REPORT ON THE CURRENT FUNCTIONING OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS
BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

The following report has been prepared under the responsibility of the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, Mr Marcel Vernooij of the Netherlands, at the request of the Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods^[1]. Improving transparency and efficiency of the work of the Committee is an ongoing task. Members intend to continue their deliberations on these matters in the Committee next year.

1  Past efforts to improve the work of the Committee

1.1.  The Committee on Agriculture (CoA) launched a work programme in 2009 in response to a communication^[2] by the Chairman of the General Council to the Chairs of all WTO Councils and Committees to examine ways to improve transparency and notification compliance in their respective bodies. While the main thrust of the Committee's work programme^[3] remained on improving the timeliness and completeness of agriculture notifications, important changes were also introduced for the preparation and dissemination of Committee documents. The work programme conducted during 2009-2011 also included elements on the development of digital tools and data systems to improve Members' accessibility to Committee's information, including the questions and answers (Q&As) considered in the review process. Pursuant to the discussions under the work programme, the Secretariat commenced the project for the development of an Agriculture Information Management System (AG-IMS)^[4] starting with the development of a module on the CoA review process (Q&A). Later on, an additional feature was added to the AG-IMS allowing Members to submit agricultural notifications electronically. A recent note by the Secretariat in document G/AG/GEN/206 dated 21 September 2022 describes the improvements introduced over the recent period towards the efficient organization of the Committee's work and its documentation practices.