Assistance Projects

Highlighted below are some examples of the Standards Council of Canada's capacity building projects for developing countries, separated by category:

Information and Communication (ICT) Infrastructure

• Export Alert Pilot Project with Bolivia - The goal of this project is to enhance Bolivia's capacity to implement the disciplines of the  World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (TBT/ SPS) Trade Agreements through the transfer of the Canadian model for dissemination of notifications, Export Alert.
• Extension of the Mediterranean 2000 - Pilot Project in Bolivia  - The project is intended to enhance the capabilities of the beneficiary National Standards Body (NSB) in a developing country  in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to enable them to receive and classify electronically information from ISO Central Secretariat and other sources and to  disseminate it to different users in the country (NSB staff and users from industry and other). The ultimate objective being to strengthen the national  standardization activity  in the country and better  integrate it with the international standardization system represented by ISO and its members

The implementation of Export Alert and extension of MED 2000 project supports efforts to build ICT capacity; assists the country to meet their TBT/SPS obligations; and integrate into the regional/global trading system. Recipient countries will also benefit from their improved ICT infrastructure and their enhanced ability to participate in international standards development.

Human Capacity

Developing countries have repeatedly cited lack of resources and capacity constraints for participation.  The SCC supports various initiatives to enhance developing country participation in international standardization, in particular, in the technical and policy work of ISO, such as:

• Participation of Costa Rica and Tunisia in Working Group (WG) 22 for ISO/IEC Guide 60 Conformity Assessment
• Participation of Trinidad and Tobago in ISOs Consumers Policy Committee (COPOLCO)  Priorities Working Group
• Participation of Jamaica in Technical Committee (TC) 207 /WG 5  - Climate Change
• Parcipation of Colombia in TC 207 Chairman's Advisory Committee Group
• Participation of Indonesia in TC 207 WG 5 Climate Change

Another initiative supported by the SCC is the Standards and Trade Development Facility, a fund created by the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to help enable developing countries to put themselves in a stronger position to take advantage of WTO agreements, particularly the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.