Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
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Drake (2011) provides further evidence on APEC’s performance on alignment with international
standards, particularly in the area of electrical products. He finds that by 2010, 15 out of 21 APEC
member economies reported 100% alignment with IEC standard 60065 on safety requirements for
electrical equipment. That number was up compared with previous years, which tends to indicate
progress by economies on alignment of their standards with international norms in this important area.
The share of trade covered by the standard increased markedly over the period considered by Drake
(2011): in 2006, only 14.9% of television imports by value were covered by the relevant international
standard, compared with 94.5% in 2009. More generally, by 2010 APEC economies reported between
91% and 100% alignment with the 168 identified IEC standards covering electrical goods.
The SCSC also encourages member economies to participate in the work of international standardization
bodies, and facilitates technical assistance and capacity building for developing member economies. In
addition, it has a work program on mutual recognition of conformity assessment. This latter program
encourages member economies to accept test results from foreign laboratories as equivalent to those
produced by domestic ones, thereby reducing costly double testing requirements for exporters. Mutual
recognition of conformity assessments is an important adjunct to harmonization, as evidenced by the
inclusion of both in the APEC standards work program.
As noted at the outset of this report, standard setting is just one activity that takes place within a
country’s national quality infrastructure. Analogously, APEC’s SCSC takes on board the views of five
Specialist Regional Bodies (SRBs) that represent different aspects of the regional quality infrastructure
in the Asia-Pacific.19 First is the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC), a forum that brings together
national standards bodies. It serves to facilitate the exchange of views and experience on standards-
related matters, as well as to coordinate in relation to international standardization. PASC also supplies
technical experts for capacity building assignments. On the metrology side, the relevant SRBs are the
Asia-Pacific Legal Metrology Forum (APLMF) and the Asia-Pacific Metrology Program (APMP). Together,
these agencies facilitate the harmonization of metrology standards around the region, and undertake
technical assistance and capacity building in developing member economies. They also coordinate
closely with international metrology forums. There are also SRBs for accreditation, the Pacific
Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) and the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC),
which foster the development of laboratories and inspection bodies, contribute to the harmonization of
accreditation practices in the Asia-Pacific, and facilitate the mutual recognition of accredited test,
measurement, and inspection results.
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