DIN Software

DIN Software GmbH helps companies with their standards-related business processes. We provide information on national, European and international standards, technical rules and technically relevant legislation.

TBT Enquiry Point Germany Has the new Pressure Vessel Directive been implemented in the country to which I export my products? Who can I contact regarding the conditions for importing food to South American countries? Is there an English version of the German regulation on generating electricity from biomass?

The TBT Enquiry Point provides comprehensive information on the notifications submitted by the German government with respect to technical regulations. We also answer any questions about the content of the regulations and forward any further queries to the responsible Ministry. We also provide information to businesses inside and outside Germany on the national and international standards and technical rules listed in the DITR database.

TBT stands for "Technical Barriers to Trade". The World Trade Organization's (WTO) "Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade" is the most important international instrument adopted to date in the field of technical regulation. The Agreement applies to all members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and stipulates that all drafts of national technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures for products be notified to the WTO Secretariat. If a WTO member sees a potential disadvantage to its business activities or even a technical barrier to trade in the announced technical regulation, or in the standards of another WTO member, it can communicate its objections by the given deadline. All notifications submitted by the WTO members are publicly accessible for free on the WTO's website. EU members notify their technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures directly to the WTO Secretary General and then inform the European Commission's TBT Enquiry Point of this notification. Any comments made by another WTO member state are answered - in close consultation with the EU Member State affected - by the Commission in the name of the EU. The same applies when an EU Member State has comments regarding the notification of another WTO member state: Here, too the European Commission acts in the name of the entire EU.

In addition to the formal obligation to announce draft national technical regulations, each WTO member is obliged to set up a "TBT Enquiry Point" which supplies information on the national technical regulations which have been announced by the country in question, including the relationship with other technical regulations and collections of technical rules in that country. Standards and other technical rules are often referred to in technical regulations. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) has entrusted DIN with the setting up and running of the German TBT Enquiry Point within the framework of the WTO's TBT Agreement. DIN has in turn entrusted this task to two partners it closely cooperates with: First, DIN Software GmbH, which maintains the "DITR Database", a comprehensive, regularly updated database containing information on technical rules at national, European and international level, and on the interrelationship of these document collections. Second, Germany's national accreditation body DAkkS (Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH), which has a unique level of competence with regard to all questions relating to accreditation and conformity assessment in Germany.

Searching for standards

Do you need special overviews or lists of documents for your work? Are you looking for technically relevant German or European legislation?

DIN Software GmbH can use the full functionality of the DITR Database to carry out searches for standards information that are not possible or are too difficult with other commonly used programs.

Contact us and we will gladly make you an offer.

Downloads

The National TBT Enquiry Point for Germany

TBT Notification Procedure - German Model