FOLLOW-UP NOTE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE CTG
Meeting
of 30 November – 1 December 2023
1.1. At its meeting of 30 November – 1 December 2023, the
Council for Trade in Goods (hereinafter "the Council") agreed on a
trial basis on "the creation of a new 'follow‑up' document, under the
authority of the Chairperson, concisely collating agreed next steps, deadlines,
and actions to be taken by delegations in preparation for the next formal
meeting."[1] This new document has been
prepared under the responsibility of the Chairperson with a view to
implementing this agreement as a follow-up to this formal meeting, and in
preparation of the next formal meeting of the Council, which has been tentatively
scheduled for 30 April – 1 May 2024.
1.2. Please take note of the following information:
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SUBJECT
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DETAIL
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1._ Remarks by the Chairperson:
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The
Chairperson's remarks under each item are available on eAgenda.
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2._ Decisions taken at the meeting:
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1._ Members
adopted two ad hoc reports
and agreed to submit them to the General Council:
a._ Report on
Improvements in the Functioning of the Council for Trade in Goods and its
Subsidiary Bodies (G/L/1523);
b._ Report on
the WTO Response to the COVID‑19 Pandemic and Preparedness for
Future Pandemics (G/L/1521);
2._ Members agreed
to follow written procedures for the approval of an updated version of the
annual report. Since no comments were received on the draft circulated to
Members by the Secretariat in an email of 4 December 2023, the
Annual Report was adopted on 6 December 2023 and submitted to the
General Council (G/L/1524);
3._ On a trial
basis, Members adopted four measures to improve the functioning of the
CTG. These measures concerned the following: (i) the circulation of information
regarding informal meetings; (ii) the Chairperson's follow‑up note on
actions following formal meetings; (iii) the CTG information hub;
and (iv) the format and content of the convening notice (Airgram) (G/L/1522).
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3._ Upcoming meetings:
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The
provisional dates of upcoming meetings of the Council are currently described
in the tentative calendar of meetings (JOB/CTG/40). A regularly updated list of
such information is available via the WTO Calendar of meetings and the Council for Trade in Goods webpages.
The
Secretariat informed Members that on 18 April 2024 it will hold an information
session for delegates on the functioning of the CTG. The Secretariat is
currently also exploring dates to organize the next Annual Information
Session on the WTO's Digital Tools, of which the 2022 session can
be accessed here.
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4._ Key dates for the upcoming meeting:
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Please
take note of the following tentative dates concerning the CTG's next formal meeting:
Date
of the meeting: 30 April
– 1 May 2024
Activation
of the meeting's eAgenda: 28 March 2024
Circulation
of the meeting's initial convening notice: 28 March 2024
Closure
of the meeting's agenda: 15 April 2024
Circulation
of the meeting's revised convening notice, including the meeting's tentative
agenda: 16 April 2024
Circulation
of the meeting's annotated agenda: 19 April 2024
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5._ Guidance on how to add items to the agenda of the next meeting
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Members can add items to the
agenda in two ways:
1._
Directly
through the Collaborative
Agenda section of the eAgenda[2]; or
2._ By sending an email to the CTG team (Roy.Santana@wto.org, Arti.Daswani@wto.org and Craig.James@wto.org).
For transparency, the Secretariat will also include any such request in the
eAgenda.
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6._ Agreed items reverted to by the Council, and standing items
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At the upcoming meeting, the
Council will consider the following standing agenda items:
1._
Notified Regional Trade
Agreements;
2._
A report by the Secretariat on
the status of notifications under the provisions of the agreements in
Annex 1(a) of the WTO Agreement, as of 31 December 2023,
which will be circulated as the next revision in the G/L/223/‑_ document series.
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