PRESS RELEASE
ANNUAL MEETINGS OF SADC TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE (TBT) COOPERATION STRUCTURES
DATE: 24 – 28 MARCH 2025 VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE
The Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce will convene the 40th SADC Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Cooperation Structures meetings on 24 – 28 March 2025 at Peniel Retreat Centre, in Victoria falls, Republic of Zimbabwe.
The TBT Annex to the SADC Protocol on Trade established a framework for identification and elimination of TBTs among SADC Member States as well as between SADC and other regions. The annex established SADC TBT Cooperation Structures, with mandates covering Standardization, Quality assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM). The SADC TBT Cooperation Structures encompass several specialised bodies, each with a unique mandate to support the region’s quality infrastructure and these include:
₋ SADC Cooperation in Standardization (SADCSTAN): Focuses on the harmonization of standards and encourages the adoption of international standards to reduce TBTs.
₋ SADC Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA): Works to ensure that accreditation bodies in the region meet international standards, promoting mutual recognition of conformity assessment results.
₋ SADC Cooperation in Legal Metrology (SADCMEL): Deals with legal metrology, ensuring that measurements and measuring instruments comply with international standards and regulations.
₋ SADC TBT Stakeholders Committee (SADCTBTSC): Provides a forum for stakeholder engagement, ensuring that both the private and public sectors are involved in the TBT harmonization process.
₋ SADC Technical Regulations Liaison Committee (SADCTRLC): Coordinates the harmonization of technical regulations across the region, ensuring that they are transparent and reduce trade barriers.
₋ SADC TBT Expert Group (SADCTBTEG): supports the SADC Secretariat in an advisory capacity in dealing with TBT matters not covered by the other TBT Cooperation Structures.
The meetings of the SADC TBT Cooperation Structures have an overall objective of facilitating dialogue between institutions of the Member States dealing with SQAM issues. It will be a platform for Member States to track the implementation of the SQAM activities at national level as well as identify and resolve any potential TBT in the region. The meeting will also receive report on the review of the TBT annex and deliberate on way forward. The annual meetings will further review the activities performed by the Secretariat in support of Member States regarding the implementation of SQAM Programme in the SADC region.
The SADC Protocol on Trade aims at liberalisation of intra-regional trade in goods and services; ensure efficient production within SADC; contribute towards the improvement of the climate for domestic, cross-border and foreign investment; enhancing economic development, diversification of the industrial base of the Region and establishing a Free Trade Area. Article 3 of the SADC Protocol on Trade calls for the elimination of barriers to intra-SADC trade through harmonisation of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures by SADC Member States.
The meetings will be attended by the institutions that deal with standards development, scientific industrial and legal metrology, accreditation, development and enforcement of technical regulations, inspection, certification and testing representing all SADC Member States. The meeting will also be attended by regional and international organisations and cooperation partners involved in SQAM matters.
Enquiries
Mr. Cesarino Benjamim, Senior Programme Officer, Standards, Quality, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) in the Directorate of Industrial Development and Trade at the SADC Secretariat email cbenjamim@sadc.int
Barbara Lopi, Head of Communication and Public Relations Unit or Innocent Mbvundula, Communication and Relations Officer (External) at the SADC Secretariat; email blopi@sadc.int or imbvundula@sadc.int and copy prinfo@sadc.int telephone +267 395 1863.
