Focused Enquiry Point Capacity Building
Beginning in March 2014, the Standards Alliance commissioned Ms. Diane Thompson to serve as the Principle Standards Advisor for National Enquiry Point (NEP) and National Notification Authority (NNA) capacity-building projects. Since March 2014, Ms.
Thompson has worked with a variety of Standards Alliance members to improve the effectiveness of the NEPs and NNAs as required under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement).
Focused technical assistance has engaged the following 12 African nations: Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, and Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
In 2016, the Standards Alliance provided support for the expansion of the Trade Africa initiative to include TBT-related capacity building for Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal in West Africa and Mozambique and Zambia in Southern Africa. This expansion provided an opportunity for Ms.
Thompson to provide technical assistance to aid in the improvement of NEP and NNA operations under the TBT Agreement for the newly added Trade Africa countries.
In November-December 2016, Ms. Thompson participated in a seminar on the WTO TBT Agreement for private sector participants in Zambia and facilitated a 2-day workshop on the TBT Agreement for Zambian government institutions. Participants in the workshop considered what the NEP and NNA could do to
increase their effectiveness, and what the government could do to maximize the benefits of the TBT Agreement to stakeholders in Zambia. A discussion of what must be done in Zambia to meet the transparency requirements of the TBT Agreement resulted in a comprehensive list of recommendations.
Between January and March 2017, Ms. Thompson traveled to Africa twice to implement WTO TBT NEP/NNA capacity-building workshops and provide onsite technical assistance in five countries. Beginning in West Africa in January, Ms. Thompson organized workshops in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal to provide
detailed training on the implementation of the transparency requirements of the TBT Agreement.
Returning to Africa in February, Ms. Thompson organized follow-up workshops in West Africa as well as provided technical assistance to the NEPs and NNAs in Uganda and Mozambique. In Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, Ms. Thompson facilitated two-day workshops on the establishment and operation of a
National SPS/TBT Committee. In Ghana, two events were held: a half-day seminar to build capacity for the members of the National SPS Committee, and a workshop on Establishing and Operating an Effective National TBT Committee.
Following trainings in West Africa, Ms. Thompson traveled to Uganda and Mozambique. In Uganda, operating procedures were developed for the TBT Enquiry Point staff at the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and the Notification Authority at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives.
In Mozambique, a marketing plan to promote and increase awareness for the Enquiry Point was developed with the TBT NEP/NNA staff. Additionally, on-site training was provided for submitting notifications using the WTO TBT Notification Submission System.
Materials
Cote d’Ivoire
Ghana
Senegal
Zambia
Photos
Cote D'ivoire
Ghana
Senegal
Zambia
