G/TBT/W/787  
 
7 February 2024  
(24-1011) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
THEMATIC SESSION ON TRACEABILITY IN CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS  
FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE  
TENTH TRIENNIAL REVIEW  
Proposal from the United States  
The following submission, dated 7 February  2024, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of the United States . 
 
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1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  Sustainability is gaining attention in trade and economic policy discussions. As WTO Members 
seek to e nhance sustainability including through the development of markets for sustainably 
produced agricultural products, traceability systems are becoming an increasingly important tool to 
determine whether agricultural products meet sustainability requirements across their entire life 
cycle. Members will need to carefully design traceability systems to avoid creating unnecessary 
burdens that could disrupt supply chains and undermine sustainability objectives.  
1.2.  Emerging sustainability requirements focus on enviro nmental, public health, and social 
objectives to assess the validity of a given sustainability objective, such as, inter alia, deforestation -
free, organic products, minimum recycled content, and greenhouse gas emissions. Traceability 
systems support the ve rification of sustainability objectives – for many years, voluntary 
sustainability standards have utilized traceability systems and chain of custody models to determine 
that relevant product or production requirements have been fulfilled. As emerging techn ical 
regulations and sustainability standards require that products have been sustainably produced and 
handled across the supply chain, traceability systems will become increasingly important tools to 
demonstrate product conformity to sustainability standa rds and technical regulations.  
1.3.  Different sustainability objectives will require different data to be verified. For example, 
verifying deforestation -free will not require the same information as low -till crop production. 
Likewise, critical tracking events,  which are critical points of product transformation and transfer, 
will vary depending on the claim and the supply chain. Key data elements for each critical tracking 
event will also vary depending on the claim and its stringency, with some claims requirin g precise 
tracking systems, such as identity -preserved systems, and others requiring less strict segregation 
or mass -balance systems. The methods for tracking and sharing the required traceability information 
could vary from hand written paper systems to s ophisticated blockchain systems.  
1.4.  Variations in data requirements present a challenge at the local, national, and regional levels. 
As countries develop traceability schemes to assure diverse sustainability objectives have been 
fulfilled, the principles of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) will help to ensure 
traceability schemes do not create unnecessary barriers to trade.  
1.5.  Given the topic 's breadth and complexity, traceability systems implicate the work of the TBT 
Committee, Committee on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and Committee 
on Trade and Environment; however, TBT is a necessary lens to ensure that traceabilit y systems are 
calibrated to achieve sustainability objectives and to facilitate trade in more sustainable products G/TBT/W/787  
 
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  while remaining accessible for developing country Members and small and medium -sized 
enterprises.  
2  PROPOSAL  
2.1.  The United States proposes to hol d a thematic session that would examine the current 
state-of-play and summarize the efforts being made to develop traceability requirements for bulk 
commodities. This thematic session aims to 1) identify the key traceability elements necessary to 
determine  whether bulk commodities meet sustainability requirements; and 2) discuss policy 
strategies to support transparency and information sharing across systems.  
2.2.  Topics and areas of focus may include:  
a. Presentations by Members on best practices, lessons learned , and challenges in the 
development of traceability schemes for bulk commodities to determine whether relevant 
sustainability requirements in standards and technical regulations are fulfilled;  
b. Presentations by stakeholders, including Members, industry, int ernational organizations, 
non-government organizations, and others to share best practices, lessons learned, and 
challenges in the development and implementation of traceability schemes for bulk 
commodities to determine whether relevant sustainability requ irements in standards and 
technical regulations are fulfilled; and  
c. Status updates by stakeholders, including Members, industry, international organizations, 
non-government organizations, and others on relevant international standards including 
differentia tors and definitions of traceability systems for bulk commodities with the aim of 
facilitating discussions about potential commonalities, differences, and inter -operability 
between such systems.  
 
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