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Introduction
The Forum will be held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on 20 June, starting at 3 p.m., and concluding on 21 June at 1 p.m. It is being organized jointly by the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies and the Committee on Trade, as part of UNECE activities to promote trade and economic integration in the region, particularly through regulatory cooperation and standardization. The Forum takes place back-to-back with the annual session on the Committee. Interested delegates are invited to attend the joint policy segment on the UNECE contribution to regulatory convergence, planned for Wednesday afternoon, 21 June.
The purpose of the Forum is to:
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Review current developments in regulatory and related standardization areas in the region and identify opportunities for improving intra-European and trans Atlantic cooperation
- Exchange information on regulatory cooperation trends in other regions and on good regulatory practices promoted by Governments and international organizations
- Provide an overview of UNECE regulatory activities and identify synergies and inter-sectoral projects in this area which could be undertaken by UNECE sectoral committees
The Forum will examine ways of creating a level playing field for all economic actors and eliminating technical barriers to trade. It will address general regulatory-framework issues, as well as specific sectoral ones.
Taking part in the discussions will be representatives of national and regional regulatory authorities from Europe, North America, the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as representatives of international organizations (including the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Standardization), regional and national bodies engaged in policy matters or normative activities, and consumer and business associations from UNECE and other regions.
UNECE sectoral committees will be invited to present their legal instruments, standards-setting and regulatory activities. A cross-sectoral exchange of experiences between regulators, technical experts and policy makers will aim at defining effective approaches and instruments to promote the least possible restrictive practices/regimes for trade.
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