SQCA: WTO

The TBT National Enquiry Point

In Bhutan’s accession to the WTO, the Standards and Quality Control Authority (SQCA) under the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement has been identified as the National Enquiry Point for Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). The TBT Enquiry Point will establish linkages with the WTO Secretariat, national enquiry points in other Member countries, national institutions and ISO and IEC.

The need to establish enquiry points relate to the provisions of the TBT and SPS (Sanitary & Phyto-Sanitary) Agreements. According to Article 10 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, each Member shall ensure that an enquiry point exists which is able to answer all reasonable enquiries from other Members and interested parties in other Member states as well as to provide the relevant documents relating to standards, technical regulation and conformity assessment system. Although the Agreement obligates Enquiry Points to disseminate information about their own national regulations, standards, conformity assessment procedures and participation in similar international and regional activities, the enquiry point also functions as nodal point within the country for helping the domestic industry get access to similar information of other Members of WTO.