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, form 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. In some instances, the requester may be referred to the appropriate foreign inquiry point directly to obtain information.

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. An annual report is available describing TBT Agreement activities.

Our NAFTA Partners

Canada -- Standards Council of Canada

Mexico -- Secretaría de Economía

U.S. Acts and Guidelines

Presidential Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review (58 Federal Register 51735, October 4, 1993). Reaffirmed by the Bush Administration, this Executive Order lays out the principles and procedures that govern centralized regulatory oversight in the USA.

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 recent 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). The purpose of this statute is to establish 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 Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations (67 Federal Register 15014, March 28, 2002). This draft report, now being revised in response to public comment, describes recent regulatory reform activities of the Bush Administration. The final Report is expected to be released to Congress and the public by late summer or early fall.

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 that OMB provides federal agencies on how to perform regulatory impact analysis. OMB is now in the process of refining these guidance documents,a process that will take a year to complete.

Other

As part of the U.S. obligations set out in the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, SSD provides technical assistance to U.S. industry for standards-related trade problems and analyses of standards issues, prepares and publishes indexes and directories of specialized standards information, and arranges for translations of foreign standards (for which there is a charge).

For Further Information

Write To:

National Center for Standards and Certification Information
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, MS 2160
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2160

Telephone: (301) 975-4040, -4038, -4036, or -5155 for

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

Fax: (301) 926-1559

Email: ncsci@nist.gov

The Center is open to visitors Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is located about 25 miles/40 kilometers northwest of Washington, DC. The Center is about five miles from the Shady Grove Metro Station on the Red Line.