WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/100 
16 June 2010 
 (10-3267) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  
  
 
SIXTH SPECIAL MEETING ON PROCEDURES FOR INFORMATION EXCHANGE 
  
22 JUNE 2010 
 
Programme 
 
  
The Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (t he TBT Committee) agreed in 1995 to hold, 
on a biennial basis, "regular meetings of persons  responsible for information exchange, including 
persons responsible for enquiry  points and notifications".
1  These meetings are organized in order to 
provide Members with an opportunity to discuss i ssues relating to information exchange and to 
review periodically the functioning of notification procedures and the operation of enquiry points.  
  The Sixth Special Meeting will be held on 22 June 2010 in Room CRI at the Centre William 
Rappard back to back with the TBT Committee's regular meeting on 23-24 June.  The discussions will 
be held in 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 and relevant bodies 
involved in the development of standards, are i nvited 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 fa x or e-mail.   These names should be sent to 
Mrs. Una Flanagan (e-mail:  una.flanagan@wto.org
, Fax:   +41 22 739 5620) with a copy to:   
bci@wto.org . 
 
 
 
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1 G/TBT/1/Rev.9, page 28. 
2 In accordance with the WTO 2010 Technical Assist ance 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 (WT/COMTD/W/170/Rev.1, p.52).    G/TBT/GEN/100 
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  22 JUNE 2010  
 
Registration (08:30 – 10:00) 
 
1. Good Practices in Notification
3 (10:00 – 11:15) 
In the Fifth Triennial Review, Members stressed  the importance of transparency in processes 
and procedures used in the development and application of technical regulations and 
conformity assessment procedures.  With a view to assisting Members in their implementation of notification obligations a nd to identify best practices, this panel session will examine, inter 
alia, ways to facilitate internal coordination for the effective implementation of the TBT 
Agreement's notifications obligations.  The following delegations have indicated their 
intention to share their experiences in this panel: 
Moderator:  Xueyan Guo , China 
(i) Canada
 (Andrea Spencer):  Examples of "good practices" to facilitate internal 
coordination for the effective impl ementation of the TBT Agreement's 
notifications obligations 
(ii) European Union  (Patricia McGinley):  The EU's efforts to facilitate access for 
third countries to EU notifications 
(iii) United States  (Anne Meininger): US Practices in WTO TBT Notification 
2. Electronic Databases4 (11:15 – 13:00) 
The aim of this session will be to share experi ences on how the use of electronic tools and 
web-based applications can enhance transpar ency and access to notifications.  The following 
delegations, as well as the Secretariat, have indicated  their intention to contribute to this panel 
session: 
Moderator:  Juan Antonio Dorantes Sánchez , Mexico  
(i) Chile  (Carolina Ramirez):  Chilean Technical Regulation Portal 
(ii) China  (XU Zhanju):  China's Experi ences in Information Processing 
(iii) European Union  (Cyril Hanquez):  The EU electronic tools - a more efficient 
management and better circul ation of TBT notifications" 
(iv) India  (Rajan Sudesh Ratna):  Development of online TBT portal by Centre 
for WTO Studies, New Delhi 
(v) Indonesia  (I Nyoman Supriyatna):  Information System on Notification – 
Indonesia's Experience 
(vi) United States  (Anne Meininger):  "Notify US" 
(vii) WTO Secretariat :  The TBT Information Management System 
                                                      
3 Section IV:B of G/TBT/1/Rev.9 is particularly relevant, as well as paras 8-11 and 33-43 of 
G/TBT/26. 
4 See paragraphs 31and 41(d) of G/TBT/26 in particular.   G/TBT/GEN/100 
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  3. Operation of Enquiry Points5 (15:00 – 16:30) 
In the Fifth Triennial Review, the Committe e stressed the importance of the operational 
capacity of enquiry points and recommended, inter alia , that developing country Members 
identify challenges which they face with respect to the estab lishment and operation of their 
enquiry points and indicate the nature of the t echnical assistance need ed to overcome these 
difficulties.  Members also stressed the importa nce of reinforcing th e operation of enquiry 
points.  In view of this, during this panel ses sion, Members will discuss ways to improve the 
effectiveness of how enquiry points operate.  The purpose is to both identify challenges and 
options to overcome these.  The following delega tions have indicated their intention to share 
their experiences in this panel: 
Moderator:  Meike Wolf , European Union 
(i) Brazil  (Eduardo Trajano Gadret):  Promoting Awareness of TBT-related 
Issues among Brazilian SMEs 
(ii) Paraguay  (Ricardo Herreros Usher):  Operation and Challenges of the 
Paraguayan Enquiry Point of the TBT Agreement 
(iii) Turkey  (Tarik Gencosmanoglu):  Challenges Faced by the Turkish Enquiry 
Point 
 
4. Transparency in standard-setting6 (16:30 – 18:00) 
In the Fifth Triennial Review, the Committee em phasized the importance of transparency in 
the standards development process at the nationa l, regional and international level.  In 
particular, the Committee noted that creati ng awareness among all interested parties, 
including SMEs, of the importance of being i nvolved in standardizing activities was key.  
Both the TBT Agreement (Annex 3) and Member s' work in the Committee have emphasized 
the importance of transparency in standard s development.  The following delegations, 
Observer organizations and/or relevant bodies invol ved in the development of standards, have 
indicated their intention to cont ribute to this panel session:  
Moderator:  Michelle Cooper , Canada 
(i) Egypt  (Heba Hammad):  Experience in Transparency in Standard Setting 
(ii) European Union:  (Georges Malcorps): WTO criteria in European standard 
setting 
(iii) Fiji (Seema Sharma):  Standards Development Procedures – Fiji Experience 
(iv) New Zealand  (Craig Radford):  Transparency in Standard-setting:   
The New Zealand Experience 
                                                      
5 Section IV:D of G/TBT/1/Rev.9 is particularly relevant, as well as paras. 53-54 and 59(d) of 
G/TBT/26. 
6 See paragraph 25 of G/TBT/26. In addition, paragrap hs L – N of the Code of Good Practice for the 
Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards (Annex 3 of the TBT Agreement), as well as Principle 1 of the 2000 Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards,  Guides and Recommendations 
with Relation to Articles 2, 5 an d Annex 3 (G/TBT/1/Rev.9, p.37) are also relevant to this Panel.
 G/TBT/GEN/100 
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  (v) IEC and ISO
 (Jonathan Buck):  How ISO and IEC involve public and private 
sectors to ensure transparency in  setting international standards 
(vi) ASTM International  (James A. Thomas): Embracing Transparency and WTO 
Principles for International Standardiz ation - ASTM International's Global 
Approach to Standards Development 
 
 
  
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