REPORT ON STATUS OF TBT NOTIFICATIONS

REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS

BY THE CHAIRPERSON[1] OF THE TBT COMMITTEE

1  INTRODUCTION

1.1.  This draft report has been prepared by the Chairperson of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Committee), with the assistance of the Secretariat, at the request of the Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG).[2]

1.2.  At its formal meeting of 9 April 2025, the CTG considered a report prepared by the Secretariat, at the request of the CTG, entitled "Notification Status of Regular/Periodic and One‑Time Only Notifications in the Goods Area (1995‑2024) (_G/C/W/859)". This report provides detailed information on the submission rates and annual numbers of these types of notifications, covering the period from 1995 until December 2024. It focuses on the notification requirements listed in the annual report circulated in the _G/L/223-document series, categorized as "regular/periodic" and "one time only"[3], for which a submission rate can be calculated. It does not include "ad hoc" or other types of notifications.[4]

1.3.  As a follow up to the CTG discussions on the report, on 15 April, the Chairperson of the CTG wrote to the Chairpersons of all subsidiary bodies to request that the bodies they chair: 1) discuss additional steps that could be taken to improve the relevant notification requirements; 2) identify steps needed to improve the quality and timeliness of notifications; and 3) inform the Council of past actions that have worked well in improving the number of submitted notifications. Subsidiary bodies were invited to report back to the CTG by no later than Monday, 10 November, so that the reports could be considered at the CTG's final formal meeting of 2025.

1.4.  The CTG request was brought to the attention of the TBT Committee during its informal meeting held on 9 May 2025.[5] The Chairperson and the Secretariat clarified that the CTG analysis focused on the notifications requirements listed in the annual _G/L/223-document and did not include the ad hoc notifications to be submitted when new TBT measures were developed, or when existing ones were changed. During a preliminary discussion held during the Committee's formal meeting held on 25─27 June 2025, it was pointed out that the report to the CTG could refer to the ongoing work of the TBT Committee's Transparency Working Group (TWG), including on notification formats and guidelines. The Chairperson presented her draft report[6] to the TBT Committee during its informal meeting held on 2 October. No further inputs or comments were received from Members.

1.5.  Section 2 below provides an overview on how the TBT Committee has been approaching its work on transparency and notifications more generally and how this has led to concrete actions and outcomes. Section 3 focuses on the status of the three TBT notification requirements covered in the CTG report and points out actions, outcomes and discussions specific to these requirements.

2  overview of THE TBT Committee's work on notifications

2.1.  The TBT Committee has been advancing with its work on transparency and notifications through a range of workstreams and activities. Since 1995, the Triennial Reviews of the Operation and Implementation of the TBT Agreement, mandated under Article 15.4 of the TBT Agreement, have included a rich list of transparency-related decisions and recommendations, guiding the Committee's work in this area.^[7] The Ninth Triennial Review, concluded in November 2021, included 19 specific recommendations on transparency covering areas such as notification formats and guidelines, translations, the commenting process, domestic coordination and technical assistance.[8]

2.2.   In March 2022, the Committee established the Transparency Working Group (TWG), open to participation by all Members, to advance with the implementation of these recommendations. The TWG has been meeting regularly in between formal Committee meetings to carry forward its work, which is supported by the Secretariat as well as subgroups of volunteer delegations, who contribute to preliminary drafts or proposals for consideration by the TWG.[9] The specific follow-up actions regarding each of the Ninth Triennial Review recommendations can be viewed in _G/TBT/GEN/408.

2.3.  Since its establishment, the TWG has played a key role in finalizing a series of Committee decisions and guidance documents, which aim to facilitate the preparation and improve the quality of notifications. These include the following:

a._         Compilation of TBT Notification Formats and Guidelines (_G/TBT/59);

b._         Guidelines for Submitting Article 15.2 Notifications (_G/TBT/55);

c._         Notification Guidelines (_G/TBT/52); and

d._         Good Practice Guide on Commenting on a Notification (_G/TBT/GEN/386).

