RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/BFA/W/82
5 November 2002
(02-6111)
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration
STAFFING AND ORGANIZATION IN THE WTO SECRETARIAT
1. In the context of its preliminary examination of the proposals for additional posts in the
Budget Estimates for 2003, the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration indicated that itwould be useful to look at the re cent history of staffing and organizational developments in the WTO
in order the better to assess the needs as presented by the Director-General.
2. It will be recalled that an external consultant undertook a study in 2001 and presented a report
entitled Strategic Organizational Review: Structure and Staffing Resources of the World Trade
Organization Secretariat (WT/BFA/W/69).  This report was discussed briefly in the Committee in
December 2001 and more substantially in May 2002 (WT/BFA/59).
3. Based in part on the consultant’s report, the Director-General implemented a number of
organizational changes as from 1 January 2002.  In addition, eight new posts were approved in the
regular budget for 2002 and 19 L-posts
1, were identified to help with the implementation of the
programme of technical assistance, primarily th e Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund.
4. The table (Annex 1) on the following page indica tes in summary form:  i) the organizational
changes implemented in January 2002;  (ii) the locations of the new posts approved in the 2002
budget;  (iii) the locations of the L-posts and (iv) the specific proposals for new posts, funded for six
months, in the 2003 budget proposals, with indications of whether these posts are at the professional
or support level, and whether the proposed posts are for operational or support divisions.
5. Annex 2 provides information regarding the cost estimates for 2003 and 20042 with regard to
the 12 proposed new posts.
6. Annex 3 provides justifications for each of the proposed posts.
                                                     
1  L-posts are temporary staff posts, limited to a maximum of five years, and funded through trust
funds.  The posts in question were the subject of vacancy announcements for international recruitment .
2  Based on 2003 estimated costs.WT/BFA/W/82
Page 2
Organizational changes        January 2002 2002 New Posts L- Posts
Division P-levelSupport-
levelOperational 
Divisio nSupport 
Divisio n
Director-General 
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL 
  Textiles Monitoring Body 
Administration and General Services
   Human Resources Section1 new post (Human 
Resources G. 7)1 post for administration of the WTO social security programme (pensions 
and insurance)
   Budget & Control Section2 posts (G. 6/7): 1 for 
Extra. Budgetary Funds 
Unit, 1 for TA Logistics 
Unit
Informatics 1 post (G. 8)1 post assigned to increasing activities in application maintenance and 
development, especially in TRTA, Web automation, TBIMS and Conference 
Services
Language Services & Documentatio n
Market Access 1 post (G. 10)1 post to provide assistance to the Secretary of the Market Access Committee 
and Negotiating Group on Market Access
Trade & Environment 1 position moved from Counci l 1 post (G. 7)
Trade Policies Review RTA Unit transferred from Development 2 new posts ( G. 4 & 7) 1/2  post (G. 7)1 post to assist in the preparation of TPR's, in replacement of the post 
transferred to D-G's Office
Development and Economic Research2 Divisions merged into one; RTA Unit transferred to Trade 
Policies Review; 1 position moved to Tech. Cooperation 1 new post (G. 9) 1 post (G. 8)1 post assigned to development matters, in particular servicing various CTD 
bodies
Statistics 1 new post (G. 7) 1 post (G. 8)1 post of statistical assistant to be assigned to the Merchandise Trade Section 
to deal with design, processing, editing, and checking of tables and charts for International Trade Statistics
Technical Co-operation 1 position moved from Development 1 & 1/2 posts (G. 7s)
Technical Cooperation Audit 
Textiles
Trade Information Centre 1 post (G. 9)
WTO Training  Institute 3 new posts (G. 4, 8, & 9) 1 post (G. 8) 1 post to assist with teaching, tutoring and development of training materials
Agriculture & Commodities 1 post (G. 8)
Council and TNC2 Divisions (Council and Ministerial) merged into one; from 
Council, 1 position moved to Accessions and 1 to Trade & 
Environment
External Relations
Intellectual Property 2 posts (G. 9)1 post to provide assistance to the senior professional dealing with 
government procurement
Trade and Finance 1 post (G. 10) 1 post to deal with trade, debt and finance
Accessions 1 position moved from Counci
l 1 post (G. 7)
Information & Media Relations1 post of Web developer to exploit the full potential of the web content 
management syste m
Legal Affairs 1 post (G. 8) 1 post of secretarial support positio n
Rules 1 post (G. 9)
Trade in Services 1 post (G. 9) 1 post of database assistant
Total: 8 Total: 19 Total: 12DEPARTMENT (RY) 
Appellate Body New Posts 2003 ProposalsANNEX 1
DEPARTMENT (RA) 
DEPARTMENT (KR) 
DEPARTMENT (FT) WT/BFA/W/82
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ANNEX 2
Projected costs for 12 new posts
Staff Costs Posts Year 1Additional costs to
fully fund posts in Year 2Increase/ (decrease)
 in Year 2
Salary and Common Staff Costs112 1,214,400 1,214,400 1,214,400
Recruitment costs 452,400 (452,400)
Permanent Equipment 120,000 (120,000)
Other (Advertising) 60,000 (60,000)
Insurance 2,400  2,400  2,400
Total 1,849,200  584,400
1 funded for six months in 2003
N.B. All costs based on 2003 budget estimatesWT/BFA/W/82
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ANNEX 3
Administration and General Services
An additional post is required in order to relieve the Head of the Section of some of the
additional responsibilities resulting from the transfer of the post of Director to the Technical
Cooperation Audit.  The new post would be assi gned responsibility for administering the social
security programme, which includes the Pension Plan, the medical insurance scheme and the
voluntary death and disability insurance schemes.
