APEC Workshop on Understanding the Role and Impact of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) to Trade in the APEC Region

Context

Debates over private standards on sustainability and their influence on trade have been rising. Other standards developed at the local, domestic or international level by public sector organizations are also voluntary, and these are designated as Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS). VSS have emerged as tools to address key sustainability challenges such as biodiversity, climate change and human rights. They are used in global supply chains in various sectors, industries, and geographies such as agriculture, mining, forestry and fisheries. Although VSS could be an enabler of sustainably sourced products, the proliferation of some VSS has created an overlap in areas of focus. While this overlap promotes healthy competition by providing choices for selection, an abundance of VSS creates confusion of selection to the SMEs, often lacks local context, causes difficulty of access by small producers in remote areas, and generates high cost of compliance. All these factors limit market access and could become potential barriers to trade.

Workshop Objective

The Workshop on Understanding the Role and Impact of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) to Trade in the APEC Region is under the purview of the Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC). The workshop is an initiative of Malaysia (The Department of Standards Malaysia), with the support of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat and the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS). The workshop will be fully virtual with participants from the public and private sectors as well as international organisations.

The workshop aims to:

1.      Provide knowledge on the various VSS in the APEC region;

2.      Function as a platform to discuss issues related to VSS in selected sectors in the APEC region and sharing of best practices on implementation of VSS by APEC member economies;

3.      Publish a compendium of best practices on implementation of VSS among APEC member economies;

4.      Explore possible public-private partnership on VSS in the APEC region or continuous collaboration with other international organisations working on VSS.

This workshop is exclusive to the 21 APEC member economies and the local time of the event per economy as stipulated below:

To participate, please write to Ms. Aainaa Kamilah Roslee of Department of Standards Malaysia, copied to Ms. Siti Rubiah Lambert of United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) with the following information:

•    APEC Member Economy:
•    Name (CAPITALISE surname):                     
•    Title (Dr/Mr/Ms/Mrs):
•    Position:
•    Gender (M/F):        
•    Organization:    
•    Email:  
•    Telephone:                                                                                     
•    Government official: Yes / No

Email TO: kamilah@jsm.gov.my and CC: siti.lambert@unctad.org

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