2.4.  The TWG is continuing with its deliberations and its immediate workplan includes refining guidance on the coherent use of notification formats, developing guidelines for Addenda and Article 10.7 notifications, and revising standards-related notifications, among others.[10] The TWG will also be addressing the relevant recommendations from the Tenth Triennial Review concluded in November 2024.^[11] All materials relevant to the TWG work are available in its dedicated webpage.^[12]

2.5.  Pursuant to a 1995 Decision, the TBT Committee holds, every two to three years, a Special Meeting on Procedures for Information Exchange. This meeting provides an opportunity for Enquiry Points and Notification Authorities to discuss the activities and challenges relating to information exchange and review how well notification procedures work. These meetings highlight good transparency practices, facilitate peer-learning and also generate follow-up actions. The Eleventh Special Meeting on Transparency[13], held in June 2025, focused on the following three themes: institutional arrangements for transparency; preparation and submission of TBT notifications; and the process for commenting on notifications of draft TBT measures. At its meeting held on 2 October, the TWG had a preliminary discussion on possible follow-up actions on the basis of the moderator's report contained in _G/TBT/GEN/418. In addition to the special meetings, the Committee has also been holding thematic sessions on transparency, following mandates from Triennial Reviews, to facilitate exchange of experiences among Members on specific topics. For example, a thematic session held in July 2022 focused on how to improve the product information provided in notifications and on good practices for domestic coordination.[14]

2.6.  Digital tools developed by the Secretariat in response to requests from Members have also been facilitating the implementation of notification requirements. The ePing SPS&TBT Platform was launched in 2022, bringing under one roof and further improving the content and functions previously available through five SPS and TBT digital tools.[15] All TBT notifications are now submitted online through ePing, improving their timeliness and quality. The online submission dashboard guides officials as they prepare notifications and allows multiple officials to collaborate on preparing the same notification. It also reduces the time the Secretariat takes to process and issue the notifications. In 2024, the Secretariat circulated a total of 4,334 TBT notifications from Members, all of which were submitted online. ePing is also where Member governments as well as the public at large can access and track all circulated notifications, including by signing up for daily or weekly email alerts.

2.7.  The TBT Committee has held a series of ePing information sessions where Members have exchanged experiences regarding their use of ePing.[16] Furthermore, the Secretariat organizes ePing walk-in sessions on the margins of every Committee meeting to respond to specific questions from delegations, including capital-based delegates who come to Geneva for TBT meeting weeks.

2.8.  Further to a mandate from the TBT Committee, the Secretariat has also prepared an Enquiry Point Guide[17] to assist Members in implementing and benefitting from the transparency provisions under the TBT Agreement. The Secretariat is currently preparing an updated version of this Guide following a recommendation from the Tenth Triennial Review[18] and in light of recent developments in this area.

2.9.  The TBT Committee's regular meeting agenda includes a standing agenda item on transparency, providing an opportunity for updates from Members, the Chairperson and/or the Secretariat on topics such as new notifications and reminders regarding statements of implementation (Article 15.2), the work of the TWG, and ePing. This allows all delegations to keep abreast of latest developments related to transparency.

2.10.  The Secretariat's capacity building activities have been complementing efforts under the TBT Committee. TBT is one of the topics in highest demand for capacity building activities from Members and most of the requests relate to transparency and ePing (either as the exclusive topic or as one of the topics of an activity). In response, the Secretariat holds national workshops as well as short virtual clinics for individual Enquiry Points and Notification Authorities. In an effort to address the high demand, the Secretariat has also run a pilot transparency champions programme[19], which has led to an increase in the number of overall notifications from beneficiary Members.[20] In addition, some of the "champions" have become active participants in the TWG and its subgroups. Finally, the Secretariat's TBT section has been liaising more closely with the Trade Policies Review section regarding the notification status of Members under review and also assisting with TBT Agreement implementation, including on transparency, in the context of WTO accessions.

3  actions regarding the TBT NOTIFICATION requirements contained in the CTG report

3.1.  As explained in the introduction, the CTG report in document _G/C/W/859 focuses on the status of notification requirements included in the annual _G/L/223 report, for which a "submission rate" can be calculated. Accordingly, the TBT notifications covered by the CTG report in document _G/C/W/859 are the following: (i) Designation of Enquiry Points (Article 10.1); (ii) Statements of implementation (Article 15.2); and (iii) Acceptance of the Code of Good Practice (Annex 3.C).[21] Therefore, while the most commonly used TBT notifications fall under the "ad hoc" category, this section focuses only on actions related to the three notification requirements contained in CTG report.

