Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
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degree in all three countries. The case is particularly striking for a small country like Senegal, where
national standards are relatively few, and international standards are used to fill the many gaps where
national standards have not been passed. This practice—which is also present in other OIC member
states—is consistent with the WTO preference for internationally harmonized standards, and is a
sensible way of ensuring a degree of quality control for imported goods even when national standards
infrastructure is under-developed.
In all three OIC case study countries, technical assistance and capacity building, largely from outside the
region, have played an important role in the development of standardization practice and quality
infrastructure. External funding can be important in terms of promoting the participation of lower
income countries in international standards bodies, as well as for the development of standardization
capacity at home. There are clear differences of capacity between Egypt, the case study country with the
highest income per capita, and the other two countries: standardization infrastructure is more
developed, there is a larger accumulation of standards practice, and there is the ability to ensure
implementation at different points in the economy. In all cases, however, there is still room for technical
assistance and capacity building to help the countries develop standards, including those based on
international harmonization, and to ensure that they are implemented in practice on the ground.
One variable that changes markedly across the three OIC case study countries is the role played by
regional initiatives. They are present for all three countries, but somewhat marginal in the case of
Bangladesh, in keeping with the relatively low degree of regional integration in South Asia. Egypt is an
intermediate case, where some regional arrangements deal with standards, but the overall impression—
perhaps due to Egypt’s size relative to the rest of its region—is that the agenda is largely national and
international in focus. Senegal, on the other hand, is clearly engaged on a regional track through UEMOA
in particular; the broader African initiative of ARSO has been relatively inactive for a significant period,
although it may be regaining momentum. The regional approach makes sense for a small economy like
Senegal, as creative arrangements for harmonization and mutual recognition can make it possible to
effectively share the cost of developing standards infrastructure across the West African region, rather
than each (small) country having to shoulder a disproportionately high bill itself. The regional approach
appears promising, although implementation on the ground remains key—and is linked to broader
issues of governmental capacity and reach within the region.
In addition to examining the issues generally and studying how they play out in OIC member states, this
report also examined three outside case studies: APEC, ASEAN, and the East African Community. The
rationale behind choosing three regional initiatives is that they could provide guidance for the OIC as a
diverse group of countries looking to deal with standards to some extent collectively. Evidence of that