Monitoring national trade policies
The purpose of monitoring domestic trade policies is to provide an understanding of the members’ domestic policies, assess their impact on the multilateral system and to improve transparency. The Trade Policy Review Body (“TPRB”) is in charge of administering the Trade Policy Review Mechanism. The WTO General Council carries out the functions of the TPRB.
- Enabling outsiders to understand a country’s policies and circumstances
- Providing feedback to the reviewed country on its performance in the system
What is it?
Who are reviewed?
How is it done?
Each review contains reports by the country concerned and the WTO Secretariat. Each Member shall report regularly to the TPRB. Full reports shall describe the trade policies and practices of the Member concerned, based on an agreed format decided upon by the TPRB. The WTO Secretariat also prepares a report based on the information available to it. During the TPRB meeting, the reports are discussed by the Members and Members can ask questions and provide comments. The two reports, concluding remarks by the TPRB Chairperson and the minutes of the meeting of TPRB are published after the review.