RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/SPEC/18
4 April 2001
(01-1702)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
TBT TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME:  REQUEST
FOR INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS
Communication from the Chairman
1. At the conclusion of the Second Triennial Review of the TBT Agreement, the Committee
agreed to develop a demand-driven Technical Cooperation Programme.  It was envisaged that this
process would commence with a survey to identify the specific needs of developing country Members
as well as the existing TBT-related technical assistance activities before reassessing and prioritising
the needs, identifying the technical assistance partners as well as financial considerations.  Memberswere invited to further communicate information on technical assistance programmes they proposed,
provided or received.
2. As part of the follow-up of the General Council's Decision (in October 2000) requesting the
Director General to explore with relevant organizations, financial and technical mechanisms to assistthe participation of developing countries in international standard-setting activities, on
23 January 2001, a meeting at the Deputy Director-Gener al level was arranged by the Secretariat with
a number of organizations that are involved in standard-setting and TBT-related technical assistance
activities (observers of the Committee).  As a result of that meeting, the Secretariat has started a
project, with the help of these relevant organizations, to compile information on the following
headings:  (i) specific TBT-needs of different groups of developing countries;  and (ii) existing
technical assistance activities provided by the various organizations.  The compilation which istargeted to be finished by September could serve as a basis for the prioritisation of needs taking into
account the existing activities, before considering the better coordination and cooperation among
technical assistance partners, including financial institutions.
3. While it is understood that the relevant organizations will be surveying their members in
order to respond to the questions that have been posed, in view of the demand-driven nature of the
proposed Programme, contributions of relevant information from Members will be important to
complement the input from relevant organizations and to thereby provide a full picture of the current
situation faced in relation to technical assistance in the TBT area.
4. Accordingly, Members are invited to submit relevant information
1 to the Secretariat
by 31 May 2001 on their specific needs and national experiences in relation to technical assistance
received and provided in the TBT area.
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1 G/TBT/9 – The Second Triennial Review Report – sets out the observations of the Committee on the
challenges faced by developing countries in the various TBT areas, and Members may find this a useful
reference resource in compiling their national information.