WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/89
24 September 1998
(98-3687)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
IMPROVING THE OPERATION OF THE TBT AGREEMENT'S NOTIFICATION
PROVISIONS:  PROPOSALS FOR CONSIDERATION BY
THE COMMITTEE
Submission by the United States
1. Articles 2.9 and 5.6 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade require Members to
notify proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures if they are not in
accordance with the technical content of rele vant international standards, guides and
recommendations, and if the technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure may have asignificant effect on trade of other Members.  Unde r Article 10, Members must ensure that an Enquiry
Point exists which is responsible for the provision of answers to all reasonable questions from
interested Members;  and, designate a single central government authority responsible for
notifications.
I. FACTORS LIMITING THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLES 2.9,
5.6 AND 10
2. Several Members have noted areas where the transparency provisions of the Agreement have
not yet been fully implemented.  Variations in the quality and content of the information submitted by
Members in their notification document and delays in responding to requests for documentation are
recurrent problems limiting the effective implementation of the transparency provisions.
• Members should be urged to review the operation of their notification authorities and
Enquiry Points, reminded to be mindful of the Committee's Recommendations and
Decisions concerning notification procedures (G/TBT/1/Rev.5), and encouraged to makeevery effort to ensure that those procedures are being implemented as efficiently as
possible.
3. There also have been lengthy discussions of relevance to this Committee regarding the
operation of the Enquiry Point and notification requirements in the Committee on Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee).  Several countries, including the United States, have madesuggestions regarding specific actions that could be taken to improve the functioning of the Enquiry
Point and notification authorities.  Relevant items that have been discussed in the SPS Committee
which the United States believes warrants discussion in this Committee include:
− Increasing the capacity of least-developed countries (LDC) and new Members to establish
enquiry points and national notification authorities;
− supporting efforts to enhance the electronic transmission of notified full text between
Members;
− facilitating broader access to translations of proposals and government comments on
proposals made by one Member to another;  and
− increasing overall transparency by further derestricting Committee documents.G/TBT/W/89
Page 2
II. CAPACITY BUILDING FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
4. All Members have an interest in the smooth and efficient operation of the Agreement's
notification procedures.  Members benefit from being aware of all relevant scientific and technical
information, related processing technology or intended end uses of products relating to proposed
measures, and the legitimate objectives to avoid potential trade problems.  In addition, thecommunications established between Members' notification authorities and Enquiry Points may allow
Members to more efficiently communicate with interested parties within their territories and to
identify and adapt to new technical regulations in their principal export markets.  Members,
particularly developing countries, will benefit from technical cooperation which improves the
efficiency of the Agreement's notification procedures.
III. ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION OF DOCUMENTS REDUCES ADMINISTRATIVE
BURDENS, IMPROVES TIMELINESS AND FACILITATES RULE-MAKING
5. WTO Members are interested in having a notification system that facilitates the development
of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that reflect a consideration
of the best available scientific and technical information, related processing technology or intended
end uses of products.  The rapid development of modern telecommunications and information
technologies provides tremendous new opportunities to advance these goals, including speeding thetransmission of documents between governments a nd improving the readability of these documents
over fax equivalents.  Ideally, Members' Enquiry Points will have access to computers, publication
software, Internet access, an established Web site and the capacity to transmit notifications and text
electronically.
• In order to extract the benefits of such technological advances, it might be useful to
survey Enquiry Points to determine what steps need to be taken to facilitate the electronic
transmission of documents between Members.   Such a survey could, among other things,
facilitate efforts to better target technical assistance and training.  Even without a survey,
the simple addition of e-mail addresses to the list of Enquiry Points would greatly
facilitate electronic transmission of documents.
Currently 25 Members' TBT Enquiry Points include an e-mail address (G/TBT/ENQ/12 dated
20 August 1998).
6. The United States responds to hundreds of requests for the relevant texts of proposed
technical regulations reported through the notification process - U.S. industry requests the text of
proposed foreign regulations and WTO Members, the text of proposed U.S. regulations.  The U.S.
TBT Enquiry Point normally responds to these requests via fax or express postal service.  The U.S.Enquiry Point can provide the text either as an  e-mail attachment or refer requesters to the
government Internet website containing the Federal Register .  Where the capacity exists, the
electronic transmission of documents facilitates the timely distribution of notified texts to interested
governmental and non-governmental parties.
IV. IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY THROUGH THE DERESTRICTION OF
DOCUMENTS
7. Greater transparency in the work of the Committee would help to build public confidence in
the WTO process.  To this end, a continued effort should be made to further derestrict appropriate
committee documents on a timely basis so Member governments can more actively involve industry
and consumer groups in facilitating implementation of the TBT Agreement.G/TBT/W/89
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8. On 18 July 1996, the General Council adopted the "Procedures for the Circulation and
Derestriction of WTO Documents" (WT/L/160/Rev.1).  Paragraph 1 of these procedures provide that
documents shall generally be circulated as unrestricted.  Paragraph 1 also provides for certain
exceptions, listed in the Annex, and include minutes of Committee meetings to the general preference
of circulating documents as derestricted.  Paragraph 2 of these procedures provides that "the bodyunder the auspices of which the document was originally circulated" may derestrict such document at
any time.
• The TBT Committee could exercise its authority under the "Procedures for Circulation
and Derestriction of WTO Documents" and i mmediately derestrict the minutes of the
Committee, including the Annual reviews, once approved.
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