G/TBT/GEN/206  
 
14 December 2016 
(16-6819) Page: 1/1 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
EIGHTH SPECIAL MEETI NG ON PROCEDURES FOR  INFORMATION EXCHANGE  
8 NOVEMBER  2016 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON  TO THE TBT COMMITTEE1  
This Report  was delivered by Chairperson to  the WTO TBT Committee at the meeting of 10-11 
November  2016. 
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1.  I will now provide a brief oral report of Tuesday's Eighth Special Meeting on Procedures for 
Information Exchange. A more detailed summary of the Eighth Special Meeting will be included in 
the minutes of this formal Committee meeting.  
2.  We witnessed the launch of ePing, a new global alert mechanism for TBT and SPS 
notifications, put together jointly by the WTO, ITC and UNDESA. This notification alert mechanism 
finds its origins in the mandate given to this Committee in the 7th Triennial Review .2 ePing 
facilitates bu sinesses, especially SMEs, in meeting TBT and SPS requirements by enhancing 
transparency.  
3.  We considered three broad themes – the first being online tools . We heard from the 
Secretariat about the functionalities of e -Ping; the Secretariat’s ongoing work in  modernising the 
TBT-IMS; and the gradual uptake of submitting TBT notifications through the TBT -NSS. I 
encouraged Members to utilise and take full advantage of these online tools. We also heard from 
several Members on their experiences in utilising e -Ping; and leveraging online tools and 
technology to involve stakeholders in the process of gathering, disseminating, tracking and 
responding to TBT notifications.   
4.  The second theme dealt with internal coordination and handling of comments . Members 
shared expe riences on how their enquiry points operate; and on technical assistance/capacity 
building programmes provided to enquiry points and notification authorities. We also heard 
experiences from Members benefitting from such capacity building activities. The im portance of 
establishing a clear internal coordination structure, educating regulators, keeping an up -to-date 
contact list of regulators and sharing experiences between regulatory authorities was highlighted. 
The Secretariat reported on the progress made o n the Guide for Enquiry Points. To that end, I 
encouraged Members to respond to the Secretariat’s Enquiry Point Survey, as the information 
gathered would be the basis on which Secretariat would develop the Guide for Enquiry Points.  
5.  Finally, on transparenc y in standard -setting , we heard from a Member on follow -up actions 
taken in response to the 7th Triennial Review recommendation in this area; as well as an update 
from the Secretariat on the WTO/ISO Information Services. I encourage Members to visit the 
WTO/ISO Information Services website3 and to provide feedback, if any, to the WTO and ISO.  
6.  In all, it was a valuable and informative session – one that underlined the importance of 
transparency as one of the key tenets of the TBT Agreement and the TBT Commi ttee.  
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1 A summary of the  Special  Meeting will be contained in the annex  to the minutes  (forthcoming) . 
2 On on -line tools, Members agreed to "request the Secretariat to explore the development of an export 
alert system for TBT notifications, in cooperation with other organizations" (G/TBT/37, para. 5.12).  
3 https://tbtcode.iso.org