Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
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3) Explicitly recognize the important role international standards play in the global and regional
economic landscape, and commit to use international standards as the basis for national
standards whenever practicable;
4) Commit to increase the proportion of national standards harmonized with international
standards issued by organizations like ISO, IEC, ITU, and the Codex;
5) Promote adoption of the practice of de facto international harmonization, i.e. authorization for
sale of goods that comply with international standards when no contrary national standard is in
force;
6) Support the private sector, especially through publication and awareness raising, in their efforts
to use internationally harmonized standards in practice;
Regional agenda:
7) Commit to reduce the standards burden affecting exports of key products by other OIC member
states;
8) Reinforce regional structures for standards harmonization, and ensure that, whenever possible,
regional standards are based on international ones;
9) Further develop mutual recognition of conformity assessments, including on a regional or pluri-
lateral basis;
10) Participate actively in the work of the SMIIC, and support efforts to broaden its sectoral basis at
the same time as emphasizing conformity wherever possible with international standards;
11) Develop programs of technical assistance and capacity building within the OIC structure to
assist lower income and less developed member states to put in place key elements of national
quality infrastructure, and implement internationally harmonized standards;
12) Provide resources to upgrade export competitiveness by leveraging international standards;
13) Leverage regional arrangements to promote standards harmonization, and more broadly to
develop quality infrastructure; and
14) Mobilize resources to support the effective participation of lower income member states in the
work of international standards bodies such as ISO, IEC, and the Codex, focusing on those areas
of most economic interest.