International Trade

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) is involved in various international activities to promote standardization and to highlight its value and benefit to global trade.

The SCC assists International Trade Canada (ITCan) in formulating Canadian policy positions on standards issues in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the key body where international trade rules are established.

WTO obligations concerning standards-related measures are embodied in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). The SCC has accepted the TBT Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards- a code aimed at promoting transparency in the development of standards and minimizing the potential for standards to become obstacles to trade. The SCC is an active partner in the WTO's Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) committee, which reviews the operation and implementation of the agreement every three years.

The SCC also consults with International Trade Canada on other international trade and economic partnerships on issues related to standardization and conformity assessment.

As Canada's national accreditation body, the SCC participates in Multilateral Arrangements for conformity assessment.

• A Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) is a voluntary recognition arrangement between three or more accreditation bodies that covers the acceptance of each other's results based on the recognition of technical equivalency among signatories.
• A Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) is a legally binding agreement between governments that recognizes conformity assessment carried out in the exporting and importing countries regulations. MRAs may be multisectoral or based on specific regulated products such as telecommunications or electrical safety.

Overall, these agreements lower the costs of doing business and facilitate trade by reducing the burden on both industry and regulatory agencies. MLAs and MRAs do not require countries to harmonize their standards or regulations. Instead, they are built on the development of closer relationships among regulatory agencies and conformity assessment bodies.

As Canada's national accreditation body, the SCC also participates in international and regional co-operation agreements for conformity assessment. The ultimate goal is to enable Canadian exporters to use a single test, certification or registration to gain market acceptance anywhere in the world. Some of the key regional and international accreditation forums include:

• International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF)
• International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC)
• Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC)
• Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC)
• Interamerican Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC)

Another way the SCC addresses international standardization and trade issues is through the work of its advisory committees, which are made up of representatives from across the National Standards System (NSS). In particular:

• Advisory Committee on Trade (ACT) -  makes recommendations to Council on international trade related matter

Two national committees represent Canada's views within international standardization organizations:

• Canadian National Committee of the International Organization for Standardization (CNC/ISO)
• Canadian National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission (CNC/IEC).