WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/225
14 July 2003
(03-3794)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
FOLLOW-UP OF THE WORKSHOP ON TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
OUTLINES FOR A DATABASE AND TASK FORCE TO ENHANCE
DELIVERY OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES
Submission by Egypt
1. The workshop on Technical assistance (TA) held on April 2003 has shown the substantial
level of interest that Members have with respect to operationalizing the delivery of TA activities
through targeted and well designed programmes.  The workshop has also highlighted the differentneeds and priorities of developing countries in TBT related TA.  While trying to find possible means
for effective assistance, the workshop was able to present many ideas, one of which was the idea to
establish information database, and the other was to have a TASK FORCE to take over (through the
TBT committee) the responsibility of ensuring that TA is;  targeted, sequenced and better coordinated.
Egypt is interested in these ideas and would offer hereafter, some thought on their operation.
A. T
HE CALL FOR A SINGLE TBT-TA RELATED DATABASE
2. Following a request from Members, the Secretariat has ably put together a valuable document
(G/TBT/W/207) outlining the existing databases on TBT–related TA.  Egypt has examined the paper
and found it constitutes an excellent source of information regarding TA in the area of TBT.  The
paper has also shown that many sources of TA are already out there.  However, Egypt is of the view
that it might be difficult to figure out the exact st ate of affairs regarding technical assistance activities
that are being provided worldwide.  The Secretariat’s document could as well, be expanded to includemore information regarding TA donors.
3. Egypt knows that ITC offers technical assistance related to TBT especially with respect to
export quality management.  Other international (World Bank), regional (African Bank for
development) institutions also do have programmes of the kind, and as such, would deserve reference
in the Secretariat’s note.  To have clue regarding those activities, Egypt would therefore, propose thatthe Chairman of the TBT Committee communicates with relevant international and regional
organization requesting detailed information rega rding their activities (a s may relate to the
TBT Agreement).  Donor Members shall also be encouraged to bring to the attention of the
Committee their technical assistance programmes planned for the next few years.
4. Having this done, the Committee could elaborate future steps towards the construction of a
single database which objectives should be:
(i) to bring together the needs of developing countries Members (as outlined in
their individual replies to the questionnaire), and the TBT/TA related
programmes already available in international or regional organizations, as
well as those that donor Members are ready to offer,G/TBT/W/225
Page 2
(ii) to assist beneficiary Members in identifying the probable source(s) of a
particular TA programme,
(iii) to assist donor Members in improving the quality of their programmes , and
(iv) to avoid duplication of or overlap between TA activities offered by different
donors.
B. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TASK FORCE (TERMS OF REFERENCE )
Once this proposed database is constructed, a TASK FORCE  should be established with the
following (proposed) Terms of Reference (ToR):
1. Participation
(i) The task force shall be composed of Members from both donor and
beneficiary countries, Members shall represent different geographic regionsand economic conditions (the Secretariat’s compendium of the responses to
the questionnaires Document G/TBT/W/193 could be used for this purpose),
(ii) Membership shall be open for relevant international organizations (UNIDO,
ISO, ITC, WTO, as well as other potential donors).
2. Mandate
(i) To co-operate with beneficiary country’s experts in identifying areas of
priorities to them (several Developing countries have not replied to the
questionnaire, and as such may need assistance from the task force to fill in
the questionnaire);
(ii) to match individual country needs and available TA programmes;
(iii) whenever possible, and if so requested by a beneficiary country, assist in
praising the necessary funding for a given programme;  and
(iv) set implementation plan for every technical assistance programme, as well as
a follow-up mechanism to measure and correct deviations.
3. Follow-up mechanism
5. The Committee may have to consider the establishment of a follow-up mechanism with the
following parameters:
(i) The preparation of a provisional report on; the needs of the country
concerned, available sources of TA, estimated funding, objective of the
programme, time frame, etc…,
(ii) the report shall then be sent to all interested parties (all WTO Members)
through the TBT Secretariat for the proper feedback,G/TBT/W/225
Page 3
(iii) initialling the programme in the country concerned, which may decide to
have a local team to follow on the proceedings of the technical assistance
programme and report periodically to the task force and subsequently to the
Committee,
(iv) in case of deviations from the plan, the task force shall provide the
Committee with the recommended corrective actions for consideration and
approval;  and
(v) the beneficiary country and the donor shall immediately put such
recommendations into force.
4. Financing the task force’ activities
6. One major problem, that the Committee has to address and find a solution for, is with respect
to financing the task force’s activities; this could be a stumbling block that would threaten our makingprogress in this regard.  However, Egypt would propose that the Committee considers the possibility
of drawing on the resources of the Global Trus t Fund.  We would also call upon donor Members and
international organizations to agree on the establishment of a fund for that purpose.
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