APEC

What is APEC?

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What is APEC?

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum established in 1989 to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific. APEC's 21 members aim to create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration.
APEC has 21 members. The word 'economies' is used to describe APEC members because the APEC cooperative process is predominantly concerned with trade and economic issues, with members engaging with one another as economic entities. Chinese Taipei is the name that Taiwan uses in APEC.

You can visit the APEC official website to learn more about APEC.
https://www.apec.org/

Which APEC forum is relevant to BSMI?

APEC brings together a range of committees, working groups, sub-fora and other cooperation mechanisms to advance regional economic integration and address a broad range of economic and trade-related issues. Within APEC's Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), the Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) is one of eight sub-groups under the CTI. The CTI also oversees two industry dialogues.
The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) regularly participates in meetings of the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC), together with relevant agencies, including the International Trade Administration (TITA) and the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), as appropriate.
The SCSC promotes regional cooperation on standards and conformity assessment with the aim of:
• reducing technical barriers to trade and enhancing market access through standards and conformity assessment;
• promoting the alignment of domestic standards with relevant international standards;
• promoting good regulatory practices (GRP) in the development, adoption, and application of standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures;
• facilitating cooperation on mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) for conformity assessment;
• enhancing transparency and information exchange; and
• strengthening capacity building and cooperation to support the effective participation of economies and businesses, including micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), in international standardization and conformity assessment activities.

In recent years, the SCSC has increasingly addressed emerging issues, including artificial intelligence (AI) standards and conformity assessment, digital transformation of standards and conformity assessment systems, sustainable development and clean energy technologies, the adoption of international standards, and the participation of MSMEs in international standardization. Recent SCSC work has also covered digital certification, machine-readable standards, quantum technologies, digital-related standards for environmental protection, and the digital management of metrological information.

To learn more about the SCSC, please visit the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) webpage.
https://www.apec.org/what-we-do/committee-on-trade-and-investment

Why should BSMI continuously participate in SCSC meetings?

The economy of Taiwan heavily relies on international trade. Pursuing cooperation with trading partners and participating in the development of international standards are the priorities of Taiwanese government to provide a transparent and smooth trading environment to the business operators in Taiwan. SCSC is a great venue for the BSMI to achieve the mentioned goals. It is a platform that enables 21 economies to explore cooperative opportunities and discuss on the development of international standards twice a year.
As Taiwan is unable to become a member of most international standardizing bodies due to its complex political position, the BSMI takes great efforts in supporting the Voluntary Action Plan (VAP), which is a voluntary program that encourages economies to align their national standards with international standards. This helps the BSMI increase its influence on international standards development.

BSMI's APEC Contact Window

E-mail: intl@bsmi.gov.tw
Fax: (886-2) 2343-1804
Tel: (886-2) 2343-1700#1563

• 編修日期：2026/10/12
• 上稿單位：綜合企劃組