1 Trade promotion through standardisation in the South and South East Asia region SESA programme

Agreement with Sida Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SESA Programme part of Swedish Government’s strategy for Global Politics for development (PGU)  SESA countries: Owner and implementer of activities  SIS: Receiver of funds and facilitator  Sida: Financial support until 31st December

SESA programme participants  National Standards Organisations in 8 SESA countries*  Private Companies  Organisations and NGOs (universitites)  Business Councils, Chambers of Commerce  Swedish Standards Institute, SIS  CUTS International, Vietnam  South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment, SAWTEE  Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida * Nepal, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh

Key challenges identified  SESA countries need to become ”standard setters” and not only ”standard takers”  International standards need to be trade supportive not trade barriers  Standard setting involvement will enhance possibilities for effective implementation of international standards on a national level  International standards – to become applicable and relevant to SESA countries  International standards – support local private companies competitiveness on global markets  Support a more active participation by SESA private sector to reach applicable international standards than can be implemented in the countries  Standard implementation – to take a standard from an abstract to a more practical and applicable level in the SESA countries 4

Programme Development Objectives The programme aim to support a long term contribution to: (a timeframe more than 10 years)  Good environmental practice promoted with ISO standards in the SESA countries  Reduced environmental impact from production in the SESA countries  Improved trade opportunities for the SESA countries  Improved integration of the SESA countries in the global markets  ISO standards provide inputs for development of national legislations in SESA countries  Improved stakeholder driven standardisation process within SESA countries  Increased Global Relevance of ISO standards 5

Programme Objective (Medium-term outcome): (a timeframe of around 5-10 years) Enhanced capacity of NSBs in partner countries and selected stakeholders in ISO standard setting and implementation processes* * standard setting and standard implementation will be examplified by the case studies on ISO standard on Sustainability Criteria for Bioenergy and ISO standard on Carbon Footprint of Products. 6

So what are we doing within the SESA programme?

 STANDARD SETTING: Increase capacity to become more actively involved in the development of ISO standards. Increase the cooperation between National Standardisation organisations and privat/public sector –ISO Sustainability Criteria for Bioenergy  STANDARD IMPLEMENTATION: Strengthen capacity in the practical usage of ISO standards and development of guidelines for standard implementation –ISO/TS Carbon Footprint of Products Two components:

Standard setting activities

Standard implementation

11 Main objectives for the SESA Programme (a timeframe within the SESA programme period) Short term objective 1: Enhanced competence among NSBs in the SESA region* in leading, and execution of, standard setting processes in a participatory cooperation with the private and public sector on a national and an international level. *Countries included in the programme are Pakistan, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka Target groups are National Standards Bodies, NSBs

12 Main objectives for the SESA Programme (a timeframe within the SESA programme period) Short term objective 2: Enhanced competence among selected SESA region stakeholders** in order to participate effectively in national and international standard setting processes ** stakeholders and target group are: NGOs, private companies, Chamber of Commerce, Business Councils, Federations, Policy institutions, Universities etc.

13 Main objectives for the SESA Programme (a timeframe within the SESA programme period) Short term objective 3: Strengthened competence among NSBs in standard implementation* to be able to use ISO standards *limited to implementation of ISO 14067, Carbon Footprint of products Target groups are National Standards Bodies, NSBs

14 Main objectives for the SESA Programme (a timeframe within the SESA programme period) Short term objective 4: Strengthend competence among selected companies in standard implementation* to be able to use ISO standards *limited to implementation of ISO14067, Carbon Footprint of Products Target group is companies interested in CFP implementation and producing the selected product/service for each country

15 Main objectives for the SESA Programme (a timeframe within the SESA programme period) Short term objective 5: Strengthened competence among selected programme participants** in standard implementation* to be able to use ISO standards *limited to implementation of ISO14067, Carbon Footprint of Products **e.g. federations, associations, policy institutions, chamber of commerce, NGOs, universities

How to practically work with standardisation? Importance to work on all levels: InternationalRegionalNationalLocal ISO ASEAN/SAARC Ministry/NSBStakeholders

17 National activities – SESA To reassure the most suitable activities are implemented according to the national situation and systems – identified by the participants in each country Approved by Sida in March 2013

Is there a need for a regional perspective with focus on standardisation? in the Mekong/ASEAN region 18

QUESTIONS? 19