   
  
G/TBT/W/782  
 
18 January 2024  
(24-0397) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE  
TENTH TRIENNIAL REVIEW  
Proposal from the United States  
The following submiss ion, dated 18 January  2024, is being circulated at the request of the  delegation 
of the United States . 
 
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1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  Technical assistance is a priority for the Committee and essential to support human and 
institutional capacity to fully implement and benefit from the TBT Agreement.1 Committee Members 
provide substantial support to assist Members and Observers on the imp lementation of the TBT 
Agreement. Over the past 20 years, the United States has provided more than USD 6 billion in 
technical and capacity -building assistance for more than 110 countries. In the same period, the 
United States has channeled o ver USD 27 mill ion to the WTO's various trust funds.2 
1.2.  With the goal of minimizing duplication and enhancing the delivery of technical assistance, 
Members regularly share, on a voluntary basis, information and experiences on Member -led technical 
assistance in order to enhance the implementation of Article 11 of the TBT Agreement. However, 
the Secretariat also provides substantial TBT -related technical assistance to Members and 
Observers.  
1.3.  In 2003, the Committee requested that the Secretariat deliver, as part of the Commi ttee's 
standing agenda item on technical assistance, information on its recently concluded programmes 
and future plans on TBT -related technical assistance, and reflect this in the Committee's annual 
reviews.3 Since this time, the Secretariat has expanded its delivery of TBT -related technical 
assistance.  
1.4.  Given the wide array of Member and Secretariat -led technical assistance activities, it remains 
important for Members and the Secretariat to regularly discuss these efforts to increase the 
effectiveness of t echnical assistance in the TBT area . 
2  PROPOSAL  
2.1.  Building upon previous recommendations of the Committee that reaffirmed the need to review 
the effectiveness of technical assistance in the TBT area,4 the United States recommends that the 
Secretariat prepare an annual report outlining technical assistance provided by the Secretariat to 
Members and Observers related to the implementation and operation of the TBT Agreement. The 
United States also recommends that the TBT and CTD Secretariats collaborate on experi ence sharing 
exchanges across the TBT and CTD Committees to capture and map -out technical  assistance and 
 
1 G/TBT/1/Rev.15 , section 7, para. 7.1 . 
2 https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres22_e/pr911_e.htm . 
3 G/TBT/13 , para. 55 . 
4 G/TBT/37 , Section 6.2, para. 6.7(a) . G/TBT/W/782  
 
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  capacity building practices have been proven to be highly effective in fostering collaboration among 
peers and colleagues, filling knowledge gaps, and generating fresh thinking on TBT issues.  
2.2.  A regular report should be developed with the view to complement existing Committee work 
on technical assistance by facilitating coordination between the Secretariat and Committee Members 
and to avoid duplication wi th Member -led technical assistance. This report should include both 
forward -looking and retrospective information on technical assistance. A verbal summary of the 
report should be presented by the Secretariat to the Committee as part of the agenda item for  
technical assistance during the first Committee meeting each calendar year to increase Member 
awareness and provide an opportunity for input.  
2.3.  This report should include the following items:  
a. Complete list of technical assistance activities provided by th e Secretariat in the previous 
year, including a brief summary of objectives and outcomes for each training activity;  
b. Information regarding the Members and Observers that received training and, as 
appropriate, specific training requests related to the impl ementation of the Agreement;  
c. Participant and speaker information including a list of Members, Observers, international 
organizations, and other bodies that participated in technical assistance activities provided 
by the Secretariat;  
d. Summary of challenges, limitations, and lessons learned in the delivery of technical 
assistance, including what topics are the most frequently requested for technical 
assistance and how are the requests met, including through "learning agendas " that are 
very similar to workshops  aimed at disseminating findings in collaboration with the 
Committee on Trade and Development;  
e. Implementation costs and budget information; and  
f. Workplan of proposals and planned activities for the coming year (12 months), and 
updates to the plan can be com municated regularly during the technical assistance agenda 
item at WTO TBT Committees.  
 
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