Over the last 20 years it has become a well-functioning, dynamic mechanism for addressing matters of everyday commercial and social significance — from chemicals in toys, to carbon footprint labelling, to test procedures for medical devices and pharmaceuticals. It is a huge range of issues you deal with, and which are very important for citizens and consumers.
The figures tell the story.
Since 1995, the TBT Committee has received 25,000 notifications of new or changed measures. This is the highest number for any committee at the WTO. And members have developed guidance on the application of the Agreement — which has helped with its practical and business-like application.
Over the years, the Committee has taken on an important pre-emptive function.
Throughout its existence, the TBT Committee has dealt with 471 Specific Trade Concerns.
Essentially, members raise Specific Trade Concerns to find out more about the scope and implementation of each other's regulations in light of the core TBT obligations.
This is a systematic part of the Committee's work. I understand that the TBT Committee has 19 new concerns along with 40 existing concerns on the agenda for this week.
Clearly this is an area where there may be potential disagreements. However, in these 20 years, we have only had five TBT-related disputes, and only one is ongoing today. And I think that this should tell us something.
By providing a forum for exchanges at the technical level, it seems quite clear that the Committee's regular work helps to pre-empt frictions and avoid unnecessary disputes. In this way the Committee makes a significant contribution to the smooth functioning of the multilate