Role of Standards – A Guide for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UIDO)

12/15/2008
(Original Publish Date: 1/11/2006)

In the globalized marketplace following the creation of the World Trade Organization, a key challenge facing developing countries is a lack of national capacity to overcome technical barriers to trade and to comply with the requirements of agreements on sanitary and phytosanitary conditions, which are now basic prerequisites for market access embedded in the global trading system. The World Trade Organization has adopted two important agreements in these areas: the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (both available at http://www.wto.org). With a view to meeting this challenge, developing countries need significant technical assistance to develop institutional infrastructure related to standards, metrology, testing and quality in order to be an able partner in the global trade regime.