Standardization Policies

Different technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures applied by countries constitute technical barriers in international and EU trade.

The reflections of globalization on trade life are supported by the rapid development of technology, while the increasing competition reveals the necessity to harmonize technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures to remove technical barriers in front of trade.

In this framework, standardization policies aimed at removing these technical barriers in trade are implemented at international and EU levels.

On the other hand, our country is compliant with and supportive of the European standardization system, with which we have taken determined steps in the international standardization policy and the EU membership process and are regionally integrated.

In this direction, our Institution has adopted the vision of "being an organization that ensures the telecommunications sector in Turkey reaches international standards, contributes to global developments through research and development activities, and leads the sector" in today's world experiencing rapid globalization. In this scope, our Institution effectively and efficiently follows the developments in standardization and ensures the integration of international and EU standardization policies into the telecommunications field.

International Standardization Policies

After World War II, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), signed in 1948 by 23 country governments, which envisaged trade liberalization, became the de facto platform responsible for regulating international trade to develop free trade in world markets, create a competitive environment in trade, and establish and manage international trade rules. At the turn of the new millennium, considering the different dimensions and characteristics gained by international trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round Multilateral Trade Negotiations. Our country is a member of the WTO.

The WTO not only has more members than GATT but also covers a broader area in terms of the commercial activities and trade policies it applies. While GATT covered only goods trade, the WTO also covers services and intellectual property rights, known as "Trade in Ideas."

The work carried out under the WTO aims to establish a meaningful balance between goals such as human health and safety, animal and plant life and health, prevention of deceptive practices against consumers, protection of the environment, and ensuring that measures taken in this context do not turn into trade protectionism. In this framework, ensuring compliance with the provisions and procedures of the WTO's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO-TBT) regarding the prevention of technical barriers in trade is of great importance.

The WTO-TBT Agreement is the most fundamental tool accepted internationally for preventing technical barriers in trade. This agreement aims to eliminate protectionist practices that hinder free trade in the areas of technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment.

The basic principles of the WTO-TBT Agreement are:

• Using international standards and recommendations of international standards bodies as a basis if they exist in the relevant field,
• Subjecting domestic and imported products to equal conditions both in terms of cost and procedures in technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment, without discrimination,
• Ensuring mutual notification and exchange of views among members, especially on newly created regulations, standards, and conformity assessment issues,
• Mutual recognition of different practices in countries' technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment areas, provided they serve the same objectives,
• Taking into account the insufficient conditions of developing countries and providing assistance to these countries.

Within the scope of these basic principles, transparency in practices is ensured through the "Notification System," which aims to inform other WTO member countries about draft legislation to reduce technical barriers arising from international standards and different practices, and "Information Notification Centers" established to meet information and document requests from other countries, which are the main mechanisms envisaged by the Agreement. On the other hand, one of the main problems firms face during exports is the lack of information about the technical regulations and standards their products will be subject to in target markets. To provide firms access to such information, the Agreement requires each member country to establish "Information Notification Centers" to provide this information.

European Standardization Policy

The turning point of the European standardization policy is the free movement of goods. The mechanisms in place to achieve this purpose are based on preventing Technical Barriers to Trade, mutual recognition, and harmonization of technical legislation.

European standards organizations CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI are responsible for identifying, preparing, and submitting a list of accepted standards to the EU Commission under the New Approach for Harmonized Standards (HS). The technical content of these standards is also under the responsibility of these organizations.

The preparation and acceptance of HS are based on General Guide Principles. The guide includes a series of principles and interpretations related to standardization, such as participation of all relevant parties, the role of public institutions, quality of standards, and uniformity of standards application across the EU. In this scope, HS are applied voluntarily under the New Approach Directives.

The standardization procedure under the New Approach is given below.

Standardization Procedure under the New Approach

1. Following consultations with EU member states, a mandate is issued.
   
2. The mandate is forwarded to European standards organizations.
3. The European standards organization accepts the mandate.
4. European standards organizations prepare a joint work program.
5. The Technical Committee prepares the standards draft.
6. European and national standards organizations conduct public inquiries.
7. The Technical Committee evaluates comments.
8. National standards organizations vote / European standards organizations approve.
9. European standards organizations transmit references to the EU Commission.
10. The EU Commission publishes the references.
11. National standards organizations transpose European standards.
12. National competent authorities publish references of national standards.