ASIA PACIFIC BUSINESS LEADERS
URGE APEC TO FACILITATE TRADE IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Santiago, May 24, 1998 - The Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) meeting at its 31st
International General Meeting (IGM) in Santiago, Chile, today encouraged each APEC economy
to sign the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) and begin implementation after the APEC
ministerial meeting in Singapore on June 3-5.
The purpose of the MRA is to streamline the equipment certification processes among the
APEC economies with the objective of eliminating delays in time to market caused by
lengthy or unnecessary testing and review. Decreasing time to market benefits industry and
consumers alike by providing new technology to end-users faster and at a lower cost. PBEC
believes that the MRA will be an important building block toward facilitating trade in a
broad range of information technology products.
PBEC urged APEC and regional governments to adopt the use of internationally-recognized
standards or suites of standards, and internationally-recognized conformity assessment
procedures. This includes suppliers’ declarations of conformity. Speaking out
strongly in favor of ‘One Standard, One Test, Suppliers’ Declaration of
Conformity’ as a means to eliminate duplicative and costly conformance testing
procedures, PBEC believes that adoption of this concept by regional governments would
significantly benefit regional consumers and businesses.
PBEC’s annual International General Meeting (IGM) is an opportunity for the
region’s foremost corporate executives to gather with other international leaders, to
discuss, in a frank and intimate setting, the key issues in the regional economy, and to
publicly issue policy recommendations and statements. The IGM typically includes major
addresses given by heads of government, government ministers, leaders of prominent
international organizations, and senior executives of some of the largest corporations of
the region.
PBEC, an association of senior business leaders representing more than 1,100 major
corporations in 20 economies around the Pacific account for more than US$ 4 trillion in
global sales and employ more than 10 million people. The unprecedented scope of
PBEC’s membership constitutes a broad and balanced reservoir of international
business knowledge, unmatched in credibility and expertise. PBEC recently celebrated its
30th anniversary, making it the Asia Pacific’s most senior business organization.
PBEC is the voice of business in the Pacific.
Contact:
Stephen Olson
PBEC International Secretariat
900 Fort Street, Suite 1080
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 USA
Tel. 521-9044 ext. 17
Fax.521-8530
E-mail: steve@pbec.org
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