Discussion at the last session of the Working Party (taken
from TRADE/WP.7/1999/7):
59. The Chairman gave an introduction
into the background of this agenda item: At present,
most of the work on the interpretation of UN/ECE
standards is done in the framework of the OECD Scheme
for the Application of International Standards for
Fruit and Vegetables. Exceptions are the UN/ECE Standards
on Meat (Poultry, Porc, Beef), Eggs and the color
chart for Walnut Kernels.
60. Because of uncertainties concerning the
future of the OECD Scheme, the European Commission
had initiated a discussion on this question at
the second session of the Committee for Trade,
Industry and Enterprise Development (CTIED).
At the third session of the Committee, the European
Commission requested the secretariat to prepare
a study on the modalities of preparing explanatory
brochures to UN/ECE standards in the framework
of WP.7 and its Specialized Sections. This request
was supported by the United States and agreed
by the Committee.
61. The Director of the UN/ECE Trade Division
introduced document -/1999/5 containing the secretariat's
understanding of the goals of the interpretative
work and how this work could be integrated into
current work programmes, describing also the
costs for personnel and production of the brochures
and how they could be financed.
62. The Director emphasized that UN/ECE highly
valued the cooperation with the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
in different areas (e.g. electronic commerce)
and that UN/ECE is not looking for extra work
or taking work away from other organizations.
She stressed that it was in this spirit that
the document had been prepared because of uncertainties
about the future of the OECD Scheme.
63. The Director outlined the main results
of the study: - work on explanatory brochures
can be integrated into the framework of the existing
specialized sections without any significant
extension of the number of meeting days; - it
will not be possible to do the additional work
with the existing staff. It will be necessary
to recruit an additional staff member at the
junior professional level; - the additional costs
including the new staff member, a contribution
to travel costs, and printing of the brochures
have been estimated as US$150,000.
64. She said further that taking into account
that UN/ECE is working with a 0% growth budget
in the next biennium (meaning in effect a 3%
reduction of the budget), it will not be possible
to include this amount into the regular budget
of UN/ECE. This could be done only if member
States decided to stop another activity taking
place under the Committee for Trade, Industry
and Enterprise Development and to transfer the
resources to the agricultural standards unit.
She said that this was not likely to happen in
the near future.
65. She explained that a possibility to fund
additional work was to create a trust fund. This
trust fund would be managed under strict United
Nations procedures and with complete transparency.
The UN/ECE would launch an appeal for contributions
and then every interested party (public or private)
could decide to contribute. She said that there
would have to be the expectation of regular contributions
because otherwise the recruitment of a staff
member to be financed by the trust fund would
not be authorized.
66. The delegation of the European Community
welcomed the study and the additional clarifications
given by the Director. He said that in recent
coordination meetings, the European Community
and its Member States agreed that it would be
useful to regroup the activities on explanatory
material at the UN/ECE. He said that the same
position would be kept at meetings of the OECD
Scheme, where 13 EU Member States are contributing
members.
67. He said that it is hoped that the regrouping
of activities will lead to a reduction in travel
costs and also to an increased efficiency of
the work. He said that now that it was clear
that the work could be done at at UN/ECE it was
necessary to discuss in depth the modalities
of financing. He informed that EU Member States
had asked whether contributions to the trust
fund could be financed out of the Community budget.
He said that it was necessary to continue the
discussions now so that the activity at the UN/ECE
would be rapidly operational in the case that
the work at the OECD Scheme should be discontinued.
68. The delegation of Finland fully supported
the statement made by the European Community
and said that it was important to have the work
on brochures done somewhere because it was essential
for the application of the standards but that
the question of funding seems to require further
study.
69. The Chairman said that in his view there
would be a number of advantages if the interpretative
work was done at UN/ECE because this would enable
delegates to discuss both brochures and standards
at the same time. There would be savings in money
and time because of a reduction in travelling.
He also said that the participation at the work
of WP.7 and its specialized sections was open
to all UN and UN/ECE Member States without any
formalities.
70. The delegation of Greece recognized that
there were problems at the OECD Scheme because
several countries had decided to leave the scheme.
He said that when discussing the regrouping of
activities it should not be forgotten that the
OECD Scheme has activities beyond the development
of brochures (meeting of heads of control services,
maturity requirements, quality assurance etc.).
He asked whether the Scheme would continue with
these activities if the work of brochures was
transferred to UN/ECE or if this work would also
be transferred. He further said that there were
many open questions concerning the funding to
be answered (Who would contribute? Would there
be a scale of contributions? etc.).
71. The delegation of the OECD secretariat
regretted the missing transparency under which
the proposal for the transfer of the work on
the interpretation of standards from OECD to
UN/ECE had been developed especially because
this proposal could have large implications on
the work of the OECD Scheme for the Application
of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables.
The OECD secretariat has never been informed
of this proposal neither by the European Community
nor by the UN/ECE. The Chairman of the OECD Scheme
had also not been informed.
72. She said that the OECD secretariat was
surprised about the proposal especially because
it was developed while the Scheme was undergoing
restructuring in which the European Commission
had actively participated and which had resulted
in a major revision of the mandate and functioning
of the Scheme. One of the objectives of this
revision was to reduce the uncertainties referred
to in document -/1999/5 and one result of this
revision has been to facilitate the participation
which was now open to all UN Member States, the
Specialized Agencies and WTO (see also TRADE/WP.7/1999/7/Add.1).
73. She said that in her view the best way
to solve the problem of duplication of international
standards for fruit and vegetables was not in
making bilateral proposal which only take into
account a part of the problem i.e. the interpretation
of standards. She said it seemed more efficient
to act together with all parties concerned in
this work and to take the time to reflect on
and study the problems globally.
74. She said that the member States of the
OECD Scheme have given the mandate to the Scheme
to encourage the establishment of a single international
body for the development of grade standards.
Beginning at its next session the Scheme will
study the best way to reach a conclusion on this
subject.
75. The Chairman said that in his opinion there
was no lack of transparency. The study prepared
by the UN/ECE secretariat was not a proposal
but a working document that examined a possible
solution for the case that the work on the interpretation
of standards would be discontinued at OECD. He
said that the report of the Committee for Trade,
Industry and Enterprise development was very
clear and open on this question. The document
had been provided to all delegations through
the usual distribution channels of the UN/ECE.
76. The delegation of the European Community
said that it was his objective to be fully transparent
in this matter and regretted if the information
provided at the last plenary session of the Scheme
had led to any misunderstanding.
77. The Chairman summarized the results of
the discussion: - it is now known that the work
can be done at the UN/ECE; - the creation of
a trust fund will be necessary for this (the
detailed modalities for contributions to this
fund need to be examined) - it needs to be studied
further how the work can be developed at the
UN/ECE (organization, output, distribution)
78. He stressed that there would be no duplication
of work: the Working Party is prepared to take
on this work if the work at OECD (which is highly
appreciated by WP.7 and its specialized sections)
is disrupted and if the funding problem can be
solved.
79. The Working Party decided to create a working
group to further discuss these questions. The
delegations from the European Community, Poland,
Romania, Switzerland and the United States offered
to participate in that group. The secretariat
and the Chairman of the Working Party will also
participate. |