Yes / The Ad Hoc Group (AHG) of the States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) has the consideration of measures to implement Article X of the Convention as an element of its mandate agreed by the Special Conference in September 1994. The AHG has considered how to address this at each of its substantive meetings with a Friend of the Chair, initially Ambassador Jorge Berguno of Chile and subsequently, Carlos Duarte of Brazil carrying out this responsibility. As progress is being made on the development of the rolling text for the Protocol to strengthen the Convention, it is timely to consider how the implementation of Article X might contribute to the strengthening of the effectiveness of the Convention. This Briefing Paper considers some of the developments that have occurred nationally, regionally and internationally in respect of the use of bacteriological (biological) agents and toxins for peaceful purposes. It has become apparent that there is increasing awareness world-wide because of public health and environmental concerns of the need to control the handling, use, storage and transfer of such biological agents. This paper examines some of the current controls and regulations for biological agents and the international initiatives that are ongoing to strengthen biosafety around the world. These are seen as building blocks which might be considered from a point of view of strengthening the BTWC as well as contributing to the implementation of Article X although care will need to be taken in the Protocol for the AHG to avoid unnecessary duplication with other international activities. The challenging goal is to identify how these other national, regional and international activities can be utilised to contribute to the strengthening of the BTWC.

Yes / The Ad Hoc Group (AHG) of the States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) has the consideration of measures to implement Article X of the Convention as an element of its mandate agreed by the Special Conference in September 1994. The AHG has considered how to address this at each of its substantive meetings with a Friend of the Chair, initially Ambassador Jorge Berguno of Chile and subsequently, Carlos Duarte of Brazil carrying out this responsibility. As progress is being made on the development of the rolling text for the Protocol to strengthen the Convention, it is timely to consider how the implementation of Article X might contribute to the strengthening of the effectiveness of the Convention. Briefing Paper No 6 considered some of the developments that have occurred nationally, regionally and internationally in respect of the use of bacteriological (biological) agents and toxins for peaceful purposes. It noted that there is increasing awareness world-wide because of public health and environmental concerns of the need to control the handling, use, storage and transfer of such biological agents. That paper examined some of the current controls and regulations for biosafety and the international initiatives that are ongoing to strengthen biosafety around the world. These were seen as building blocks which might be considered from a point of view of strengthening the BTWC as well as contributing to the implementation of Article X although care will need to be taken in the Protocol for the AHG to avoid unnecessary duplication with other international activities. This Briefing Paper is complementary to Briefing Paper No 6 as it considers the national regulations in the UK, the EEC and in the United States as well as some other countries in respect of micro-organisms with the aim of providing some further building blocks to be considered in the strengthening of the BTWC and the implementation of Article X of the Convention. The challenging goal continues to be to identify how these other national, regional and international activities can be utilised to contribute to the strengthening of the BTWC.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

國際貿易是經濟發展的重要手段之一，然而無論在開發中或已開發國家，貿易商皆面臨貿易流程的繁文縟節。隨著各國的關稅逐漸降低，業者進行國際貿易時的貿易成本甚至已超過關稅成本。因此，有望透過貿易便捷化來簡化貿易程序，降低貿易成本。 　近年來，兩岸貿易依存度日益提高，中國大陸更成為台灣最大的出口市場。兩岸各自推動的貿易便捷化皆獲得相當成效，然法規不透明為目前中國大陸對台最嚴重之非關稅障礙，而法規透明化又是貿易便捷化工作的其中一環，因此法規透明化為當前亟需進行之貿易便捷化工作。 由於兩岸皆為世界貿易組織會員，且貿易便捷化已納入WTO的談判架構，而GATT 1994第十條（貿易法令之公布與施行）亦揭示法規透明化乃世界貿易組織協定重要原則，因此本文檢視兩岸的法規公布、措施通知、提供草案評論、回覆諮詢、正當程序和司法救濟等透明化之世界貿易組織義務，作為兩岸法規透明化程度的衡量指標。 透明化雖然是內部即可進行之工作，但由於透明化的重要性不受中國大陸重視，因此其透明化成效有限。為解決此問題，有待建立法規透明化的兩岸合作機制，而該機制之完善將使兩岸業者受惠，雙方政府基於互惠立場，會使兩岸業者獲得更大幅公開的政府資訊，所適用行政程序中的相關權利更受到保障。 / International trade is important to economics, while there are plenty of red tape still existing in moving goods across borders, whether in developing or development countries. Following the decreasing of tariff barriers, trade costs to traders are much more than tariff costs. Therefore, it is necessary to cut down the trade cost by trade facilitation. Recently, cross-strait trade relationship is closer and Mainland China has become the biggest trade partner of Taiwan. The cross-strait development of trade facilitation is significant, but the greatest trade barrier between is non-transparency. Since transparency of trade policy is part of trade facilitation programs, the authorities have to improve the transparency of trade policies. China and Taiwan are the members of the WTO, and WTO Members agreed to launch negotiations on trade facilitation several years ago. Besides, Article X of the GATT 1994 provides that transparency is also the principle of the WTO Agreements. Transparency obligations in WTO include publication of trade policies, notification on measures, providing the opportunity for prior comments, responding to requests for information, due process of administrative procedures and ensuring the right of review and appeal. This article aims at assessing the compliance of China and Taiwan with WTO obligations in transparency. Because the importance of transparency, which can be improved unilaterally, is neglected by China, efforts paid to this transparency issue limited. To solve this problem, it is necessary to establish a cross-strait cooperation mechanism that benefits the traders in both China and Taiwan. Accordingly, the authorities would take reciprocal actions on opening information of the government and ensuring the rights of administrative procedures in a larger extent.