Procedural
Improvements for the Committee on Budget,
Finance and Administration
Communication
from Australia, Brazil, Canada, france, Germany, israel, Mexico, norway, and the United States
The above cosponsors would like to propose
for Member's discussion and possible adoption, the following suggested
procedural improvements in the operation of the CBFA meetings.
1 Reminder notice issued five days before the
agenda closes
1.1. A notice be issued, in the form of an
airgram or email, five days prior to the closing date of any meeting agenda
(ten days prior to a formal meeting). This reminder would ensure that all
Members are aware of the closing date of the meeting agenda and have sufficient
time to request inclusion of any additional items on the agenda.
2 Inclusion of a specific item for Adoption
of the Agenda
2.1. A specific item appearing on the agenda
would provide a clear and predicable marker for where and when any suggested
changes to the agenda would be raised with Members and agreed upon. If the
Chair or Secretariat would like to seek Member's approval to combine items that
appear separately on the agenda, the addition of a specific item for adoption
of the agenda would prompt this discussion at the beginning of the meeting.
3 Inclusion of Agenda Item for Chair reports
on ongoing work
3.1. The establishment of a clear work plan for
the CBFA in 2020 was a welcomed improvement and many Members found the
structure to be helpful in guiding work on particular issues over the course of
the year. One enhancement to the annual work plan could be to include a general
item on the agenda where the Chair could provide updates or reports, as
necessary and appropriate, on work stream issues that do not appear on the
agenda for that particular meeting. The new agenda item could include a report
on a range of issues, thus informing Members of any work in progress or
consultation activity that has or will be taking place.
4 Additional time provided to Members to
review longer reports
4.1. Extending Members time for review for any
Secretariat report over 10 pages to a recommended circulation date of 15 days
prior to the meeting where the document is to be discussed, rather than the
current 10 days unless there are exceptional or urgent circumstances that make
earlier distribution impractical. In instances where several reports are placed
on an agenda for review at the same meeting, this would allow Members
sufficient time to review and comment on detailed reports.
5.1. A continuation of the practice established
in 2020 by the Secretariat to produce comparison charts to supplement Committee
documents undergoing revisions. Members found the summary or comparison charts,
which clearly showed the before and after text versions, useful in tracking and
understanding changes made to Committee documents.
6 Flexible approaches to capturing CBFA
discussions – Reports and Minutes format
6.1. Review the procedures for reporting on
meetings of the CBFA. While summarized and anonymized "reports" may
be preferable in most instances for routine Committee business, the increase in
substantive discussions among Members on discrete topics that span across
several meetings requires some re-evaluation in how the Committee keeps and
reports on Member's discussions. For certain discussions, a "minutes"
format, similar to most other Committee records may be more helpful in
establishing a useful record of Members' comments and discussions on particular
topics. While "minutes" (verbatim remarks that are attributed to
individual Members) may be more resource intensive, they may be more
appropriate for certain discussions among Members. There should be some flexibility
in how meetings are reported on, with certain topics covered differently than
others. Reports of the CBFA could be adapted to reflect a hybrid approach.
7.1. The CBFA meets more frequently than other
WTO Committees, and the short turnaround time can pose challenges to getting
meeting reports and/or minutes issued rapidly. Nevertheless, many Members rely
heavily on the formal reports and/or minutes as part of their engagement with their
capitals and in the preparation for guidance and instructions on a range of
issues. To the extent possible, reports and/or minutes should be issued at
least 10 days prior to the subsequent CBFA meeting to enable all Members to
review the official record of CBFA discussions.
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