8/13/2019 ACJEP - Chapter Five
1/2
Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership Among Member
States of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations and Japan
Chapter Five: Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity
Assessment Procedures
The objectives of CHAPTER 5 are to promote trade among the
parties by:- Ensuring that standards, technical regulations and
conformity assessment procedures do
not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.
- Promoting mutual understandingof the standards, technical
regulations and conformityassessment procedures in each Party;
- Strengthening information exchange and cooperation among the
Partiesin relation to thepreparation, adoption and application of
standards, technical regulations, and conformity
assessment procedures.
- Strengthening cooperation among the Partiesin the work of
international bodies related tostandardization and conformity
assessments; and
- Providing a frameworkto realize their objectives. CHAPTER FIVE
underlines the standards, technical regulations and conformity
assessment
proceduresmade by the able-bodied members of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) through
its negotiations in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to
Trade, also referred to as the TBT
Agreement.
The rules included in the TBT Agreement were made in light of
the extant conflicts anddifficulties experienced by international
producers and exporters from varied technical
regulations and product standards imposed by each country in the
world.
The TBT Agreement aims to ensure that the regulations,
standards, testing and certificationprocedures do not create
unnecessary obstacles in trade, while also providing its members
with
the right to implement measures to achieve legitimate policy
objectives, such as the protection
of human health and safety, or the environment.
The ACJEP, having Parties that are parties of the said
Agreement, reaffirm the rights andobligations of its own Parties
relating to the standard, technical regulations and
conformityassessment procedures included in the TBT.
The ACJEP adopts the rules set by TBT in order to promote
uniformity among its Partners andstrengthen its economic ties.
Article 46 enumerates the different forms of cooperationthat the
Parties may avail of in orderto implement the main objective of
CHAPTER FIVE; i.e. to ensure that standards, technical
regulations and conformity assessment procedures do not create
unnecessary obstacles to
trade. Some of the forms mentioned include the ff:
o Conducting joint studies and holding seminars to enhance
mutual understanding ofstandards in each party.
o Exchanging information on such standards, regulations and
conformity procedures.o
Encouraging the bodies responsible for these standards and
regulations to cooperate onmatters of mutual interest.
o Contributing to the activities related to the subject matters
in international and regionalfora.
o Identifying work in the field of standards, technical
regulations and conformityassessment procedures.
To ensure the effective implementation of the objectives
mentioned in this Chapter, the ACJEPseeks to establish a
Sub-Committee on Standards, Technical Regulations and
Conformity
