seventh Appraisal of the Trade Policy Review Mechanism

Report on the FIRST DEDICATED SESSION ON THE SECRETARIAT REPORT of 12 June 2023

Chairperson: H.E. Mr Saqer Abdullah ALMOQBEL (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

1.       The first dedicated session on the Secretariat Report ("basket 2") was held on 12 June 2023. The meeting was chaired by Ambassador H.E. Mr Saqer ALMOQBEL (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).

2.       The Chair began by noting that improvements to the Report are continuous. The Secretariat is working to make the Report more concise without compromising the quality of the information and analysis. Another goal in shortening the Report is to reduce documentation and translation costs. The Chair stated that there has been some increase in report length due to the longer time between review cycles to 3, 5, and 7 years, and also because of trade measures related to the COVID‑19 pandemic. The Chair recalled that the Secretariat has established a reflection group on the structure and content of the Secretariat Report to address Members' suggestions.

3.       To aid the discussion, the Secretariat displayed parts of para. 2.9 of the revised chair note relating to the Report, specifically that it should (i) remain objective; (ii) include more analysis related to trade policies; (iii) include issues related to emerging trade policies and technical assistance; (iv) be consistent in the analysis of intellectual property rights (IPRs); and (v) assess compliance with WTO notifications.

4.       In Members' view, the Report could be shorter and more concise, while maintaining its quality and usefulness. Members highlighted that the Report should also be more consistent across Members and agreed that Reports should be factual and impartial, avoiding editorializing on particular trade policies of the Member under review. It was noted that Members would need to discuss further the suggestion by some Members to make the Report more analytical.

5.       Some Members suggested that the Economic Environment section (Section 1 of the Report) could be streamlined, for example by concentrating on the key changes since the previous Review, making better use of charts and tables, relying more on references to relevant reports of other international organizations, and eliminating the subsection on the macroeconomic outlook. One Member responded that they see value in this section because it places the review in context, but agreed that it could be more concise. A suggestion was also made to extract the descriptive parts on the institutional framework in Section 2 of the Report and move them to a reference document or online Member profile.

6.       Technical assistance, in relation to developing countries, was noted as a topic that should be included in the Report. In particular, a Member suggested a description of the extent to which TA activities for the Member under review have been helpful and how TA could be improved.

7.       Members also recommended that outstanding issues from the previous Review be included in the Report. This recap could aid reviewing Members in assessing the development of the Member under review, while simultaneously helping the Member under review to assess its own trade policies and practices.

8.       A few Members raised the issue of a common structure for the Report, and the Secretariat clarified that the Report already follows a standard template comprising four sections – economic environment, trade and investment policy framework, trade policies by measure, and trade policies by sector – and their respective subsections. One Member recommended a deeper and more consistent treatment of IPRs across Members. Members' views differed on whether it would be desirable to regroup the sections on competition policy, state-owned enterprises, and incentives into a single subsection.

9.       A number of Members said the Report should include an analysis of notifications that describes whether the Member under review is up-to-date with its notification obligations, and whether notifications are outstanding. They also recommended that emerging trade issues such as GVCs, digital trade, trade and environment, trade and gender, women economic empowerment, and MSMEs be included in the Report. Other Members suggested that to start listing emerging trade issues is not the right approach to reach consensus among Members, preferring to leave this issue to the Secretariat, since the report is prepared under its own responsibility.

10.    The sources used by the Secretariat to produce the Report were also discussed. While some Members recommended that the Secretariat avoid citing "non-official sources", others stated that the Secretariat should have discretion to use relevant data and sources, as long as proper citations are included.

11.    Members noted that the Secretariat should work with the Chair to propose revised text for paras. 2.9 and 2.10 of the revised chair note circulated on 26 May 2023 for Members to discuss at the next meeting.

12.    The Chair closed the meeting by indicating to Members that the next meeting would take place on Friday, 23 June at 3 p.m. in room S3.

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