Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
90
In the food sector, the current share of domestic standards adopted from Codex Alimentarius is
estimated at 70%. As for engineering and medical products, standards systems are often entirely based
on ISO regulations. In these sectors, EOS (as an active member) has an obligation to notify ISO of any
deviations in domestic standards.
EOS represents Egypt in a number of international standardization bodies. Egypt became a member of
ISO with the establishment of EOS in 1957 and is currently an active member (P-Member or O- member)
in 295 ISO technical committees. Egypt is also a full member of IEC in 74 technical committees (P-
Member in 69 committees and O- Member in 5 technical committees) through the national mirror
committee in the Ministry of Electricity, and a member in the International Organization for Legal
Metrology (OIML) through the NIS, in the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), the
European Organization for Quality (EOQ), the International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO), and
the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). There is a Memorandum of Understanding with the
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). EOS issues unified Arab standards in cooperation
with the Arab Industrial, Development, and Mining Organization (AIDMO), and has signed memoranda
of understanding with equivalent bodies in China, Uganda, the United States (ASTM), France, Germany,
the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Australia, and Kenya, in addition to 16 Arab countries. However, Egypt
does not have any mutual recognition agreements for standardization or conformity assessment
activities.
Egypt established a Central Department for WTO Affairs in 2003 (before which it had been the WTO Unit
since 2000) to monitor Egypt’s rights and obligations under the WTO. In 2003, Egypt established both
the TBT and SPS national sub-committees under the auspices of the Supreme national committee
headed by the Minister of Trade & Industry. The subcommittees are comprised of all the relevant
governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, with main functions including:
 Monitoring Egypt’s rights and obligations under the WTO TBT/SPS Agreements.
 Discussing TBT/SPS trade concerns both on the import and export sides.
 Ensuring appropriate coordination among all Egyptian entities involved in formulating Egypt’s
TBT/SPS measures.
The Central Department for WTO affairs acts as a member and the technical secretariat of these two
national subcommittees and the Supreme national committee. It also acts in close coordination with
both the SPS and TBT Egyptian enquiry points.