G/TBT/GEN/168  
 
24 June 2014  
(14-3642)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade    
 
 GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICE (GRP) 
VOLUNTARY MECHANISMS AND RELATED PRINCIPLES 
REPORT BY MR. JINGO KIKUKAWA1 TO THE TBT COMMITTEE  
This Report was delivered by the former Chairman of the WTO TBT Committee at the 
meeting of 18-19 June 2014.  
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  1.  In my capacity and responsibility as form er Chairman, and with a view to respecting our 
principles of transparency and inclusiveness, I would like to report to the Committee on where I 
think we stand today on our work on GRP.  
2.  As you know, the Sixth Triennial Review gave the Committee a clear mandate "to identify a 
Non-Exhaustive List of Voluntary Mechanisms and Related Principles of Good Regulatory Practice".
2 
We began our work on this mandate in February 2013, when the first version of the Secretariat draft was circulated (JOB/TBT/44). Since then  there has been broad-based and substantive 
engagement from Members. Considerable work was done. We have produced five successive 
drafts of the GRP list. Sixteen Members – including developed, developing and least developed country (LDC) Members – submitted 26 different papers and comments on the various drafts. 
3.  But this work goes back even further. It bu ilds on a longstanding exchange of experiences in 
the TBT Committee on the topic of good regulato ry practice. Since 1997, over 60 documents on 
the topic of GRP have been submitted by Members, and specific recommendations on GRP were made by the Committee in the Third, Fourth, Fift h and Sixth Triennial Reviews of Implementation 
and Operation of the TBT Agreement. 
4.  As you know – and as it was flagged to you in March this year – my intention was to finalize 
our work at this meeting based on the valuable work  done by all of us.  To this end, I had asked 
Members at the last Committee meeting to submit written comments on the fourth version of the 
Non-Exhaustive List of Voluntary Mechanisms and Related Principles of Good Regulatory Practice (JOB/TBT/44/Rev.3) by the deadline of 30 April 2014. On this basis, the Secretariat prepared a fifth and final version of the non-exhaustive voluntary GRP list, circulated to all Members on 23 
May 2014. This is the document that we have before us today: JOB/TBT/44/Rev.4. 
5.  This week I held a number of consultations with Members in various formats with a view to 
arriving at a consensus. At the beginning of the week, a few Members raised a concern about the 
legal status of this document, and more specifically what "interpretative value" – once agreed by 
the Committee – it might have in WTO dispute settlement proceedings. Other Members stressed that the document is clearly framed as voluntary, non-exhaustive, non-prescriptive, providing only 
an illustrative list of mechanisms and suggested steps.  
6.  Unfortunately, as reported to the Committee on Wednesday morning, I have been unable to 
bridge these differences. Despite efforts made by Members to possibly reach some compromise language clarifying that this GRP list would neither add nor diminish the rights and obligations of 
WTO Members, one Member in particular still remains concerned.  
                                               
1 Outgoing Chairman of the TBT Committee (2013-14). 
2 G/TBT/32, para 4(a). G/TBT/GEN/168 
 
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  7.  I also would like to stress that due to the last-minute concerns on the legal status and 
interpretative value of the document - both developed and developing country Members have missed the opportunity to discuss other important issues in GRP, including new ideas which could help operationalize Special and Differential Treatment, as well as Technical Assistance. I personally 
regret this missed opportunity. 
8.  I, as former Chairman, wish to thank Member s for their engagement and hard work this week – 
and, indeed over the past year and a half. I hope that this spirit of engagement will continue. It 
would be a pity to see the practical, pragmatic focus of this Committee diluted. Finally, I would 
encourage Members to reflect on the systemic implications this may have on future work of the Committee. 
 
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