G/TBT/GEN/249  
 
17 August 2018  
(18-5240) Page: 1/1 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade    
 
 
 EPING ALERT  SYSTEM  
STATEMENT  BY THE SECRETARIAT  
This document  contains an update provided by the WTO Secretariat  at the TBT Committee meeting 
of 20-21 June 2018 under Agenda Item 4 .  
 
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1.  An information session on the SPS/TBT notification alert syste m ePing was held on 
Tuesday  19 June on the margins of the TBT Committee. Following a general presentation on ePing 
by the WTO Secretariat, the Enquiry Points of Australia and Uganda shared their experiences in 
using ePing to engage domestic stak eholders regarding regulatory requirements affecting their 
exports. The Secretariat would like to thank Sam Munsie from Australia and George Opiyo from 
Uganda for their  valuable contributions to the session. Further information on the ePing 
information ses sion, including the three presentations , are available through the WTO website's  
TBT section .  
2.  As explained in some more detail during the information session, ePing  currently has around 
4,000 registered users, around half from national governments and the other half from the private 
sector, NGOs, academia and regional/international organizations. Enquiry Points have a key role to 
play in taking full advantage of the range of functions that ePing has to offer, going beyond the 
email alerts. Upon request, Enquiry Points are granted extended rights to be able to manage 
national users and engage with them directly regarding notifications of interest. In addition, 
Enquiry Points can use the dedicated international Enquiry Point discussion forum to exchange 
information with each other, for example to share translations  of notified regulations . Therefore, 
the Secretariat encourages Enquiry Points of all Members to register on  ePing and also reach out 
to their domestic stakeholders regarding the availability of this new tool.  
3.  The information session provided a good opportunity for delegations to pose specific questions 
on ePing and to hear from  the Enquiry Points of Australia and Uganda , which have the highest 
number of registered users on ePing. Both Enquiry Points have migrated to using ePing to 
disseminate SPS/TBT notifications and have benefitted from significant efficiency gains. At the 
same time, the discussions during th e information session also pointed to  the importance of an 
active national coordination mechanism as well as technical and legal capacity in order to be able 
to assess and react  in a timely manner  to evolving regulatory requirements of trading partners.  
4.  The Secretariat has been working on a number of initiatives to provide further capacity buil ding 
on ePing. An ePing module is often incorporated into WTO's SPS and TBT technical assistance 
programmes. In addition, a n updated and more detailed user guide has  been posted on the ePing 
website . Furthermore, t he Secretariat is working on a promotional video and an e -learning module 
on ePing  to facilitate  the use of the system . Interested Members are invited to  approach  the WTO 
Secretariat to discuss options for capacity building.  
 
 
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