249. The representative of the Secretariat, updating his earlier reports, said that the immediate focus had been to move towards full digitization of all notified material. The Secretariat was working with an information technology project to finalize the backlog of notifications, the objective being, as a minimum, that all notified materials would be readily available in text searchable form. In addition, the Secretariat was looking at ways of presenting notified materials in a more user-friendly way on the WTO website. Specific examples of these included the contact points under Articles 67 and 69 which had been hard to locate and rarely used. On the basis of the existing materials, these would be presented in a way that was more appropriate for a contact point list. The material was notified in formal documents in the conventional manner but then was made available in a more web-friendly format more suitable for consultation and everyday use as a set of contact points. A tentative structure would be developed for an improved web interface to access other notified materials, including notified laws. There was a particular impetus in this regard in that there had been a marked uptake in the rate of notifications made by Members that necessitated more effective management of these important documents. As an interim step, the Secretariat would be developing a pilot level suggested framework for accessing notified materials online and at an appropriate stage consulting with delegations on how best to structure that for their practical use.
250. Several Members were following the practice when notifying their laws to provide a brief summary of the essence of the law or the amendment to the law that had been notified. This was a further example of a way that the user-friendliness of notification could be enhanced. Work was carried out with colleagues in the Information Technology Solutions Division to develop some suggested ways of managing the existing materials and subsequent notifications so that they would be more useful and at the same time dealing with the practical costs of reducing the cost of processing and reproduction. He hoped to be in a position to present a pilot project early in the new year.
