VIR20-14

Available in the language of Self-Funded Project Synopsis

1. Relevance – Benefits to region: What problem does the project seek to address? Does it have sustained benefits for more than one economy?
In May 2020 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) have acknowledged it may be necessary for economies to implement emergency measures designed to address COVID-19 challenges, and that measures should be transparent and notified in line with WTO rules. In May 2019, the MRT statement tasked officials “to accelerate practical and concrete areas of work that can advance APEC’s support for the WTO’s work, including in areas such as capacity building initiatives for transparency and notifications”. This project helps APEC members with their immediate commitments on transparency of COVID-19 measures, and also address long-term notifications issues.

Relevance – Capacity Building: How will the project build the capacity of APEC members (refer to capacity building goals, objectives and principles at Appendix K of the Guidebook).
This project seeks to build capacity on WTO processes relating to notification of COVID-19 related emergency measures for Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary Phytosanitary (SPS) measures. The project will ensure (1) APEC members have the understanding of how to notify COVID-19 related measures (2) how to determine if a particular measure should be notified; and (2) inform them of initiatives by the WTO secretariat to monitor COVID-19 measures.

2. Objectives: State the key objectives of the project.
The key objective is to ensure all APEC members are aware of WTO resources on notifications as they relate to the COVID-19 emergency measures, and to facilitate notification of measures as required and follow best practices. In turn, this will ensure that relevant stakeholders, including importers and exporters, are aware of new measures, and can monitor them via notification in order to act accordingly.

3. Alignment – APEC: Describe specific APEC priorities, goals, strategies and/ or statements that the project supports, and explain how the project will contribute to their achievement.
The project aligns with APEC’s goal of supporting the WTO’s work on transparency and notification, particularly as it relates to ensuring transparency of COVID-19 related emergency measures. The project will contribute to this by sharing resources and best practices on COVID-19 related SPS and TBT notifications.

Alignment – Forum: How does the project align with your forum’s work plan/strategic plan?
This project is aligned with the CTI work program since it supports the multilateral trading system, by ensuring APEC members have the resources and knowledge to notify COVID-19 measures to the WTO and track notified measures.

4. Methodology: How do you plan to implement the project? Briefly address the following:
• Work plan: Project timelines, dates of key activities and deliverable outputs.
The project and training will be developed with the WTO through May, with online training to be run in June. Depending on demand, further training may be held throughout 2020.
• Beneficiaries: Selection criteria for participants, beneficiary profiles (e.g. participants, end users, policy makers, researchers/ analysts, gender) and how they will be engaged.
Beneficiaries of the training would be WTO enquiry points and notification authorities, policy officers, and regulators involved in the development and communication of SPS and TBT measures. They will be engaged via their WTO enquiry points and through CTI representatives.
• Evaluation: Indicators developed to measure progress, project outcomes and impacts/ successes. Where possible provide indicators which could assess impacts on women.
Trainings will be evaluated by participants and speakers through surveys and feedback throughout the discussion. Following the training, the number of COVID-19 SPS and TBT notifications by APEC members will be monitored to assess impact.
• Linkages: Information on other APEC and non-APEC stakeholders and how they will be engaged. If and how this proposal builds on (but does not duplicate) the work of other projects. How will this activity promote cross fora collaboration?
The training will be delivered in partnership with the WTO Secretariat. The project will build on previous APEC work on WTO notification such as the initiative “Promoting Transparency through the Improvement of SPS Notifications”. If successful, the project could inform future projects on notifications, including in areas such as subsidies, import licensing, or quantitative restrictions. It also complements the work of the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC), including the promotion of good regulatory practice, encouraging greater transparency and facilitating regional capacity building.
the activity.