G/L/1504  
G/TBT/51  
 
27 October  2023 
(23-7272) Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade    
 
  
REPORT  ON IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FUNCTIONING OF  
THE COMMITTEE  ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE (TBT)  
REPORT TO THE CTG BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE TBT COMMITTEE1 
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The following report is being submitted by the Chairperson of the Committee on Technical 
Barriers  to Trade (TBT Committee), Ms Anna Vitie  (Finland) . It is submitted at the request of the 
Council  for Trade in Goods (CTG)2 and was prepared with the assistance of the Secretariat . 
1.2.  The TBT Committee's procedures have evolved continuously, reflecting  Members' priorities. For 
a full report that describes the practices that the TBT Committee has adopted over the past years to 
improve its work, delegations are referred to document G/L/1458 .3 Practices build on discussions 
among Members and are, therefore, bottom -up and incremental. All decisions and recommendations 
taken by the TBT Committee are documented in the G/TBT/1 -series  (the latest revision is contained 
in G/TBT/1/Rev.15 ). Generally, t he TBT Triennial Reviews have guided this process. The thematic 
sessions have also allowed  Members to exchange experiences on emerging regulatory issues in an 
informal setting, including with the engagement of outside stakeholders.  
1.3.  This present report covers improvements introduced in  the Committee since the conclusion 
of MC12 (June 2022) .  
2  PROCESS AND PROPOSALS  
2.1.  Following a request from the CTG Chair, the TBT Chairperson submitted a report on the 
functioning of  the TBT Committee  (G/L/1458 ). A first round of discussions was held during the TBT 
Committee's informal meeting on 11 May 2023. A second round of discussions took place during the 
TBT Committee's formal meeting held on 21-23 June 2023. As a basis for th is discussion, the 
Secretariat  prepared a document for Members ' consideration aimed at focusing the discussion on 
how t he TBT Committee could do better and how  best to  contribute to a future report that would be  
submitted to the CTG  (JOB/TBT/5 10). In this report, the Secretariat considered the items which had 
been put forth during various CTG exchanges  and identif ied those practices that the TBT Committee 
had not used yet and could consider taking onboard.  The Committee did not discuss practices that 
the TBT Committee had already been using (such as ePing or eAgenda). The  idea was to shed light 
on some areas where the TBT Committee could focus its discussions and what  could be done better , 
looking ahead .  
  
 
1 This draft report is prepared  under the Chairperson's  own responsibility . 
2 Other relevant documents include JOB/CTG/19/Rev.2  as well as G/C/W/824/Rev.1 . 
3 Also circulated as G/TBT/49 , dated 1 December 2022 . For a comprehensive compilation and 
comparison of the current functioning of the CTG, and its subsidiary bodies, including the TBT Committee, see 
G/C/W/824/Rev.1 , issued on 14 Fe bruary 2023.  G/L/1504 • G/TBT/51  
 
- 2 - 
 
  3  IMPROVEMENTS ON THE FUNCTIONING  OF THE COMMITTEE  
3.1.  As a result of these discussions, the Committee agreed  at the June 2023 meeting to implement  
the following  improvements on a trial basis :  
• eAgenda . The TBT Committee  agreed to expand the use of eAgenda  to cover all agenda 
items  (not only Specific Trade Concerns (STCs)) following the practice of other 
committees.   
• Briefings by the Secretariat . The TBT Committee  agreed to request  the Secretariat to 
provide briefings more regularly on the work of the Committee, especially to new 
delegations or on specific subjects (like ePing or eAgenda).  
• Annotated draft Agendas . The TBT Committee  agreed to use Annotated draft Agendas 
for informal meetings .  
3.2.  In addition, considering  feedback from Members about the organization of TBT thematic 
sessions , the moderators of the 20 June 2023 thematic sessions issued guidance to Members for 
the organization and conduct of the sessions. This included guidance on timing of proposals, the 
number of speakers, and composition of panels. This practice was continued for the 7 November 
2023 thematic sessions.4 
General area  Improvements  in the functioning of the TBT Committee  
A. Assistance to 
delegates  • Briefings by the Secretariat . A general briefing was held on 
19 September , accompanied by an Information Note for TBT 
delegates5; a second one focusing on the Triennial Review 
process will take place on 6 November . 
B. Planning and 
organization of 
meetings  • Annotated draft agenda s for informal meetings (trial basis) . 
The first anno tated draft agenda for an informal meeting was 
circulated for the 3 October Informal meeting of the 
Committee  (JOB/TBT/513 ). 
• Guidance from moderators for the organization of TBT 
thematic sessions . 
C. Conduct of formal 
meetings  • Use of eAgenda for all agenda items. In the TBT Committee, 
this was previously only done for the discussion of Specific 
Trade Concerns (STCs).  The extended eAgenda is already 
operational for the formal meeting of the  TBT Committee 
scheduled for 8-10 November . 
D. Conduct of informal 
meetings  • See point B. above . 
E. Digital tools used by 
the Committee  • See point C. Use of eAgenda ("Collaborative Agenda ") for the 
full menu of Agenda items.  
 
4  NEXT STEPS  
4.1.  The discussion of improvements is a continuous process in the T BT Committee. These 
discussion s normally (but not exclusively) take place as part of  the triennial reviews. The work 
programme for the 10th Triennial Review was adopted at the June 2023  meeting (G/TBT/W/775 ) 
and is scheduled to be completed in 2024.  
__________  
 
4 JOB/TBT/506  and JOB/TBT/514. 
5 https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/xtbt_e/tbt_flyer_e.pdf .