Business And Government Leaders Discuss Ways To Eliminate Trade Barriers To Expand International Trade & Global Prosperity.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 1998--

"Executive Dialogue" Marks Start of 62nd Annual IEC General

Meeting in Houston

Representatives of world trade organizations, industry, government, standards organizations and other stakeholders participated in an "Executive Dialogue" yesterday to discuss ways to eliminate international trade barriers, help expand trade and improve global prosperity.

The afternoon meeting, held at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center, was attended by nearly 100 delegates from around the world. It was the lead event of the 62nd Annual International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) General Meeting (the first to be held in the U.S. in 28 years). The distinguished panel consisted of many segments of the international standards and trade community: Dr. Chulsu Kim, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO); Dr. Belinda Collins, Director of the Office of Standards Services, National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce; Ralph Jackson, Executive Vice President-Operations, Cooper Industries; Bernard Falk, President, International Electrotechnical Commission; Lee Ting, Vice President and Managing Director, Geographic Operations, Hewlett-Packard Company; and Otto Genee, Chairman of the Technical Barriers to Trade Committee, WTO. The session was chaired by Sergio Mazza, President, American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Dr. Kim praised the World Trade Organization and its predecessor, the Global Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT), for fostering unprecedented global economic growth, and credited its keeping the world's marketplace open as a major factor behind a seven-fold increase in global output and a 17 times increase in global exports during the last half century to which the IEC has made major contributions. However, he told the IEC audience that the WTO has a long way to go in fully opening world markets.

"As we approach the new century, I believe our two organizations are facing a similar challenge; that of building a system which is relevant to the rapidly changing realities of the world. In the WTO, we must work together to have a trading system that taps the full potential of the Information Age, to further liberalize trade and to develop rules which reflect the needs of the marketplace."

In comments related to the current international financial crisis, Dr. Kim stated that WTO now faces a challenge and an opportunity. "Trade was, of course, not the cause of the crisis, nor can it offer all the solutions to the present difficulties. By maintaining its effectiveness and momentum, however, the WTO's rules-based trading system will contribute to preventing the crisis from widening and deepening...The essential message that the trading community must give to the world in the days ahead is that protectionism, especially under the present circumstances, would be a tragic mistake. With so many of our economies dependent on each other, no country can have an interest in closing off its markets or weakening its ties with the rest of the world."

In her remarks, NIST's Dr. Belinda Collins cited her agency's role as "facilitators of trade" for its concern about standards policies and its support of harmonization of measurement and documentary standards. "Export is the largest growing segment of the economy. We need to pay attention to it."

Dr. Collins reported on last month's meeting in Washington, D.C., sponsored by NIST and ANSI, to discuss options for developing a U.S. national standards strategy. "The more than 300 participants generally agreed on the need for a more coordinated U.S. approach to international standards setting. Without it, many said, U.S. industrial and economic competitiveness will suffer."

Presenting a business point of view, Mr. Jackson, of Houston-based Cooper Industries, offered a view of standards as a two-edged sword. "Standards can be used to facilitate global commerce, but they also can be used to inhibit free trade. This darker side of the standards initiative certainly violates the code of good practice contained in the World Trade Organization's agreement which states in part, `standards shall not be prepared, adopted or applied with a view to, or with an effort of creating unnecessary obstacles to global trade.' The ideal standards development system must be open, transparent, efficient and based upon consensus. Anything less is a violation of both the spirit and the rules of free trade agreements."

Mr. Ting presented a model for regulatory reform citing Hewlett-Packard's own experience with technical trade barriers. "Over the past several years, many nations have successfully eliminated tariffs as barriers to trade. However, many of us in industry have seen new barriers appear as technical product regulations." He cited a six times growth in standards and certification requirements for Information Technology equipment since 1989 and urged the adoption of a global regulatory system to prevent redundancy in standardization, testing and compliance -- and to ultimately arrive at a system with one standard, one test and one certification.

In his remarks, Mr. Falk assured the gathering that the IEC is doing its part to reshape the organization in order to be able to develop standards more quickly. He echoed the comments of business that tariffs were no longer their biggest problem -- "it's standards and conformity assessment."

Mr. Genee informed the IEC audience of the first meeting of WTO's Technical Barriers to Trade committee next month. The committee is working to promote transparency in standardization and a more structured dialogue and collaboration between regulators, standardizers, trade policy makers and industry at the international, national and regional levels. The IEC is being invited to participate in this session.

Founded in 1906, the IEC is the world organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. The membership consists of more than 50 participating countries, including all the world's major trading nations and a growing number of industrializing countries. Over the years, the Commission has been recognized as the leading body in its field, with more and more of its work taking precedence, both at national and regional levels, over standards issued by other standardization bodies. The IEC is also leading the way in bringing new products onto the market, thus keeping abreast of fast moving technological developments. IEC products provide industries and trading partners with important tools that are essential in helping to remove technical barriers to trade. IEC international standards are voluntary.

Founded in 1907, the U.S. National Committee of the IEC works under the umbrella of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as one of its Institute Committees. Supported and staffed by the U.S. electrotechnical industry, the USNC has worked for a number of years in close relationship with its international parent organization, the IEC. The USNC also serves as the American electrotechnical industry's interface with the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and with pan-American standardization bodies.