WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/59 
9 October 2007 
 (07-4325) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  
  
 
 
FIFTH SPECIAL MEETING ON PROCEDURES FOR INFORMATION EXCHANGE 
  
7-8 NOVEMBER 2007  
 
Programme (one and a half days)
 
   
 
The Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (the  TBT Committee) agreed in 1995 to hold, on 
a biennial basis, "regular meetings of persons re sponsible for information exchange, including persons 
responsible for enquiry po ints and notifications".
1  Meetings on procedures for information exchange 
are organized in order to provide Members with an opportunity to discuss issues relating to information 
exchange and to review periodically the functioni ng of notification procedures and the operation of 
enquiry points.   
 The Fifth Special Meeting shall be held on 7-8 November 2007 , back to back with the TBT 
Committee's regular meeting on 9 November.  The discussions will be held in four panel sessions and will focus on the topics set forth in the attached programme. Members, including relevant interested 
parties of their delegations, as well as observers of th e TBT Committee are invited to participate in this 
Special Meeting.
2   
  It is stressed that all
 Members should communicate the names of their capital-based participants 
(other than funded participants from developing country Members whose names have already been 
communicated to the WTO), by fax or  e-mail.  These names should be sen t to Mrs. Una Flanagan (Fax:  
+41 22 739 5620, e-mail: una.flanagan@wto.or g) with a copy to:  BAI@wto.org. 
 
 
_______________ 
 
 
 
 
                                                      
1 "Decisions and Recommendations adopted by the Committee since 1 January 1995", Note by the 
Secretariat, 23 May 2002, G/TBT/1/Rev.8, page 19. 
2 In accordance with the 2007 Techni cal Assistance and Training Plan, the participation of one capital-
based official responsible for information exchange from developing country Members has been sponsored by the 
WTO, through the Global Trust Fund.  For any inquiries th at funded participants may have regarding logistics, 
they are invited to contact Mr. Felip e Vargas-Maza (+41 22 739 5018, logis tic.unit@wto.org).  For any further 
information regarding the substance of the Special  Meeting, please contact Mrs. Stefania Bernabè 
(+41 22 739 5893, stefania.bernabe@wto.org) or Mr. Erik Wijkstrom (+41 22 739 5729, 
erik.wijkstrom@wto.org).   
 G/TBT/GEN/59 
Page 2  
 
  7 NOVEMBER 2007 
 
 
 
 Registration (08h30 – 10h00) 
 
 
1. Publication practices (10h00 – 11h30) 
The aim of this session will be to exchange in formation on Members' publication practices, in 
particular with respect to those set out in Article 2.9.1 of the TBT Agreement.  It is recalled that 
at the Fourth Triennial Review of the TBT Agre ement, the Committee noted that there appeared 
to be no uniformity between Members as to how  notices of proposed measures were published, 
and agreed to examine ways in which the publica tions for such notices, and their content, were 
made available.
3 
 Panel  
 
(i) Ms. Carolina Ramirez (Chile):  An inst rument of good regulatory practices for 
publication  of proposed regulations in Chile 
(ii) Ms. Anne Meininger  (United States):  Publication of proposed regulations in 
the United States 
Discussion
 
Moderator   Mrs. Michelle Cooper (Canada) 
  
2. Notification practices (11h30 – 13h00) 
With a view to assisting Members in their implementation of notification obligations and to 
identifying best practices, this session will examine, inter alia , ways in which Members could 
more effectively determine the necessity to notify a TBT measure and the timing of the notification, as well as ways to better complete the notification format.    
Panel 
  
(i) Ms. Andrea Spencer (Canada):  Dete rmining the necessity to notify and 
completing the notification formats 
(ii) Mrs. Lisheng GUO (China):  Experiences in making TBT notifications 
Discussion
 
Moderator  Ms. Carolina Ramirez (Chile) 
 
                                                      
3 G/TBT/19, para. 51 and para. 68(a)(i).  G/TBT/GEN/59 
 Page 3 
 
 
  3. The use of electronic tools (15h00 – 18h00) 
The aim of this session will be to share experi ences on how the use of electronic tools and web-
based applications can enhance transparency.  Th is could be, but is not limited to, the use of 
electronic tools to promote a more widespread dissemination of comments on notifications.  
Electronic means may also be used to facilitate access to draft and final texts and to existing 
translations of documents, in line with the futu re work agreed by the Committee in the Fourth 
Triennial Review.4  In addition, applications available at Enquiry Points, such as "Export Alert" 
systems, will also be discussed.  
Panel 
 
(i) Mrs. Lisheng GUO (China):  Dissemi nation of TBT information and China 
TBT-SPS web-site 
(ii) Ms. Ying-Ching SU (Chinese Taipei):  Use of electronic tools for the 
dissemination of comments 
(iii) Mr. Cyril Hanquez (European Communities):  Use of electronic tools to 
enhance transparency and to ease the management of notification procedures 
(iv) Mr. Rogerio de Oliveira Corrêa (Brazil) :  The Brazilian Export Alert System: 
An eletronic tool for improving SME's knowledge on WTO countries regulations 
(v) WTO Secretariat:  Electronic tools available in the Secretariat 
Discussion
 
 
Moderator   Mr. Mohamed Ahmed (Egypt) 
                                                      
4 G/TBT/19, para 68(c)(i), (iii) and (iv) and para 68(d)(ii). G/TBT/GEN/59 
Page 4  
 
   
8 NOVEMBER 2007 
 
 
4. Technical cooperation and the work of Enquiry Points (10h00 – 13h00) 
This session will illustrate the constraints faced by  Enquiry Points in performing their tasks as 
well as ways to overcome them.  In particular , the session will address examples of information 
exchange practices between Enquiry Points (e.g. study visits and twinning programmes)  and of  
existing technical cooperation programmes, including between Members.  Panel 
 
(i) Mrs. Lisheng GUO (China):  Techni cal cooperation and operation of the 
Chinese WTO/TBT Enquiry Point 
(ii) Mr. Daniel Hector Rico (Colombia):  The work of the Colombian Enquiry 
Point and technical cooperation 
(iii) Mr. Luis Villalba Ocampos (Paraguay) :  The experience of the National 
Enquiry Point in Paraguay 
(iv) Ms. René Heydenrich (South Africa):  South Africa's experience in assisting 
other Members set up their Enquiry Points  
(v) Mr. Amara Zayani (Tunisia):  "Le projet de mise en place et de développement 
d'un Point d'Information National OTC en Tunisie: état des lieux et 
perspectives" 
(vi) Mrs. Anne Meininger (United States):  National Inquiry Points: Preparing for 
the 21
st Century 
(vii) Mr. Rogerio de Oliveira Corrêa (Braz il):  Exchanging informations on WTO 
countries regulations: A Technical C ooperation experience among Portuguese 
and Spanish language countries 
(viii) Mr. Craig Radford (New Zealand):  How do we measure effectiveness and 
operational improvement in National Enquiry Points ?  
(ix) Mr. Shyam Kuamr Gujadhur and Mr. Bert rand Monrozier (International Trade 
Centre - ITC):  Assistance provided to National Enquiry Points 
Discussion  
 
 Moderator   Mr. Peter Bischoff-Everding (European Communities) 
 
 
 
_________