Overview

Responding to Members' statements in the TF Committee emphasizing the importance of the 22 August deadline for notification of category C definitive dates, and at the request of the WTO ACP Group, TFAF organized a workshop on these notification requirements and prepared individual workbooks that detailed the current status of each ACP Member. 17 participants represented 13 Members and two groups (ACP and OECS) attended the Workshop. Detailed advice was given on the upcoming deadline and the process of notification, and detailed responses were also provided to questions from Members. The session was livestreamed and recorded so that Members could share it with their NTFCs in Capitals and so that it would remain accessible to those in different time zones. At the same time, access was limited to ACP Members only in order to encourage frank and open discussion.

Successful outcomes

• Within 12 weeks, nine participating Members had submitted notifications to the WTO TF Committee.
• A further 30 notifications were subsequently submitted by ACP Group Members that had not attended, and these notifications are therefore not included in the overall tally. Nevertheless, these Members had clearly benefitted from the guidance shared with the ACP Secretariat in the context of the workshop, as well as the subsequent availability of the session online.

Relevant links

TFAF News Article about ACP workshop