RESTRICTED  
  
G/L/1511  
G/LIC/31  
 
7 November  2023 
(23-7507) Page: 1/3 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Committee on Import Licensing    
 
REPORT  ON IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FUNCTIONING OF  
THE COMMITTEE  ON IMPORT LICENSING  
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  This report has been prepared at the request of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG)1 to update 
the Council on the recent discussions on measures to improve the functioning of the Committee on 
Import Licensing  (CIL). It complements information contained in the report prepared by the 
Chairperson  of the CIL, with the assistance of the Secret ariat, which was circulated on 
2 December  2022 ( G/L/1462 ; G/LIC/W/58 ). This report covers all improvements introduced in the 
Committee since the conclusion of MC12 in June 2022, following extensive discussions by Members 
and with a view to better responding to their mandate and terms of reference.  
2  PROCESS AND PROPOSALS  
2.1.  As indicated in the 2022 report by the Chairperson of the CIL to the CTG and in the Secretariat 
comparative matrix ( G/C/W/824/Rev.1 ), the Committee has introduced a number of new tools and 
practices in its work  over the past years. The significant  progress made by the CIL until now, 
particularly in the area of development of databases and digital tools,  explains why only relatively 
small changes were needed to improve the way in which this committee functions . 
2.2.  Following the CTG informal meeting of 3 1 January  2023, the CIL started discussions on how  to 
further  improve its functioning at its informal meeting of 14 March  20232. At that meeting, Members 
were asked to reflect on whether the CIL should begin a process for discussing improvements to its 
functioning and, if so, what areas should be improved. Based on the suggestions by Members  at the 
meeting  and subsequent written submissions , on 15 May 2023 the Chairperson  of the CIL circulated 
a document containing a preliminary list of issues for discussions by the Committee (document 
JOB/LIC/2 ). The issues were grouped taking  into account the comparative matrix and the structure 
proposed in the preliminary list circulated by the CTG Chairperson in d ocument ICN/CTG/9 . 
2.3.  The CIL held discussions in informal mode on how to further improve its functioning at its 
formal meeting of 23 May 2023, based on t he preliminary list of issues .3 At that formal meeting, it 
was agreed that the Committee would  continue to  hold substantive discussions on how to improve 
its functioning at its next informal meeting , which  subsequently  took place on  29 September  2023.  
2.4.  During the informal discussions held within the formal meeting of the CIL of 23 May  2023, the 
Committee was informed about the progress that  was made on a number of items identified in 
document  JOB/LIC/2 , including  the implementation of the eAgenda and  the development of an online 
Import Licensing Notification Portal .4 Some of these improvements had budgetary implications and , 
by acting early,  the CIL benefited of available resources. At that meeting, the Chairperson also 
proposed to reflect the status of the Committee's work on how to improve its functioning until that 
date in a report to the CTG , and to continue the discussions based on  Members' interest s and 
request s.  
 
1 See documents JOB/CTG/29  and JOB/CTG/33 . 
2 See documents ICN/LIC/1  and ICN/LIC/1/Add.1 . 
3 See document s G/LIC/M/56 , agenda item 14 and ICN/LIC/2/Add.1 , summarizing the informal 
discussions.  
4 See documen t ICN/LIC/2/Add.1 . G/L/1511 • G/LIC/31  
 
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  2.5.  Specifically with regard to the proposals, t he list of issues for discussions by the CIL identified 
24 items (see  JOB/LIC/4 ) based on written  and oral  inputs received by Members . Noting that the 
Committee ha d already been applying many of the suggestions proposed by Members5, discussions 
in the C IL focused on the following areas where further improvements could be undertak en in the 
work of the Committee:  
a) Assistance to capital -based and Geneva -based delegates;  
b) Planning and organization of meetings;  
c) Working procedures for formal and informal meetings;  and 
d) Use of digital tools.  
2.6.  It was also recognized that several of the propos als raised by Members in the CIL were 
horizontal in nature and linked to ongoing discussions in other WTO bodies. As such , no specific 
action by the CIL or the Secretariat  was required , as they  would be implemented as part of the 
WTO-wide improvement efforts.  
2.7.  In preparation for the September informal meeting, and following the model used by the CTG 
and some of its subsidiary bodies, the Chairperson asked the Secretariat to convert the preliminar y 
list of issues into a table showing the current status on each issue in order to inform Members' 
discussions. The draft table was circulated by email to all Members on 31  August 2023 as JOB/LIC/4  
and was included in the agenda of the informal meeting held on  29 September 2023.6 
3  IMPROVEMENTS  TO THE FUNCTIONING  OF THE COMMITTEE  
3.1.  As a result of the process and proposal s described above , the Committee agreed to implement 
the following  improvements to the way it is  functioning , including improvements on which work was 
underway when this process was initiated .  
3.2.  The improvements included or to be included in the work of the Committee are: 
General area  Improvements  in the functioning of the Committee  on Import Licensing  
A. Assistance to 
delegates  • The Secretariat will continue to hold in-person annual Workshops on 
Import Licensing Procedures and Notifications for capital -based 
participants from WTO Members entitled to technical assistance.  
• The Secretariat will hold an annual  presentation for new del egates on the 
functioning of the CIL and on the Import Licensing Agreement to be held 
back-to-back with one o f its meetings . 
• The Secretariat developed a new section of the WTO  website that serve s 
as a manual to explain the work of the CIL and consolidates all the digital 
tools used by the Committee  in one page.7 
• The Secretariat developed an e-learning training module  on Import 
Licensing, which was made available for the public at large.  
B. Planning and 
organization of 
meetings  • Whenever possible, meetings of the Committee will continue to be 
scheduled to avoid overlap with other meetings and in particular those  that 
are attended by the same delegates who also attend the CIL.  
• The Secretariat will circulate a written explanation fo r the cancellation or 
postponement of a meeting, as required.  
• The Secretariat will prepare an annotated agenda for formal meetings with 
links to electronic documents for the meeting.   
• ICN (Informal Convening Notice) documents have been used to convene 
informal meetings of the Committee starting in 2023.  
• It had been the practice of the Committee for some time to have written 
summaries of informal meetings circulated under the responsibil ity of the 
Chairperson. Starting in 2023 these summaries have been circulated as 
ICN documents.  
 
5 See annex table in document G/C/W/824/Rev.1 . 
6 See document ICN/LIC/3 . 
7 https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/implic_e/implic_com_e.htm .  G/L/1511 • G/LIC/31  
 
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  General area  Improvements  in the functioning of the Committee  on Import Licensing  
E. Digital tools used by 
the Committee  • The eAgenda  for the Committee on Import li censing was launched in 
October 2022 and since then it is fully operational.   
• Import Licensing Trade Concerns Database  became operational as of 
May 2023.  Links were added to trade concerns raised in other committees 
that may be related.  
• The new Import Licensing Notification Portal  was launched at the 
Committee meeting held on  31 of October  2023. The existing Import 
Licensing website / database , launched in 2020, has  been merged with the 
new Import Li censing Notification Portal and overhauled to include an 
online notification tool and searchability by product. Notification reminders 
will be issued through the WTO notification portal.  
• The Secretariat will add, w herever  possible, hyperlinks to documents in  
the eAgenda  and reports.  
 
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