G/L/1522  
1 December  2023 
(23-8180) Page: 1/3 
Council for Trade in Goods   
 
  
IMPROVING THE FUNCTIONING OF THE  
COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS  
REFORM MEASURES ADOPTED ON A TRIAL BASIS  AT 
THE FORMAL MEETING OF 30  NOVEMBER  2023 
1  INFORMATION REGARDING INFORMAL MEETINGS  OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN 
GOODS  
1.1.  We request that the Chairperson for the Council for Trade in Goods routinely circulate an 
Overview Report after a CTG  informal meeting, under their own authority.  
1.2.  The aim of such a Report would be to help improve transparency and foster greater inclusion 
for Delegations that cannot attend the informal meetings due to myriad reasons (including, but not 
limited to, competing meetings and/or capacity constraints as referenced by submissions including 
JOB/GC/223/Rev.1  and JOB/CTG/21/Rev.1 ). 
1.3.  Such a document shall be compiled and circulated on the basis of the following principles:  
(i) It should be circulated as soon as possible and preferably within two  working days of 
the informal meeting;  
 
(ii) it shall provide a factual and neutral overview of the main elements discussed by 
Members, and be linked to the agenda of the meeting as circulated in the Informal 
Convening Notice;  
 
(iii) as a reminder it should capture, if applicable, next steps as referenced at the meeting, 
including Chair consultations, the dates of the next formal and/or informal meetings, 
etc. which should continue to be convened and communicated formally as according to 
current practice;  
 
(iv) it shall not indicate the names of any Member, or contain information to make Members 
identifiable;  
 
(v) this record of the meeting shall not include the opinions of the Chairperson, beyond 
those expressed by the Chairperson within the meeting itself;  and 
 
(vi) nothing in this document precludes the Chair from circulating a further separate 
Communication under their own responsibility. Such Communications may include but 
not be limited to Chairs' texts, further detail on next steps, and/or other documents as 
requested by Members.  
 
1.4.  We welcome that the CTG already uploads all C onvening Notices to the Interactive Meetings 
Calendar. For transparency, we request that the Overview Reports of informal meetings are also, 
immediately upon circulation, uploaded to the relevant page of the Interactive Meetings Calendar.  
2  CHAIR'S FOLLOW -UP NOTE ON ACTIONS FOLLOWING FORMAL MEETINGS  
2.1.  The Council supports the creation of a new "follow -up" document, under the authority of the 
Chairperson, concisely collating agreed next steps, deadlines, and actions to be taken by delegations 
in preparation for the next formal meeting.  G/L/1522  
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  2.2.  This document should be issued as soon as possible and preferably within five  working days of 
the formal meeting and, to the extent possible, in all WTO  official languages simultaneously. The 
Chair may also circulate a courtesy cop y of this document to delegates when it is available, and it 
will be uploaded to the WTO  Documents Online Database.  
2.3.  With reference to the relevant excellent existing digital eTools and information sources 
available for the CTG, the information covered by t his document could include:  
(i) A hyperlink to the eAgenda , where the Chair's concluding remarks for each item should 
be collated and accessible;  
 
(ii) the dates of the Council' s subsequent meetings, as already reflected in the broader 
WTO Calendar , the CTG Information Hub , and the Council's tentative calendar  of 
meetings ; 
 
(iii) a hyperlink to the existing guidance  on how to add items to the agenda of the following 
formal meeting;  
 
(iv) the date on which the agenda for the next formal meeting will close;  
 
(v) an indicative date by which the convening notice for the next formal meet ing will be 
circulated;  
 
(vi) an indicative date by which the annotated agenda for the next formal meeting will be 
circulated;  
 
(vii) as appropriate, a reminder of any items that the Council has agreed to continue to 
discuss, and/or any upcoming standing i tems, such as the Annual Report;  
 
(viii) as appropriate, any other information – including on deadlines or processes – that the 
Chair considers would assist Members to interact with the Council; and  
 
(ix) noting nothing in this document limits the ability of the Chair or the Secretariat to 
circulate any Communications or reminders, on an ad hoc basis, in furtherance of their 
interactions with Members.  
 
3  CTG INFORMATION HUB  
3.1.  The Council warmly welcomes the upd ates to the CTG page  of the WTO  website. These updates 
have transformed the page into a central hub of practical information for delegates. As such, th e 
CTG Hub represents best practice in terms of user -friendly access to consolidated information, and 
we encourage other bodies to draw inspiration from its format as appropriate.  
3.2.  To ensure all information is collated, updated and easily accessible, key dat es and information 
shall be prominently included in the CTG  Hub: 
(i) A "previous meeting" box shall contain a hyperlink to both the Follow -Up Note (which, 
as above, would collate a range of key information) and the Minutes of the previous 
meeting when avai lable;  
 
(ii) a "forthcoming meeting" box shall contain a link to the relevant portal of the Interactive 
Meetings Calendar, the date on which the agenda will close, a link to the eAgenda, any 
other information and deadlines of which the Chair/Secretariat co nsider that Members 
ought to be aware; and  
 
(iii) hyperlinks to all documents for the forthcoming meetings, when available, within the 
Hub. 
 
3.3.  To ensure integration of digital tools and improve the visibility of this excellent eTool, the 
CTG Hub should be pr ominently accessible on all CTG  portals on the Interactive Meetings Calendar.  G/L/1522  
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  4  CONVENING NOTICES  
4.1.  We welcome that the Council for Trade in Goods already demonstrates best practice on 
Convening Notices, including through the hyperlinking of all WTO  documents referenced within, and 
the upload to the Interactive Meetings Calendar.  
4.2.  This document is already circulated as a second "Airgram" 15  days before the formal meeting, 
after the agenda has closed.  
4.3.  References to "Airgram" should be replaced by references to "C onvening Notice".  
4.4.  We welcome that the CTG already circulates key documents by email distribution based on the 
eRegistration system. Furthermore, we thank the Secretariat for the pragmatic updates to the 
eDelegates system, as communicated to Members, which will enable Delegation Coordinators to 
include capital -based delegates, as appropriate. As such, we encourage the CTG to continue to use 
this digital system of distribution lists as soon as the new eDelegate system goes live, and would 
propose that key doc uments (including this document) should be circulated exclusively based on 
that system.  
4.5.  In addition to the minimum requirement laid out in the Rules of Procedure for meetings of the 
General Council ( WT/L/161 ), which apply mutatis mutandis to the CTG, the convening notice should 
provide information on:  
– Logistical arrangements:  
o Date and time;  
o venue (room when available) ; 
o type of participation (in -person only, hybrid or online);  
o registration information; and  
o contact details for the meetings.  
 
– Conduct of the meeting, including hyperlinks to:  
o The Documents Online page with all relevant documents for the meeting;  
o any separate documents with the proposed agenda (if applicable);  
o annotated agenda, if available;  
o rules of procedure; and  
o any other relevant information.  
 
– Proposed agenda:  
o A list of the items proposed for the agenda with hyperlinks to a ll the relevant 
documents, as applicable.  
 
4.6.  For consistency, including access to previous iterations, the Convening Notice should continue 
to be issued under the existing document series (WTO/AIR/CTG).  
4.7.  For accessibility, the document font and formatting sho uld be aligned with the other 
WTO documents.  
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