The new chairperson of the TBT Committee, Daniela García (Ecuador), took over the helm from outgoing chairperson Anna Vitie (Finland) and drew attention to a new WTO brochure highlighting 10 key results from the work of the TBT Committee in 2023. The brochure can be downloaded here.

Members expressed their appreciation to the outgoing chairperson, whose one-year tenure saw the adoption of key decisions in the areas of conformity assessment and transparency as well as the Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening Regulatory Cooperation to Reduce Technical Barriers to Trade.

Transparency

The TBT Committee welcomed the completion of the good practice guide on how to comment on a member's notification (G/TBT/GEN/386). This guide offers TBT Enquiry Points as well as other stakeholders a comprehensive overview of how interested parties can provide feedback on trading partners' regulations before they are finalized.

The guide was prepared based on inputs from a volunteer group of Enquiry Points (Australia, Kenya, Namibia, Peru, Philippines, South Africa and the United States) as well as from deliberations in the Transparency Working Group. Work will continue on developing additional materials targeting a broader range of stakeholders.  

Australia and the United States shared their positive experience using the newly adopted online format and guidelines to notify, through ePing, updates to their "statements of implementation" under Article 15.2 of the TBT Agreement. These one-time notifications, to be updated as necessary, focus on the overarching legal and institutional arrangements members put in place to implement TBT Agreement commitments. Members were encouraged to take advantage of the new format and guidelines, which were elaborated in the Transparency Working Group, to update their statements.

Further information on the Transparency Working Group can be found here.

Conformity assessment procedures

After the adoption of the Guidelines on Conformity Assessment (G/TBT/54) at its last meeting in March 2024, the Committee discussed possible avenues for follow-up. An initial exchange of views was held on how to raise awareness on the Guidelines and, eventually, to exchange experiences on their use. An infographic highlighting the key features of the guidelines is available here.

10th Triennial Review progress

In line with the timeline adopted in June 2023, WTO members submitted 38 proposals under the 10th Triennial Review of the TBT Agreement, with the aim of defining the Committee's work during the upcoming 2025-2027 cycle. The proposals were submitted by Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, Kenya, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei, the United Kingdom and the United States. Members are expected to finalise this review at the last Committee meeting of the year scheduled for November 2024. 

The Triennial Review covers key areas in the work of the Committee, including regulatory cooperation between members, transparency, standards, conformity assessment, and matters related to the operation of the Committee. The proposals submitted by WTO members address a wide variety of topics, such as trade and gender, additive manufacturing, the role of metrology in facilitating trade, market surveillance, good regulatory practices and decarbonization standards.  

The proposals can be consulted on the dedicated webpage for the 10th Triennial Review.

Specific trade concerns

Members raised seven new trade concerns regarding proposed and final TBT regulations of members as well as 53 that had been previously raised in the Committee. The full list is available here.

The new trade concerns addressed issues related to animal welfare regulations, referencing international standards, domestic regulatory fragmentation, quality infrastructure, environmental objectives, duplicative testing, and transparency.

Brazil, Paraguay, the United Kingdom and the United States reported on progress made concerning several previously raised trade concerns.

ePing

The Secretariat announced the availability of the ePing interface in six languages – with Chinese and Vietnamese being the most recent additions, following the introduction of Portuguese in 2023. The ePing platform facilitates tracking of TBT measures, allowing users to receive alerts on notifications on new and updated product regulations and find information on trade concerns discussed in the Committee.

A walk-in session on the platform was held on 6 June to showcase recent ePing enhancements and to allow members to pose ePing-related questions.

What's next

The next TBT Committee week will take place on 5-8 November. The Secretariat will also organize an event on 8 November to celebrate 30 years of the TBT Agreement. As part of a series of WTO 30th anniversary celebrations taking place this year, this event will bring together current and past TBT delegates and other experts to reflect on the past, present and future of the TBT Agreement.      

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