Development and Economic Research
An additional post is required in order to bolster human resources in the development sector
where the Division has only two regular budget posts.   In 2002 the Division has managed to cope with
the workload only through a series of makeshift arrangements. Without those arrangements, the
Division would have continued to fall seriously behind in its work, most notably on the servicing ofmeetings and preparation of reports.  If the staffing resources needed to cover the development work
and assignments relating to the Doha agenda are not in place, the Division will not be in a position to
meet its objectives.
Informatics
An additional post is required in the Project Coordination Section, which is responsible for
project management, design, development, support and maintenance of more than twenty complex
systems.  Some of those systems are currently handled by only one staff member, placing those
systems at high risk in the event of unavailabil ity of the staff member concerned.  New computer-
based systems designed to provide useful information to Members, staff and the public have been
requested for 2003.  Present staff capacity is not sufficient to meet the demands in this critical area.
Information and Media Relations
An additional post is required to maintain and further enhance the WTO website.  The
incumbent of the post would be responsible for ensuring that the potential of the web content
management system (CMS) is fully exploited, improving the templates for new pages on the CMS,programming web interfaces for new and existing databases and tightening integration between
databases and the website.  The WTO website has become one of the main tools for ensuring greater
transparency and communication with the public on a worldwide scale.  The number of website users
has been increasing at an average rate of 10 % per month over the past three years and now attracts
500,000 users from 170 countries per month.  The constant growth in the number of users is reflectedin the increased demand for web content updates, responses to queries and additional materials.
Intellectual Property
An additional post is required in order to provide assistance to the senior professional in
charge of government procurement where a heavy workload will be generated by the transparency
exercise and the plurilateral agreement.  At present, this assistance is provided by one staff member
shared jointly by the senior staff members dealing with competition policy and government
procurement.WT/BFA/W/82
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Legal Affairs
An additional post is required to strengthen the secretarial resources of the Division, currently
numbering only 1.5 secretarial support positions to serve the Director and 13 professionals.
Market Access
An additional post is required in order to assist the Secretary to the Market Access Committee
and the Negotiating Group on Market Access as follows:
- preparing and following up on the meetings of both bodies,
- participating in training and technical assistance activities,
- responding to Ad hoc requests on all issues related to market access,
- representing the WTO at meetings of international bodies,
- providing support to dispute settlement panels,
- maintaining the relevant parts of the WTO website.
Statistics
An additional post is required in order to permit the Division to carry out tasks previously
assigned to the Economic Research and Analysis Division and Information and Media Relations
Division.  Some of those tasks have been absorbed by existing staff but the regular task of preparingstatistical tasks and charts for “International Trade Statistics” has had to be undertaken by temporary
staff since 1996.
Trade and Finance
An additional post is required for the secretaryship of the Working Group on Trade, Debt and
Finance.  The incumbent of the post will provide technical and logistical support to the chairman and
to Members, draft specialized documentation, liaise with other intergovernmental organizations and
provide technical assistance to Members as required.
Trade in Services
An additional post is required in order to provide technical support for the maintenance and
updating of the Division’s electronic database, which is of key importance in the storing of
information on the structure of current commitments  under the GATS.  Given the complexity of those
commitments, it is necessary to have a single staff member responsible for maintaining and
developing the database and acting as a research assistant as required.
Training Institute
An additional post is required in order to enable the Training Institute to develop a full set of
didactic material in order to support the activities of the Institute, of the WTO Secretariat and oftrainers in general.  The work cannot be carried out with the present resources of the Institute, which
are already fully stretched by the expanded mandate of the Institute.  The additional post is not being
requested to service the regional courses that might be mandated by Members.
Trade Policy Review
The work programme for 2003 is the most ambitious review programme yet undertaken, with
18 reviews scheduled.  In addition, the usual review process now provides for a seminar and a
technical assistance “needs and priorities” exercise for many Members.  The work programme willWT/BFA/W/82
Page 6
also include the completion of 2002 report documents for publication and the Annual Overview of the
trade policy developments in 2003.  This heavy schedule calls for the establishment of an additional
post.
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