REPORT
OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS
ACTIONS TAKEN AND DISCUSSIONS ON POSSIBLE FUTURE ACTIONS
TO IMPROVE SUBMISSION OF NOTIFICATIONS
(Adopted
on 27 October 2025)
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1. This report is being prepared at
the request[1] of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) and has been adopted by the
Committee on Safeguards (the Committee) on 27 October 2025 for submission to
the CTG.
1.2. At its formal meeting of 9 April 2025, the
CTG considered a new Secretariat report entitled “Notifications Status of Regular/Periodic and One Time Only
Notifications in the Goods Area (1995‑2024)” (_G/C/W/859). The report, prepared at the request of the CTG, provides detailed data
on submission rates and trends regarding regular/periodic
and one-time notifications. At the same April 2025 meeting of the CTG,
Members recognized that each subsidiary body is best placed to address the
specific notification obligations within its purview. Accordingly, they agreed
that the CTG could play a coordinating role to support improvements in the
overall status of such notifications, building on the model of the earlier reform by doing discussions.
1.3. All CTG subsidiary bodies were thus requested to: (1) discuss the additional steps that could be taken to improve the
regular/periodic and one‑time only notification requirements they oversee;
(2) identify the steps needed to improve the quality and timeliness of
notification; and (3) inform the Council of past actions that have worked
well in improving the number of submitted notifications. All subsidiary bodies
were also requested to report back to the CTG by 10 November 2025, to
enable consideration at the final formal CTG meeting of the year.
1.4. At its Regular meeting held on 28
April 2025, the outgoing Chair of the Committee made a statement under Other
Business[2] explaining the above-mentioned details and indicated that this matter
would be brought to the attention of the incoming Chair who would initiate
consultations with Members in this respect.
1.5. On 15 September 2025, Members received a communication inviting
them to attend informal consultations on these issues. These informal
consultations were held on 29 September 2025. At that meeting, no proposals or
suggestions were made by any Member. A separate item was also added to the
agenda of the 27 October 2025 Regular meeting of the Committee to discuss this
report and adopt it for submission to the CTG.
1.6. This report sets out: (i) past actions taken to improve the
timeliness and completeness of notifications; (ii) Secretariat activities
undertaken to enhance transparency under the Agreement on Safeguards; (iii) the
role of the Chair and Safeguard Committee deliberations; (iv) technical
assistance and capacity building activities to improve the functioning of the
Committee; and (v) discussions on additional steps to be taken by the
Committee to improve one-time and ad-hoc notifications, as well as the quality
and timeliness of notifications.
i.
Legislative notifications (one time notification) and action notifications (ad
hoc notifications)
2.1. The Agreement on Safeguards (SG Agreement) obliges Members to notify
safeguard actions "immediately" (Article 12.1). The vast majority of
Members are making these notifications within several days of the date of their
respective actions.
2.2. The SG Agreement also requires Members to notify their laws,
regulations and administrative procedures relating to safeguard measures as
well as any modifications made to them.
2.3. Legislative notifications are reviewed at the regular meetings of
the Committee. In addition to its general Rules of Procedures, the Committee
developed, in 1995, a format for the submission of safeguard actions taken by
Members (_G/SG/1). This format has been revised three times – in 2009, in 2020 and
in 2021.[3] The latest format is
contained in document _G/SG/1/Rev.3. The 2009 revision was made in the context of the request from the
General Council chair regarding improvement of the timeliness and completeness
of notifications. The revisions in 2020 and 2021 reflect the fact that the
number of safeguard actions notified by Members have increased, and their
contents have become more complicated. Such revisions served the purpose of
sharing best practice and stimulating discussion among Members on what was
needed to increase clarity and transparency of the notifications regarding
safeguard actions.
i. Engagement with Members
3.1. The Secretariat periodically reaches out directly to those Members
whose legislative notifications are yet to be submitted. The Secretariat
regularly meets delegations -- Geneva and capital-based officials -- and
responds to all queries related to notifications and other functions of the SG
Committee.
ii.
Digital Tools and Portals
3.2. Since spring 2025, the new online portal[4] for the submission of
safeguard notifications (the SG Notification Portal) is available to
delegations that may wish to use it to submit their safeguard notifications.
3.3. The Secretariat has also developed a separate webpage[5] for the Committee where
all information pertaining to its work and functioning can be found, including
presentations on the submission of notifications.
3.4. In addition, the most recent statistics, based on the information
contained in the notifications submitted by Members, are made available on the website.[6]
iii. Deadline Management and Annual Reports
3.5. To support timely submissions, the Secretariat issues a
"deadlines document" after each meeting. This communication
summarizes key upcoming deadlines for notification submissions and responses to
questions raised during Committee meetings. The deadlines documents can be
accessed through the Committee webpage.
3.6. Furthermore, in advance of the Committee's October meeting each
year, the Secretariat circulates a draft of the annual report for Members'
review. This report includes a series of tables that present the status of
various types of notifications—highlighting both those submitted by Members and
those still outstanding.
4.1. At every regular Committee meeting, the Chair raises the issue of
missing legislative notifications and urges Members to fulfil their
notification obligations. This fact, together with the names of delegations
which have yet to submit these notifications, is reflected in the minutes of
all Committee meetings and referred to in in the Committee's annual reports.
5.1. In the context of the reform of the functioning of the Committee
conducted in 2023, training sessions on the functioning of the Committee and
the Members' notifications obligations are being held twice a year. The
presentations made and the video/audio recording of those sessions have been
made available on the Committee's WTO webpage in
all three WTO languages for Members to consult.
5.2. The Secretariat maintains a Technical Cooperation Handbook and sample notifications on its dedicated webpage in all three WTO
languages.
6.1. No proposals or suggestions were made by any Member at the informal
consultations held on 29 September 2025. Thus, there are no additional
steps approved by the Committee to report in this respect.
__________
[3] See _G/SG/M/36,
_G/SG/M/57
and _G/SG/M/58,
respectively.