WT/TPR/446  
 
17 September  2020 
(20-6237) Page: 1/2 
Trade Policy Review Body  Original: English  
 
 
INFORMAL TRADE POLICY REVIEW BODY MEETING ON MONITORING (24 JULY 2020)  
COVID -19: TRANSPARENCY OF TRADE RELATED MEASURES  
COMMUNICATION FROM AUSTRALIA; BRAZIL; CANADA; CHILE; EUROPEAN UNION; JAPAN; 
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF; MEXICO; NEW ZEALAND; NORWAY; SINGAPORE; SWITZERLAND  
1. As the world continues to grapple with the profound human health and economic impacts of 
the COVID -19 pandemic, the members of the Ottawa Group have discussed potential trade policy 
actions that the WTO membership co uld take to support an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient 
recovery. The group identified six such policy actions in their June 2020 s tatement “Focusing Action 
on Covid -19”, communicated to the General Council on 16 June 2020 (WT/GC/217).   
2. The first acti on area in that statement concerns transparency, focusing in particular on the 
trade policy monitoring work carried out by the Trade Policy Review  Body. The  Members above  
believe that ensuring maximum transparency of trade -related measures introduced by Members in 
response to the pandemic or its economic effects must be a priority , be it through the fulfilment of 
notification obligations and through the participation to the monitoring work . However, t he current 
level of notifications and the participation r ate to the monitoring work  are not sufficient. Therefore, 
the M embers  above  want to lead by example in ensuring that their notification obligations are fully 
met, that their measures are notified as far in advance as practicable, and in cooperating with th e 
WTO Secretariat on the monitoring work. Members above also call on other Members to do the same 
in order to ensure the transparency of trade -related measures taken in response to the health and 
economic effects of the COVID -19 pandemic.  Further, Members above urge the Secretariat to 
provide technical assistance to Members that need this to comply with their notification obligations 
during the pandemic.  
3. The M embers  above  welcome the efforts by the WTO Secretariat to monitor trade -related 
measures taken in response to COVID -19 (the COVID -19 trade -related measures), including 
regulatory measures,  and support and encourage more work to collect and share information and 
best practices on such measures. In practice, this includes the following steps:  
a. Returning to the quarterly cycle of trade monitoring reports as during the financial crisis: 
More frequent reporting is required to allow Members to have a clear picture of fast -
evolving trade practices and ensure that the WTO’s monitoring function can work 
effectiv ely.  
b. Including trade -related economic support measures in the trade monitoring reports: 
Following the immediate crisis response, Members are taking measures to stimulate the 
economic recovery. Such measures may have trade effects and , given the levels of 
economic support being granted, information on such measures is essential  to allow 
Members to have a full picture of the effects of the crisis and the COVID -19 trade -
related measures . 
c. To the extent possible, m aking a technical assessme nt of M embers’ trade -related 
economic support measures in reaction to C OVID -19, in particular , how many Members 
have reported measures  taken , what are other sources of the information, and the 
sectors to which the measures are applied.  WT/TPR/446  
 
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  4. As a complement to e ffective transparency, the M embers  above  call on Members to exercise 
maximum restraint in introducing any trade measures that might serve as an unnecessary obstacle 
or impediment to trade, and to consider trade facilitative measures where possible. In addi tion, the 
Members  above  call on Members to withdraw any trade restrictive measures introduced in response 
to COVID -19 as quickly as possible.  
5. Given t he importance of the situation, the M embers  above  are calling for the implementation 
of these actions with  immediate effect. In particular, the Members above call for the next quarterly 
trade monitoring report, and, to the extent possible, an assessment of trade -related economic 
support measures in reaction to C OVID -19 to be published by September/October 2020 .  
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