3.2.  The status, expressed as a "submission rate", of the three TBT notification requirements as reflected in document _G/C/W/859 is as follows:

a._         Designation of Enquiry Points (Article 10.1)[22]: 97.6%, with outstanding notifications from four Members. This requirement had the third highest submission rate among one-time notifications in the goods area, following notifications under Article 18.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture and under paragraph 3 of Annex B of the SPS Agreement (Enquiry Points). Since the circulation of the CTG report, Cabo Verde has submitted information on its TBT Enquiry Point.

b._         Statements of implementation (Article 15.2): 86.1%, with outstanding notifications from 19 Members. Since the circulation of the report, Cabo Verde and Guyana have submitted their statements of implementation.[23]

c._         Acceptance of the Code of Good Practice (Annex 3.C): 83.5%, with acceptances yet to be received from standardizing bodies of 27 Members.

3.3.  With respect to the designation of Enquiry Points under Article 10.1, I will be liaising with the Secretariat to reach out to the three Members concerned and invite them to contact the Secretariat should they need assistance to fulfill this requirement.

3.4.  Over time, it is also important that the contact details of all Enquiry Points are kept up to date. One of the Eighth Triennial Review recommendations was to encourage Members to validate the contact information of their enquiry points to improve the accuracy and availability of this information. Members were encouraged to either inform the Secretariat that the current information is correct, or to provide the Secretariat with updated information [24] As follow-up, the Secretariat has been reaching out to Enquiry Points on a regular basis, asking them to verify their Enquiry Point information and update it as necessary. The last comprehensive call for updates was undertaken in February 2025 and resulted in a number of updates. Enquiry Points, who have admin rights, can update this information directly on ePing. The Secretariat has prepared a video tutorial[25] to further facilitate these updates.

3.5.  With respect to statements of implementation under Article 15.2, until recently, there was no format for this type of notification, and the information was provided in free-text form. Pursuant to a recommendation from the Ninth Triennial Review[26] and following preparatory work in the TWG, the TBT Committee adopted guidelines and a new online format for the preparation and submission of these notifications in March 2024.[27] The new format and guidelines facilitate preparation and ensure more consistency across statements of implementation. Since the adoption of the new format, two Members (Cabo Verde and Guyana) have submitted their first statements of implementation. Article 15.2 also requires that Members provide updates to their statements as necessary. Overall, ten Members have so far used the new format.[28]

3.6.  Pursuant to a specific recommendation from the Tenth Triennial Review[29], the 11^th Special Meeting held in June 2025 included a segment where Members shared their experiences and practices preparing and submitting Article 15.2 notifications and highlighted their positive experience using the new online form as well as receiving support from the Secretariat as needed. All Members were encouraged to check their latest Article 15.2 notifications on ePing and submit updates as necessary.

3.7.  The Secretariat and Chairpersons have also been reaching out to Members yet to submit this notification to encourage them to contact the Secretariat for assistance in fulfilling this notification obligation.

3.8.  With respect to the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards, the CTG report focuses on submission rates related to the "acceptance of the Code" as per Annex 3.C. By way of background, Members are required to ensure that their central government standardizing bodies accept the Code and these standardizing bodies are required to notify their acceptance to the ISO Secretariat.[30] The ISO Secretariat posts all such acceptances on the WTO ISO Information Gateway and also transmits them to the WTO Secretariat for dissemination.[31]

3.9.  In the context of its review of notification formats, the Committee has decided to update the standards-related notification formats, which date from 1995.[32] Work is currently underway in the TWG, with support from the subgroup on notifications, to propose new online formats, which should facilitate the preparation and submission of these acceptances (as well as work programmes, which are also submitted to the ISO Secretariat).

3.10.  The WTO Secretariat is coordinating with the ISO Secretariat regarding the development of the new online formats. In addition, preliminary talks have been held for an awareness-raising and capacity building campaign among standardizing bodies, which are ISO members, once the new formats are operational.

3.11.  Furthermore, pursuant to a specific recommendation from the Tenth Triennial Review[33], the Committee will hold a thematic session in 2026 or 2027 on the standards development processes, including the implementation of the Code of Good Practice (Annex 3). This session will provide an opportunity to take stock of standards-related transparency issues, including notifications, share experiences and point out remaining gaps in notifications.

4  CONCLUSION

4.1.  The TBT Committee has been an active and effective forum for improving notification practices thanks to strong engagement from Members as well as Secretariat support and accompanying digital tools. Looking ahead, the TBT Committee will be continuing its deliberations on notifications, including in its Transparency Working Group. I look forward to the CTG discussions on this topic scheduled to take place later in the year and will be happy to provide further updates as the TBT Committee advances with its work in this area.

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