Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
71
Figure 34: Plan for case studies.
Source: Author
It is important to stress the rationale behind the choice of case study countries. Egypt is a country that
has historically been seen as having significant non-tariff barriers in place, which have held back trade
integration. However, it has undertaken significant reforms to its quality infrastructure over recent
years. It has become more active in terms of standards development, but also recognizes that is not
possible to cover the field in terms of comprehensive coverage of all products and sectors, so it allows
goods that conform to a selection of international standards into its market if there is no relevant
Egyptian standard. In line with most countries, the proportion of mandatory standards in Egypt has
been falling over time, and now represents only about 15% of the total. In addition, the country has
benefitted from technical assistance and capacity building, and has been developing export capacity to
important markets, in particular the EU.
The second country, Bangladesh, has been enjoying considerable success in the ready made garment
(RMG) sector. Development of this activity has relied on linking to GVCs, where lead firms—typically
“fast” retailers—play an important role in terms of standardizing products and requiring uniform and
high quality output. Bangladeshi firms have therefore had to continuously upgrade production
processes in order to stay competitive in this sector that is seen as important by many developing
countries in the early stages of industrialization. Although improvements are notable, Bangladesh’s
Arab Group
(Egypt)
Asian Group
(Bangladesh)
African Group
(Senegal)
OIC Case
Studies
APEC
ASEAN
East Africa
Non-OIC
Case
Studies