Implications of the Australia US Free Trade Agreement for Australian Standards and their development

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Implications of the Australia- US Free Trade
Agreement for Australian Standards and their
development
John Henry Director International and
Standardization Policy
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What are Standards Australias obligations under
the FTA?

• The FTA is essentially Government to Government
• Standards Australia has an MoU with the Federal
  Government and a commitment to supporting the
  national interest
• Voluntary standardization is dealt with in
  Chapter 8 Technical Barriers to Trade

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Article 8.7   Transparency

• 1. Each Party shall allow persons of the other
  Party to participate in the development of
  standards, technical regulations, and conformity
  assessment procedures on terms no less favourable
  than those accorded to its own persons.
• 2. Each Party shall recommend that
  non-governmental bodies in its territory observe
  paragraph 1 in relation to the development of
  standards and voluntary conformity assessment
  procedures. 

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Up until now..

• There has been a category of 'non-voting overseas
  liaison'
• 12 people who are represent US interests
  participate on 14 committees on this basis
• Is this equivalent to participating on terms no
  less favourable than those accorded to our own
  persons?
• In the US, ASTM and some other standards bodies
  allow overseas members on an equal basis

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At its May meeting, the Standards Development
Board approved the following changes

• Established a new category of 'overseas liaison'
• The national member body of ISO or IEC (eg ANSI)
  acts as the nominating organization
• The overseas liaison member may attend meetings

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Changes (2)

• The principles of committee balance set out in
  Standardization Guide 11 are applied in the same
  manner as for other nominating bodies
• The nominated member must complete the normal
  committee member agreement process to cover
  privacy and committee working processes

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Changes (3)

• The overseas liaison member gets a vote at postal
  ballot
• Comments and negative votes are fully considered
• Normal rules of consensus apply, no power of veto
• The nominating organization is not listed as
  committee member on the inside front cover of the
  Standard

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How was this arrived at?

• These are Australia Standards, not joint
  Australian/US Standards, they do not apply in the
  US
• Need to respect the relationship with New Zealand
  where a true joint standardization process
  applies
• Find a middle ground that will satisfy the intent
  of the FTA

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Why not restrict it to the USA?

• Further FTAs can be expected
• Need to be equitable with other long term trading
  partners, eg Japan
• Opportunity to extend Australias influence in
  the region without actually engaging in regional
  standardization
• Australian Standards are used in a number of
  neighbouring countries

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Is this arrangement reciprocal?

• The US has around 200 standards development
  bodies
• The peak body is ANSI
• US has pay to play system
• ANSI has agreed to act as the go-between should
  any Australian representatives have difficulty
  being allowed onto a US standards committee

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Implementing the new arrangements

• Standardization Guide 11 on the Structure of
  Committees to be updated to reflect the changes
• Close liaison with ANSI has been established to
  resolve any difficulties
• Normally the US interests will initiate
  membership on SA committees (and vice-versa)

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Where is this likely to come into play?

• We can only base on experience
• Where Australia has the first national standard
  on a subject, that may become the de facto
  international standard
• Where major suppliers to our market are US based
• Where Australia and the US want to take a common
  position to ISO/IEC

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What are the likely implications?

• Australian committees can draw on US technical
  knowledge
• A forum where barriers to trade can be discussed
  and resolved
• Protections have been built in against big
  brother dominating
• Australia already is becoming involved in CEN,
  this ensures that we retain a balance in the
  middle ground

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Conclusions

• The A-US Free Trade Agreement has prompted a
  review to make Standards Australias processes
  more open reflecting the Global Market
• Working more closely with US interests can only
  increase the knowledge base
• While we may drive on opposite sides of the road
  we share common values in terms of safety and
  commitment to a free market economy

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Implications of the Australia- US Free Trade
Agreement for Australian Standards and their
development
John Henry Director International and
Standardization Policy