G/TBT/W/536  
 
8 June 2018 
(18-3575) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
TRANSPARENCY – HANDLING OF COMMENTS  
PUBLICATION OF COMMENTS ON NOTIFIED  MEASURES AND REPLIES  THERETO  
EIGHTH TRIENNIAL REV IEW 
Submission from Switzerland  
The following submission, dated 8 June 2018, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Switzerland . 
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  Switzerland offers the following proposal to improve the transparency of handling of  
comments on proposed technical  regulations and procedures for assessment of conformity  
("measures "), thereby recognizing the importance of the implementation of transparency 
procedures under the TBT Agreement.  
1.2.  The notification  of draft measures  and the opportunity for Members  to comment  play a crucial 
role in the implementation of the  transparency proce dures under the TBT Agreement. Notifications 
reveal how members intend to regulate to achieve specific policy objectives and what might be the 
trade implications of the  proposed technical  regulations. Articles 2, 3, 5, and 7 of the TBT 
Agreement contain th e notification obligations related to technical regulations and conformity 
assessment procedures.  
1.3.  Comment s from other Members  on notified measures may highlight unforeseen 
consequ ences of the proposed measures and therefore contribute to avoid  unnecessary  obstacles 
to trade . An efficient and effective  handling of comments on notified measures strengthens the 
opportunity to Members to convey  industry 's concerns or comments and to influence the 
development of technical requirements of other Members, thereby avoiding potential trade 
problems . It is recalled that Members have an obligation to take comments  by other Members on 
notified measures  into account (Article 2.9.4 of the TBT Agreement).  
1.4.  Switzerland believes that the publication of comments on a voluntary  basis and replies 
thereto would further  improve transparency with respect to handling of comments and thus 
contribute to avoid unnecessary obstacles to trade . This would not only reveal certain problems 
related to notified measures, but also replies or so lutions to these problems. As long as such 
information is disclosed, Members receiving comments might not need to respond to the same 
comments by publishing a reply to these comments.  On the other hand,  Members having  
comments might already resolve their q uestions or concerns  beforehand , based on  comments or 
replies already published . Greater transparency through publication of comments and replies 
thereto would also facilitate the preparation of Committee meetings and allow for coordination 
between interested Members with regard to measures maintained by other Members. Therefore , 
the publication of comments on a voluntary basis and replies thereto would lead to more efficient 
discussions of STCs durin g the Committee 's meetings. F inally, the Secretariat may conduct on this 
basis surveys or evaluations  on the efficiency and effectiveness of handling of comments . Taking 
into account that such comments and replies already exist, Switzerland considers the additional 
burden for their pu blication as low. This is justified in light of the benefits of the publication.  G/TBT/W/536  
 
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  2  BACKGROUND  
2.1.  In the past, the Committee already stressed the importance of an efficient and effective 
handling of comments on notified measures and, in this respect, reiterated  its previous 
recommendations on the handling of comments, including the recommendation to share, on a 
voluntary basis, comments on notified draft measures and replies thereto. The Committee also 
recommended in 2009 to continue improv ing the implementation  of the provisions of the TBT 
Agreement on handling of comments, including assessing the feasibility of u sing the TBT 
Information Management System ( TBT IMS ) as a platform where comments on notified measures, 
and repl ies thereto, could be posted on a voluntary basis. At the seventh Triennial Review Korea 
submitted a proposal that  highlighted the need to further improve the functioning of enquiry points 
especially in the handling of comments and proposed amongst other t hings that the Secretariat 
develop a WTO -based bulletin board system to administer comments on notified measures.1 
2.2.  Through the present proposal , Switzerland builds on previous work to strengthen the 
transparency provisions of the TBT Agreement . Switzerland  believes that the  publication of 
comments and replies thereto will contribute to the  effective implementation of the transparency 
procedures under the TBT Agreement and to avoid unnecessary obstacles to trade.  
3  PROPOSAL  
3.1.  In consideration of the above, Switzerland proposes to improve the transparency of handling 
of comments on notified technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, by  stressing 
the impo rtance of responding to requests  of other Members.  
 Switzerland proposes to reiterate previous recommendations by the Committee to publish 
comments on notified draft measures and  replies thereto on a voluntar y basis. For this 
purpose, Switzerland suggests to explore the possibility of using existing online tools such 
as the TBT IMS  or the ePing  alert system.  
 
 The decision to publish comments and replies thereto shall lie with the Member s ubmitting 
the comment or reply.  
 
 Members may decide to publish the entire comment/reply or only parts of it. Members may 
also simply indicate that they provided comments or replies, without publishing their 
content.   
 
 Switzerland is open for further suggestions of other Members regarding this proposal and 
recommends t hat the Eighth Triennial Review include a discussion on the publication of 
comments on notified draft measures and replies thereto on a voluntary basis.  
 
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1 G/TBT/W/419/Rev.1