Developed by the WTO Secretariat, the new online portal is intended to facilitate the presentation of N2 notifications regarding import licensing related laws and regulations and N3 notifications concerning the Annual Questionnaire on import licensing. The portal will also provide access to an import licensing database of all import licensing procedures of WTO members.

The new tool will be part of the WTO-wide notifications portal, where different levels of access and authority to draft, edit or submit notifications will be available. In addition, members will be able to communicate and exchange draft notifications and comments with the Secretariat via the portal.

A pilot version was made available to delegations following the Committee meeting, with the aim of having a fully functioning portal in the third quarter of 2023. In the meantime, the Secretariat will continue to upload members' previous notifications into the portal. The Secretariat has also prepared guidelines and is working on developing a video guide on how to use the portal. In addition, the Secretariat will offer training to delegations on how to use it.

Members commended the work by the Secretariat to update the Trade Concerns Database with all import licensing trade concerns raised in the Committee since 1995, including all statements by members.

Notifications

The Secretariat informed members that since the last Committee meeting, a total of 130 notifications have been received under various provisions of the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures. A total of 128 of these were listed for the consideration of the Committee.

Regarding the Annual Questionnaire for 2023, the Chair of the Committee, Jia Jie Loh of Singapore, stressed that as of 23 May only seven members had submitted their replies for 2023 and only 34 for 2022. A total of 21 members have never submitted a reply to the Annual Questionnaire since joining the WTO, he said. The Chair noted that transparency is one of the key pillars of the rules–based multilateral trading system and encouraged members to submit their import licensing notifications if they have not done so.

To improve transparency and notification compliance, a capacity-building workshop on import licensing and notifications will take place at the WTO on 27-29 September 2023. In line with previous workshops  over the past five years, the aim is to enhance participants' understanding of import licensing procedures and notifications and to provide guidance on fulfilling various types of notification requirements.

The Secretariat will offer participants technical assistance with preparing outstanding import licensing notifications as a follow-up to the workshop.

Specific trade concerns

Members asked questions about some members’ import licensing regimes for specific products and expressed concerns. These included:

• Angola's import licensing requirements, raised by the European Union
• Dominican Republic's new import licensing system, raised by the European Union
• Egypt's import licensing requirements for certain agricultural and processed products, raised by the European Union
• India's importation of pneumatic tyres, raised by the European Union, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Thailand
• Indonesia's commodity balancing mechanism, raised by the European Union and Japan
• Indonesia's import licensing regime for certain textile products, raised by the European Union and Japan
• Indonesia's compulsory registration by importers of steel products, raised by Japan
• Indonesia's import restriction on air conditioners, raised by Japan
• Thailand's importation of feed wheat, raised by the European Union

Next meeting

The next formal meeting of the Committee is tentatively scheduled for 31 October.