53. The representative of New Zealand agreed that the Secretariat should prepare a factual background note on existing international notification and registration systems in accordance with the parameters laid down at the Council's meeting in February 1997. She expressed her delegation's dissatisfaction with the purported draft outline circulated the previous day during the informal meeting of the Council, as her delegation did not believe that it was sufficiently indicative of the final product that the Secretariat would prepare nor that it could serve as a basis for meaningful input and discussion by Members. She supported the proposal of the United States and Japan that the background note should address only systems which related, in some way, to wines and spirits. In line with the discussion that was held in February 1997, the Council had initiated an information-gathering exercise for the exclusive purpose of assisting in the work that the Council had agreed to undertake concerning wines and also issues relevant to notification and registration systems for spirits.
