Page 262 - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

5. In implementing paragraph 8 of Article 2 of the TBT Agreement,
when a Party does not specify technical regulations based on
product requirements in terms of performance rather than design
or descriptive characteristics, the Party shall, on request of
another Party, provide its reason therefor.

6. Except where urgent problems of safety, health, environmental
protection, or national security arise or threaten to arise, Parties
shall allow a reasonable interval between the publication of
technical regulations and their entry into force in order to provide
sufficient time for producers in exporting Parties to adapt their
products or methods of production to the requirements of
importing Parties. For the purposes of this paragraph,
“reasonable interval” shall be understood to mean normally a
period of not less than six months, except when this would be
ineffective in fulfilling the legitimate objectives pursued by the
technical regulation.

7. On request of a Party that has an interest in developing a
technical regulation similar to a technical regulation of another
Party, the requested Party shall provide, to the extent practicable,
relevant information, including studies or documents, except for
confidential information, on which it has relied in its development.

8. Each Party shall uniformly and consistently apply its technical
regulations that are prepared and adopted by its central
government bodies to its whole territory. For greater certainty,
nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prevent local
government bodies from preparing, adopting, and applying
additional technical regulations in a manner consistent with the
provisions of the TBT Agreement.

Article 6.8: Conformity Assessment Procedures

1. Further to paragraph 4 of Article 5 of the TBT Agreement, each
Party shall ensure that central government bodies use relevant
international standards or their relevant parts as a basis for their
conformity assessment procedures, except where, as duly
explained upon request, such international standards or relevant
parts are inappropriate for the Party concerned, for, inter alia,
such reasons as: national security requirements; the prevention
of deceptive practices; protection of human health or safety,
animal or plant life or health, or the environment; fundamental
climatic or other geographical factors; fundamental technological
or infrastructural problems.

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