WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/13 
1 November 2004 
 
 (04-4644) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  
  
 
 
 
SPECIAL MEETING ON PROCEDURE S FOR INFORMATION EXCHANGE  
 
2-3 NOVEMBER 2004 
 
 
Programme
 
  
 
 
 The Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (t he TBT Committee) agreed in 1995 to hold, 
on a biennial basis, "regular meetings of persons  responsible for information exchange, including 
persons responsible for enquiry  points and notifications".
1 Meetings on procedures for information 
exchange are organized in order to provide Members with an opportunity to discuss issues relating to 
information exchange and to review periodically the functioning of notification procedures and the 
operation of enquiry points.   
 The Fourth such Special Meeting will be held on 2-3 November 2004.  The discussions will 
take place in Panel sessions and will focus on the topics set out in the attached programme.  Members, including relevant interested parties of their delegations, as well as observers of the TBT Committee 
are invited to participate in this Special Meeting.
2   
                                                      
1 "Decisions and Recommendations adopted by the Committ ee since 1 January 1995", Note by the Secretariat, 
23 May 2002, G/TBT/1/Rev.8, page 19. 
2 In accordance with the 2004 Technical Assistance and Tr aining Plan, the participation of one capital-based 
official responsible for info rmation exchange from developing country Member s has been sponsored by the WTO, through 
the Global Trust Fund. G/TBT/GEN/13 
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DAY ONE – 2 NOVEMBER 2004 
 
08.30  Registration 
 
10:00 – 10:15 Opening Remarks  
   
  Mr. Sudhakar Dalela, Chairman of the TBT Committee.  
10:15 – 11.00 Prior to Notifications 
 
  The aim of this session is to exchange experiences on how Members:  
 
• Ensure coordination at national level;  
• share information on the developmen t of technical regulations and 
conformity assessment procedures, for instance by publishing a notice in a 
publication at an early appropriate stage, to enable interested parties in 
other Members to become acquainted with them; and 
• use electronic databases, for instance newsletters, alerts or web alerts, to 
facilitate transparency. 
   Panellists: Mrs. Ana María Vallina, Chile 
    Ms. Anne Meininger, United States  
   Moderator: Mr. Ahmed Maghawri Diab, Egypt    11:00 – 12:00 Preparation and Submission of Notifications 
 
  The aim of this session is to exchange experiences on how Members:  
 
• Comply with notification obligations, including at sub-national level, also 
with respect to the timing  of notifications, so that these are made early 
enough and leave sufficient time for comments; 
• complete the notification formats;  
• use electronic tools to facilitate the preparation and submission of 
notifications; and 
• share translated documents. 
   Panellists: Ms. Andrea Spencer, Canada     Mrs. Devitra Maharaj-Dash, Trinidad and Tobago     Mrs. Rampaipan Nakasatis, Thailand  
  
  Moderator: Mr. Juan Antonio Dorantes Sanchez, Mexico  12:00 – 12:30 General Discussion  
 
Lunch Break  (12:30 – 15:00)  
 
  G/TBT/GEN/13 
 Page 3 
 
 
15:00 – 15:30 Processing and Circulation of Notifications   
   The aim of this session is to illustrate:   
• How notifications are processed by the WTO Secretariat; and 
• how to use the WTO web-site, the TBT web-site, the CRN Database. 
   Panellists: WTO Secretariat (Mrs. Stefania Bernabè and Mr. John Dickson)   15:30 – 16:15  Handling of Comments  
   
   The aim of this session is to exchange experiences on the handling of comments 
   received, including the possibility of sharing them on a voluntary basis.  
   Panellist: Mr. Cyril Hanquez, European Communities            Moderator: Ms. Grace Tanno, Brazil 
 
 16:15 - 17:00 Transparency obligations under the Code of Good Practice  
 
 The aim of this session is to share experiences on:   
• How standardizing bodies comply with the transparency obligations set out 
in the Code of Good Practice, including the publication of notices as set out in paragraph J; and 
• the work of the ISO/IEC Information Centre.  
   Panellists:  Ms. Salmah  Mohd. Nordin, Malaysia 
    M r .  Evgueni Patrikeev, ISO  
 
  Moderator: Mr. Tobias Nussbaum, Canada     17:00 - 18:00 General Discussion  
 G/TBT/GEN/13 
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DAY TWO – 3 NOVEMBER 2004 
 
 10:00 – 11:00 The Functioning of Enquiry Points  
 
The aim of this session is for Members:  
• To exchange experience on how enqui ry points established under Articles 
10.1-10.3 answer enquiries from other Members and intere sted parties in 
other Members, as well as provide  the relevant documents; and 
• to share information on any other services  provided by TBT enquiry points. 
 
Panellists: Ms. Annalina Camboim, Brazil  
    Mrs. Guo Lisheng,
 China  
    Mr. N'Dungu Evanson, Kenya 
 
   Moderator: Mrs. María Eugenia Mesa, Colombia  
  11:00-12:00 Benefiting from the Transparency provisions: Dissemination of Information 
    The aim of this session is to exchange experiences on: 
 
• The dissemination of notifications from other Members to domestic 
interested parties (e.g. industry) and th e use of electronic tools to facilitate 
such dissemination;  
• the treatment of any feed-back received from domestic parties; and 
• the preparation of comments on other Members' regulations (including the 
language used for comments).  
 
   Panellists: Mrs. Danie lle Schont Avenel, Mexico 
     Mr. Ming- Shan CHEN, Chinese Taipei       Mr. George Opiyo, Uganda           Moderator: Ms. Suzanne Troje, United States 
    
 12:00 – 12.30  General Discussion and Concluding Remarks  
 
 
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