Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs) are technical regulations and standards.
They cover all traded goods and include standards for food packaging and labelling, animal welfare, agriculture and veterinary chemicals, fisheries and forestry. TBTs can create interruptions and stifle trade opportunities when they are more trade restrictive than necessary.
TBTs are governed by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (the TBT Agreement) and its Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (the TBT Committee).
The TBT Agreement
The TBT Agreement addresses procedures for testing and certifying conformity to technical regulations (compulsory) and standards (voluntary) relevant to international trade.
All WTO Members are required to uphold the principles and obligations of the TBT Agreement.
The TBT Agreement does not cover biosecurity measures. These are covered by the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement).
Learn more about the SPS Agreement and SPS measures.
The TBT Committee
The WTO’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (the TBT Committee) oversees the implementation of the TBT agreement and provides a forum for discussion on technical regulations and standards.
The TBT Committee meets 3 times a year and provides a forum for all WTO Members to discuss the implementation of the TBT Agreement, including sharing their experiences, raising concerns about other Members’ activities and developing further guidance on implementing the TBT Agreement.
Our role
We work with Australia’s trading partners and other government agencies to hold open discussions on TBT measures impacting on both imports and exports of agricultural, fisheries and forestry goods.
We provide input to agriculture-related specific trade concerns for discussion at the TBT Committee. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) represents Australia at these meetings.
We work with other Australian Government agencies to develop domestic policies, such as food labelling laws, which are covered by the TBT Agreement.
Working closely with our overseas counsellors and DFAT’s diplomatic network, we also rely on our relationships with counterpart agencies overseas to resolve TBT issues with other countries.
How do I keep informed of technical barriers to trade in other countries?
The TBT Agreement includes a range of transparency obligations.
Under the TBT Agreement WTO Members are required to notify any new or modified technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.
Members are expected to provide a comment period which allows other WTO Members and their stakeholders to raise questions ahead of the finalisation of the measure.
By registering for the ePing email alert system you can receive notifications via email on a daily or weekly basis for your specific export markets and/or products.
Please note ePing uses information that WTO Members have notified to the WTO and therefore may not contain all TBT measures.