G/TBT/W/451  
 
18 October 2017  
(17-5631) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barrie rs to Trade  Original: English  
 
 TRANSPARENCY   
EIGHTH  TRIENNIAL REVIEW  
Submission from the United States  
The following submission, dated 18 October 201 7, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the United States . 
 
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The United States welcomes the opportunity  to participate in the Eighth Triennial Review of the 
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). The United States would like to take this 
opportunity to share its suggestions for enhancing the transparency and operation of Enquiry 
Points established under the TBT Agreement.  
1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  In previous triennial reviews, Members have engaged in a range of discussions and 
committee work to examine and improve the operation and functioning of enquiry points, 
recognizing the critical role the enquiry points p lay in exchanging information and facilitating 
Member dialogue.  In particular, the Committee has examined and reached agreement on several 
aspects related to the establishment of enquiry points and provision of enquiry point contact 
information.  In order t o take advantage of advancements and improvements in evolving 
communication technology, the Committee agreed in 1999 that, where available, Members should 
provide email addresses of enquiry points.  The Committee further created a document series, 
G/TBT/ENQ /*, to make these addresses available to all Members and their respective enquiry 
points.   
1.2.  Later triennial reviews focused on improving the functioning and operation of enquiry points. 
During the 7th triennial review, Korea submitted a proposal  to continue  discussions on this issue 
and a thematic session was held in June 2015.  In its submission, Korea noted the fundamental 
importance of reliable and accurate contact information for enquiry points, without which, further 
efforts to improve the functioning of  enquiry points would be severely compromised.  In 2015, 
Korea pointed out that the G/TBT/ENQ/* document series was last updated in 2011 and that many 
Members ' information appeared to be out of date.  At that time, Korea suggested that periodic 
updates of Me mbers' contact information was critical to ensure effective communication among 
Members.  The creation and operation of the TBT Information Management System has led to 
further technological advancements in the sharing of relevant information, allowing Memb ers to 
search for TBT notifications as well as access contact information for enquiry points.  The ENQ 
document series has been phased out, with relevant information now being stored for real time 
retrieval on the IMS.  Nevertheless, the underlying informati on needs to be provided to the 
Secretariat and updated on a regular basis for the IMS system to be of use to Members. The 
United States has encountered several instances over the past year of email addresses that cannot 
receive messages.  This impedes the a bility of the United States and other Members to deliver 
comments on draft measures of other Members in a timely and efficient manner.   
1.3.  The United States believes that it is critical for Members to regularly update their enquiry 
point contact information, including email addresses, fax numbers and website URLs.   G/TBT/W/451  
 
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  2  PROPOSAL  
2.1.  The United States offers the following proposal in order to improve the accuracy and 
availability of enquiry point contact information, recognizing important digital advancements that 
have enabled more efficient and timely exchange of information between Members.  
2.2.  The United States suggests that Members undertake a validation initiative to individually 
verify and confirm the information included in the TBT IMS system regarding their own enqui ry 
points, to ensure that all information, in particular, email addresses and website URLs, are current 
and properly functioning.  
2.3.  To accomplish this, the United States suggests that Members review the information 
currently in the IMS system, test or otherw ise confirm that email addresses and URLs operate 
properly, and then notify the WTO Secretariat affirmatively that the information is correct, or 
provide the Secretariat with the necessary updates.  The United States suggests that a common 
deadline be set f or completion of this exercise, possibly no later than the first meeting of 2019 or 
the first meeting following the completion of the 8th Triennial Review.  
2.4.  The WTO Secretariat would take note of all affirmative responses and ensure that the TBT 
IMS system reflects any updates provided.  The Secretariat will provide the Committee, at the time 
agreed to in paragraph 2.3, a list of outstanding, non -validated enquiry points.  Members with 
validations outstanding would be encouraged to complete their validation in  a timely manner.  The 
Secretariat would provide this update at all subsequent Committee meetings.  
2.5.  In order to ensure that validation exercises are conducted on an ongoing and regular basis, 
the United States further suggests that the Committee agree that M embers recognize that good 
practice would be to individually validate and update as necessary all information in the TBT IMS 
system no less frequently than prior to each TBT Committee meeting.  Members encountering 
undeliverable email addresses, fax numbers  or inoperative website URLs are encouraged to raise 
those instances and the need for appropriate updates to TBT IMS information under the standing 
agenda item Implementation and Administration of the TBT Agreement at the appropriate 
Committee Meetings.  
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