G/TBT/W/419  
 
1 June 2015  
(15-2913)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 TRANSPARENCY 
SEVENTH TRIENNIAL REVIEW  
Submission from the Republic of Korea 
The following submission, dated 1 June 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Republic of Korea. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
The Republic of Korea welcomes the opportunity to participate in the Seventh Triennial 
Review of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Korea would like to take this 
opportunity to share its view on the ways to enha nce the transparency with respect to handling of 
comments on measures notified. 
 
1  BACKGROUND 
1.1.  For the purposes of ensuring transparency in Members' adoption of technical regulations and 
conformity assessment procedures ("measures"), Korea recognizes the necessity to timely notify and to allow access to the full text of which forms the basis of such measures, as well as to 
provide other Members with the opportunity to make appropriate comments. In relation to 
achieving transparency, Korea acknowledges the ef forts that have been made by Members and the 
WTO TBT Committee to expedite the circulation of TBT notifications. Korea also believes that the 
TBT online Notification Submission System (NSS)  and the TBT Information Management System 
(IMS) will function as a useful instrument to enhance transparency in the notification procedure of measures to the WTO. 
1.2.  Meanwhile, Korea is concerned about the fact that information provided to the Committee on 
the measures notified are sometimes not complete nor in detail. For instance, the majority of notifications are missing information on the prod ucts that are to be covered by the notified 
measures in terms of Harmonized System (HS).
1 Such lack of information may be inevitable 
considering that some of the measures notified are in their initial stages of drafting, but in order to 
fully understand and provide appropriate comments, it is crucial for other Members to obtain additional information through Members' enquiry points. 
1.3.  The WTO has stressed the importance of ha ndling the comments on measures notified by 
Members. Above all, the WTO TBT Agreement itself stipulates that each Member shall ensure that 
an enquiry point exists to answer all reasonable enquiries from other Members.
2 Also, Members 
confirmed the importance of handling the comments provided by other Members on several 
occasions. At the First Triennial Review, Members agreed to respond to any request within five 
working days "if possible"3, at the Fifth Triennial Review, the Committee recommended Members 
to respond to enquiries in writing and to share the written comments on measures notified with 
the Committee "on a voluntary basis"4, and at the Sixth Triennial Review, the Committee 
                                               
1 It is known that about 70% of TBT notifications di d not specify their coverage of HS products in the 
TBT IMS. 
2 Articles 10.1 of the TBT Agreement. 
3 G/TBT/M/2, para. 5; G/TBT/W/2/Rev.1, p. 8; G/TBT/M/15, para. 45 and Annex 1. 
4 G/TBT/26, para. 42. G/TBT/W/419 
 
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  reiterated the importance of well-functioning enquiry points in responding to comments and 
requests.5  
1.4.  Despite this, Korea has experienced improp er reactions from Members regarding its enquiry 
on measures notified to the WTO.6 Korea believes that improper operation of enquiry points 
prevent Members from providing their view and ul timately results in a sharp increase in the 
numbers of specific trade concerns (STCs), and would like to propose the following suggestions to improve the functioning of Members' enquiry point. 
2  PROPOSALS 
2.1.  Korea offers the following three proposals in order to improve the handling of comments 
regarding measures notified to the WTO by Members. 
2.1  Conduct a Survey on the Performance of Enquiry Points 
2.2.  Korea suggests that the WTO Secretariat co nduct a survey on the numbers of comments that 
were improperly responded to, undertake a compre hensive analysis of the reasons behind this 
failure, and periodically publish the result of the survey. 
2.3.  Also, Korea believes that it is useful for Members to share with other Members their 
experiences with the practical difficulties that each Member has encountered in responding to the questions raised by other Members through enquiry points. 
2.4.  The TBT IMS is the unique source containing contact information of Members' enquiry point. 
The latest update of TBT IMS regarding the contact information of Members' enquiry point was made in 2011.
7 Korea believes that it is critical to periodically update the information on Members' 
enquiry points to have effective communication among the Members. 
2.5.  Korea believes that both a WTO Secretariat survey on the numbers of comments that were 
improperly responded to and Members' sharing of re levant experiences will form the foundation of 
establishing effective and efficient procedures for handling comments on measures notified to the 
WTO. 
2.2  Emphasize the Importance of the Role of the Enquiry Points 2.6.  Korea suggests that the Committee emphasize the importance of the role of enquiry points in 
decisions and recommendations through the use of the terms that encourage the Members to 
properly respond to other Members' enquiries. In the decision and recommendations in prior Triennial Reviews, the Committee made note of th e importance of a prompt and proper response 
but with phrases such as "if possible" and "on voluntary basis".
8 Such phrases could have a 
negative impact on encouraging the Members to respond to other Members' enquiries. Korea 
suggests avoiding using such phrases in decisions and recommendations so as to heighten the alertness of the Members regarding the importance of properly responding to enquiries that other 
Members have raised in relation to the measures notified. 
2.7.  Meanwhile, Korea recognizes that the Committee, through its decisions and 
recommendations, has stressed the importance of Members' compliance with the transparency 
principle of the WTO TBT Agreement, particularly regarding those related to the notifications.
9 
Accordingly, the Committee has developed the procedure for submitting notifications including its format and relevant guidelines.
10 In addition to the procedure for submitting notifications, Korea 
proposes that the Committee also adopt procedur es for responding to other Members' comments 
on measures notified. 
                                               
5 G/TBT/32, para. 42. 
6 Similarly, other Members' experiences are represented in G/TBT/W/352 and G/TBT/W/354. 
7 G/TBT/ENQ/38/Rev.1. 
8 G/TBT/1/Rev. 12, Part 1, 4.3.1.7. 
9 G/TBT/1/Rev.12, Part 1, 4.1, a. 
10 G/TBT/1/Rev.12, Part 1, 4.3.1.3. G/TBT/W/419 
 
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  2.3  Adopt a WTO-Administered Sy stem to administer the Comments 
2.8.  Korea proposes that the WTO Secretariat adopt a WTO-administered system for 
administering comments on notified measures. Th rough the adoption of such system, the WTO 
may look over the enquiries that have been rais ed and encourage the Member that has received 
the enquiry to respond to it in a timely and appropriately manner. It is Korea's view that an 
adoption of the WTO-administered system could be useful in making enquiry points function more 
effectively and efficiently. 
2.9.  Meanwhile, Korea suggests that the WTO-admini stered system be established on the basis of 
the TBT IMS rather than adopt a new system in order to easily identify the original measure that was notified beforehand, and to save costs in establishing and operating the system. One possibility is that a bulletin board system (BBS) be  provided to the enquiry point of each Member 
on the TBT IMS, and the Members deliver comments and raise questions, and enquiry points of the 
Members reply through the BBS. Regarding the scope of information to be disclosed, Members may conceal confidential information but, in principle, the comments and questions raised by any 
Member should be shared with all other Members. 
2.10.  An advantage of setting up the WTO-administered system for the comments and enquiries 
on notified measures is that the enquiry points of each Member do not need to waste time in 
responding to the same enquiries as long as such information is disclosed to all other Members. 
Also, Members having questions or need of additional information might be able to resolve their need through the information that has b een already provided through the system. 
2.11.  Furthermore, the number of STCs should  decrease if the system functions well, and 
consequently shorten the time period for the Committee's dedication to review STCs at the 
meeting. This time saving will allow the Members to consult on new topics relating to the operation of the TBT Agreement.
11  
2.12.  Korea welcomes any comments from Members with regard to the above proposal at the 
Committee's Seventh Triennial Review.  
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11 G/TBT/W/400.