Events

Seminar on the TBT Enquiry Point and notifications of technical regulation was held in the Ministry of finance and economy

In the Ministry of Finance and Economy on 22 of January the seminar on the TBT Enquiry Point and notifications of technical regulations was held for Serbian ministries/agencies dealing with preparation and application of technical regulations, regarding potential technical barriers to trade.

Seminar was organised by the Department for quality infrastructure in cooperation with consulting agency “IDEAS Centre” from Geneva.

The main aim of the seminar was to support the work of Serbian TBT enquiry point and disseminate the experiences of Great Britain (as a member of the WTO and the EU) in the organization of TBT Enquiry point, as well as the promotion of cooperation among relevant ministries/institutions in implementation of obligations under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and the WTO and CEFTA Agreement (obligations of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, and other ministries).

The main lecturers at the seminar were Ms. Marilyn Swain, Senior Policy Advisor Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) of the United Kingdom,
and Mr. Josip Pervan from IDEAS Centre. Seminar was attended by:

• The representatives of ministries, agencies and other organizations that prepare and ensure the implementation of regulations that may pose potential barriers to international trade,

• The representatives of the Serbian Institute for Standardization, Accreditation Board of Serbia, Directorate for Measures and Precious Metals, Serbian Office for European Integration, Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. Jelena Popovic, Assistant minister for Quality Infrastructure in the Ministry of Finance and Economy in her opening address, welcomed the participants of the seminar and presented the achievements and plans for future work of Serbian Enquiry point and inform on the improvement of the QI institutional framework (Department of quality infrastructure, The Institute for Standardization of Serbia, Serbian Accreditation Body, Directorate for Measures and Precious Metals). The main achievements towards EU organizations in the field of QI were, according to Ms. Popovic, that Institute standardization of Serbia adopted a total of about 90% of European standards (what is one of the most important preconditions for full membership in CEN/CENELEC), Accreditation Body of Serbia signed the EA /MLA and MLA with IAF and ILAC, and DMDM is full member of EURAMET.

Mr. Dugandžija, the head of the Division for registers, projects and cooperation with international organisations informed that In Serbia was adopted the Regulation on the Manner of Providing information and Notification of Technical Regulations, Conformity Assessment and Standards ("Official Gazette of RS ", No. 45/2010) and the software was developed for managing electronic records regarding the technical regulations, which is available on the Internet over the website of the Department for Quality Infrastructure (TEHNIS). The information on standards can be find on the information centre of Institute for standardization of Serbia.

Ms. Marilyn Swain gave a lecture on the importance of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade of the WTO, stressing the importance of informing on regulations in their preparation stage. She presented the experience of Great Britain in the organization and functioning of TBT Enquiry Point, or participation in the work of the UK TBT.

After completing the seminar with participants from other ministries, Ms. Swein continued to work with the Ministry of Finance and Economy, which are responsible for the establishment of an efficient labor Enquiry point.

The following issues were discussed:

Internal set up of the National Enquiry Point in the UK vs. the situation in Serbia
Division of responsibilities within the country- UK vs. Serbia's system
Procedures involved with incoming and outgoing notifications
When should the notifications be sent and what should be notified?
Dialogue and coordination with different regulating bodies in the area of TBT
Dialogue with the domestic and foreign private sector regarding the notifications
TBT vs. SPS: Experience with borderline cases
Classification of products to be notified
Preparation for the EU Enquiry Point compliance.
Cooperation with the WTO and the EU Enquiry Point