technical regulations are necessary for the protection of health, safety, environment, and national security but, if set arbitrarily, regulations could be used for protectionism. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) tries to ensure that technical regulations, standards, and testing and certification procedures do no create unnecessary obstacles to trade.

The TBT Agreement contains several annexes which attempt to clarify compliance with the agreement. Annex 1 contains terms and their definitions for the purpose of the agreement. Under this Annex, it becomes clear that the TBT Agreement distinguishes between the areas of standards, regulations, and conformity assessment (SRC). Standards are defined as voluntary documents and technical regulations as mandatory documents. Annex 2 regards procedures that apply to technical expert groups established in accordance with the agreement.

Annex 3 of the TBT Agreement is the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards which is known as the WTO Code of Good Practice. In accepting the TBT Agreement, WTO Members agree to ensure that their central government standardizing bodies accept and comply with this Code of Good Practice and agree also to take reasonable measures to ensure that local government, non-governmental and regional standardizing bodies do the same. The Code is therefore open to acceptance by all such bodies. In addition, the TBT Agreement is reviewed annually and triennially; these reviews become important interpretations of the document.

The TBT Committee has also set out criteria defining the principles for international standards development. These are outlined in Annex 4 of the Second Triennial Review (23 May 2002). This Annex specifies that the WTO-TBT criteria for an “international standards developing organization” are: transparency, openness, impartiality, effectiveness, relevance, consensus, performance-based, coherence, due process, and technical assistance.

International standards developing organizations from the United States include ASTM International, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), among others.

The TBT Agreement recognizes the important contributions that international standards and conformity assessment systems can make to improving efficiency of production and facilitating international trade. Where international standards exist, the Code of Good Practice says that standardizing bodies should use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for standards they develop. However, the procedures used to decide whether a product conforms with relevant standards must be fair and equitable. The agreement also aims at the harmonization of standards on as wide a basis as possible, encouraging all standardizing bodies to participate in the preparation of international standards by the relevant international body, including the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

In the interest of transparency, the Code requires that standardizing bodies that have accepted its terms notify this fact to the ISO/IEC Information Centre located at the ISO Central Secretariat in Geneva, either directly or through the relevant national/international member of the International Organization for Standardization Information Network (ISONET). ISONET is an agreement between standardizing bodies to combine their efforts in order to make information on standards, technical regulations, and related matters readily available whenever it is required.

Though not a standardizing body, the National Center for Standards and Certification Information (NCSCI) in the Standards Services Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is the National Member to ISONET for the United States. Standardizing bodies that have accepted the Code must also publish their work programs once every six months. In the United States, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the signatory for all ANSI-accredited standards developing organizations (SDOs) and submits the U.S. work program via the weekly ANSI Standards Action email notification.

In addition, manufacturers and exporters need to know what the latest standards are in their prospective markets. To help ensure that this information is made available conveniently, all WTO member governments are required to establish national enquiry points and to keep each other informed through the WTO. The TBT Committee serves as the clearing house for members to share information and the forum to discuss concerns about the regulations and their implementation.