RESTRICTED  
  
WT/BFA/W/436  
 
6 November 2017  
(17-6025) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  Original: English  
 
 
  
 
PROPOSAL TO REDUCE D OCUMENTATION AND POS TAL COSTS IN THE WTO  
COMMUNICATION FROM  AUSTRIA,  CANADA, CHILE, CHINA , COSTA RICA, FINLAN D, GERMANY, 
ISRAEL, JAPAN, MEXIC O, NEW ZEALAND, NORW AY, SINGAPORE, QATAR, SWITZERLAND, UNITED 
KINGDOM, UNITED STAT ES 
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  At present, WTO Members and Observers have the option of receiving WTO documents in 
printed hardcopy or in electronic copy through the WTO website. For Members and Observers who 
choose to receive their documents in printed hardcopy, these docu ments are either delivered to 
their WTO pigeonholes, or sent to them by post.  
1.2.  In 2017, a total of 24.4 million pages have been printed at the WTO (17 million in black and 
white, 7.4 million pages in colour).  
1.3.  There has been a downward trend in recent year s both in terms of number of pages printed, 
and consequently the document production and postal costs. In 2001, a total of 124 million pages 
were printed. This is 81% more than today ’s printing volume  (see Table 1 ). Consequently, the 
budgetary expenditure for documents reproduction and distribution in the WTO has also 
decreased. Since 2012, the budget of documentation equipment has been considerably reduce d. 
More recently, the budget amounts for 2016, relative to that for 2015, for Reproduction Equipment 
and Postal expenses were reduced by CHF 516,000 and CHF 475,000 respectively. The amount 
was reallocated to other areas such as increasing the ITC budget, funding the Building Renovation 
Fund and increasing the Building Maintenance Budget (subsequent to the donation of the WTO 
premises by the Swiss Government to the WTO).   
Table 1 Evolution of printed pages 2001 - 2017  
 
  * projected until year -end 
 
1.4.  Overall, this is a positive trend both in terms of cost savings and for the environme nt.  One of 
the main contributors to the reduction in printed documents and documentation and postal costs is 
the gradual shift towards electronic documents. All WTO documents are now available online. 
Further, the recent introduction of e -subscription1 offers Members and Observers the possibility to 
select the documents they wish to receive by email on the date of issue in electronic form.  
                                                
1 See the following link for more information on e -subscription: 
https://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/members_e/xmembers_e/esubs_howto_e.pdf . 124 112 103 
85 94 81 78 77 78 72 71 
44 31 34 30 24 24*  
0306090120150
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018Printing pages (in  million pages)  WT/BFA/W/436  
 
- 2 - 
 
  2  SHIFTING TO ELECTRON IC DOCUMENTS  
2.1.  More can be done at the WTO in reducing the number of printed hardcopy documents , and 
consequently further reducing documentation and postal costs. Members and Observers should, as 
far as possible, shift to receiving only electronic versions of WTO documents. The default for all 
Members and Observers should be that of receiving only e lectronic documents.  
2.2.  That said, it is recognised that some delegations may still wish to receive printed hardcopy 
documents. This shall continue to be made available to delegations upon request.  
2.3.  To facilitate the transition, the Secretariat shall contact  each delegation to confirm its 
preference for the receipt of WTO documents. The Secretariat shall also conduct more information 
sessions and outreach on the e -subscription system, which will facilitate a smooth transition.   
3  PROPOSAL  
3.1.  Based on the above, i t is proposed that the Committee on Budget, Finance and 
Administration:  
a. Decide that the default method of distribution  of all WTO documents , starting from 31 
January 2018 , be in electronic form;  
b. Mandate the Secretariat to contact each delegation during t he transition period to 
confirm its preference for the receipt of WTO documents (hardcopy or electronic);  
c. Instruct the Secretariat to conduct more information sessions and outreach on the e -
subscription system.  
 
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