Standards transparency champions programme kicks off in Geneva

In his opening remarks at the launch of the course, Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang said: “Transparency is a fundamental principle of the WTO and a cornerstone of the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement.” Transparency plays a key role in helping public and private stakeholders get timely information on regulatory developments, such as those relating to environmental protection, food labelling, and Covid-19 among many others, he added.

“Notifying regulatory developments is the centrepiece of transparency,” DDG Zhang said, adding that the information contained in notifications allows businesses time to adapt to new requirements, which may entail revising their product formulations, supply chain planning, or labelling practices, among other changes. He stated that notifications also create an opportunity for members to engage on, and address, trade-related concerns in a timely manner.

DDG Zhang highlighted that TBT is among the WTO topics in highest demand for technical assistance, with most requests seeking training on transparency and the ePing SPS&TBT Platform.  Hence, the WTO was responding to these requests by offering an innovative programme.

During their week in Geneva, the participants benefitted from sessions focusing on the provisions of the TBT Agreement, notification procedures, ePing SPS&TBT Platform, practices of the WTO’s TBT Committee, domestic coordination, and regional developments. They also observed the second meeting of the newly-established Transparency Working Group of the TBT Committee and a Symposium on Easing Regulatory Bottlenecks.

In addition, the participants developed action plans and identified good practices to improve transparency frameworks in their countries. The programme will continue with a series of virtual follow-up sessions as well as written exchanges before the participants meet again in-person in about six months to report back on progress with their action plans and discuss future steps. The Secretariat will be supporting the “champions” throughout this period and fostering a practitioners’ network among them, taking advantage of digital tools such as ePing.

“The training of the ePing remains of paramount importance to the work we do on a daily basis. The portal allows for timely access to notifications and submissions of comments. It has eased the burden of communication between the National Enquiry Points and its stakeholders as well as Enquiry Point to Enquiry Point communication,” said Ms. Dineo Hexana, an Economist in the South African Bureau of Standards and a participant in the course. She added that she will implement the strategy developed during the programme and carry on with maintaining and enhancing the visibility of South Africa’s National Enquiry Point.

Ms. Lahya Hambinga, the Notification Authority and Enquiry Point at Namibia’s Standards Institution, says the most valuable takeaway for her were the tools to increase transparency by enhancing coordination between the National Notification Authority, the National Enquiry Point, the regulatory authorities, and private and public sectors. “Stakeholder coordination will enable us to submit, disseminate and facilitate both domestic and international notifications and comments. This will greatly facilitate getting input from Namibian businesses on TBTs their facing,” she remarked.

The WTO received almost 4,000 TBT notifications from members in 2021. An increasing share of these notifications are submitted by developing and least developed members, including those from Africa. The SPS and TBT Transparency Champions programmes were launched to further support the implementation of, and the benefits from, the WTO’s transparency mechanisms. 

Throughout the week, the participants had the opportunity to meet and engage with delegates, mentors from the Enquiry Points of Australia (Anne Ganne), Sweden (Linda Bodén), Uganda (George Opiyo) and the United States (MaryAnn Hogan), and with representatives of the African Organisation for Standardisation, International Standards Organisation, International Trade Centre and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

List of participants for the TBT Transparency Champions Course:

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