Excerpt from Gatt Standards Code Activities of the National Institute of Standards and Technology

In 1986, a second round of negotiations, called the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, began and resulted in a revised Agreement. The negotiations formally concluded on April 15, 1994 with an executive signing in Marrakesh, Morocco. The Uruguay Round also created a new institution as a successor to the gatt the World Trade Organization (wto), which will become effective January 1, 1995. It is the responsibility of participating countries to secure domestic approval of the results of the Uruguay Round by July 1, 1995. The wto will require, for the first time, the full participation of all members in all aspects of the current gatt and the Uruguay Round agreements. As a result, more then 100 countries will apply the Standards Code to their standards activities.

The primary u.s. Objectives in the renegotiation of the Code were: 1) to update and expand the Agreement's coverage of procedures for issuing product approval; 2) to fully and explicitly cover standards which reference processes and production methods in order to address issues such as the European Union's (formerly the European Community) ban on the use of growth-promoting hormones; 3) to cover non-governmental regional standards development (particularly in the European Union), including obligations to enhance the transparency of their activities; 4) to improve transparency in bilateral standards-related agreements; and 5) to enhance the ability of a foreign-based laboratory or firm to gain recognition under another country's laboratory accreditation, inspection or quality system registration schemes.

In 1993, 46 countries were signatories to the Standards Code. Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and Thailand signed the Agreement in 1993. The former Czechoslovakia split into two separate countries Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Thirty-six signatories have actively implemented the Code in their countries. The other signatories have either not: 1) ratified the Agreement; 2) established an inquiry point for standards information; 3) reported any proposed government mandatory regulations (see Table I); or 4) some combination of the foregoing. The Code is administered by the gatt Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

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