APEC Project Proposal |
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| Project No. | CTI 02 2012T |
| Project Title | APEC Regulatory Cooperation Advancement Mechanism on Trade-Related Standards and Technical Regulations (ARCAM) Dialogue |
| Project Status | Completed Project |
| Publication (if any) | |
| Fund Account | TILF Special Account |
| Sub-fund | None |
| Project Year | 2012 |
| Project Session | Session 1 |
| APEC Funding | 75,283 |
| Co-funding Amount | 76,931 |
| Total Project Value | 152,214 |
| Sponsoring Forum | Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) |
| Topics | Trade Facilitation;Investment;Liberalisation |
| Committee | Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) |
| Other Fora Involved | Not Applicable / Other |
| Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved | Not Applicable
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| Proposing Economy(ies) | Australia;United States |
| Co-Sponsoring Economies | China;Russia |
| Expected Start Date | 31/03/2012 |
| Expected Completion Date | 31/12/2013 |
| Project Proponent Name 1 | Heather Grell |
| Job Title 1 | Deputy Chief of Party APEC TATF |
| Organization 1 | APEC Secretariat |
| Postal Address 1 | 35 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119616 |
| Telephone 1 | (65) 6891-9600 |
| Fax 1 | (65) 6891-9690 |
| Email 1 | hgrell@nathaninc.com |
| Project Proponent Name 2 | Heath McMichael |
| Job Title 2 | APEC Branch |
| Organization 2 | Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade |
| Postal Address 2 | John McEwan Crecent, RG Casey Building, Barton ACT 0221, Australia |
| Telephone 2 | (61) 6261-1693 |
| Fax 2 | (61) 6112-1693 |
| Email 2 | heath.mcmichael@dfat.gov.au |
| Declaration | Heather Grell/Heath McMichael |
| Project Summary | The ARCAM initiative was designed to prevent and address unnecessary technical barriers to trade by creating an institutionalized process for early dialogue among APEC economies on emerging regulatory issues. The first ARCAM dialogue – a key aspect of the ARCAM initiative - was held in 2011 at Big Sky, Montana during SOM 2 to discuss smart grid interoperability standards. This proposal seeks funding to hold the 2nd ARCAM dialogue. Participants in the second ARCAM dialogue will include trade officials, regulators, and industry representatives from each APEC economy. CTI 1 in Moscow in February 2012 agreed in principle that the topic for the second ARCAM dialogue would be self-regulation in advertising. The Dialogue will provide input for the CTI to use in developing recommendations for advancing further regulatory cooperation. The ARCAM Dialogue will take place in the second half of 2012. |
| Relevance | The ARCAM Dialogue will contribute to the APEC goal to “intensify our work on initiatives to promote greater convergences among economies in key areas of APEC’s Regional Economic Integration agenda, including in.”standards/technical barriers to trade” as described by APEC Leaders in 2009. The ARCAM Dialogue intends to undertake a new topic that will encourage regulatory cooperation aimed at preventing and addressing unnecessary technical barriers to trade and investment. The ARCAM Dialogue – a key piece of the ARCAM process - will be groundbreaking in that it will bring regulators and trade officials together to discuss the impact of emerging regulatory issues on trade. At the February 12, 2012, CTI 1 in Moscow two possible topics were discussed, and it was agreed in principle that the second ARCAM dialogue in 2012 would address the issue of self-regulation in advertising, as proposed by Australia. |
| Objectives | The ARCAM Dialogue is a critical step in this new mechanism aimed at developing a shared understanding of emerging regulatory issues, how to promote legitimate regulatory objectives, and the impact on trade and investment flows. The Dialogue will also enhance the capacity of regulators to address these issues, increase transparency, and promote better alignment of technical requirements and standards related to these issues, thereby facilitating trade and investment. It will provide an opportunity for regulators and trade negotiators to better understand each other’s respective position on a complicated regulatory issue and encourage discussions so that there is a mutual understanding of impact of decisions on both trade and domestic regulatory frameworks. The Dialogue will also produce a report to the CTI on the results of the discussions. The report will incorporate the perspectives of trade officials, regulators, international organizations, and private sector stakeholders, who will participate in the Dialogue. This report will provide essential input to the CTI’s work at CTI3 to develop concrete recommendations for advancing further regulatory cooperation related to the agreed on topic for the CTI to address. These recommendations should focus on specific steps for future cooperation in APEC and/or other multilateral organizations that should be taken to avoid the development of new technical barriers to trade from emerging as a result of lack of cooperation in self-regulation in advertising. They could include recommendations for forward work by relevant CTI sub-forums. Final recommendations will be reported to Ministers/Leaders at the end of the year.(depends on the value of the recommendations) |
| Alignment | The ARCAM Dialogue will increase regional economic integration in the area of regulatory cooperation and convergence and will prevent or address unnecessary technical barriers to trade. The ARCAM is a key component of the CTI’s 2010 APEC Initiative on Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade. It was included in the work identified in the CTI’s 2010 Annual Report to Ministers. The dialogue to be funded by this proposal is a critical step in the overall ARCAM process.
In 2011, ARCAM proved to be an effective manner for economies to discuss and develop recommendations. Additional work in the ARCAM forum was supported by the Ministers in November in Honolulu. |
| TILF/ASF Justification | The ARCAM Dialogue will contribute directly to trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, particularly with regard to the standards and conformance objective of the Osaka Action Agenda (Part 1, Section C.5). Through early cooperation on standards in this emerging area, the Dialogue will help prevent technical barriers to trade in advertising services. |
| Beneficiaries and Outputs | The goal of the ARCAM Dialogue is to increase APEC cooperation on emerging regulatory issues. In 2011, ARCAM addressed smart grid interoperability standards with the goal of closer alignment to international standards. Beneficiaries of the topic agreed in principle for 2012 include: small and medium enterprises using advertising media; the advertising industry in APEC economies; and, the community at large as consumers of advertising. Regulators will also benefit from an enhanced understanding of self-regulation in advertising. Cooperation in this area will facilitate a better understanding of advertising self-regulation issues with resulting benefits to consumers and business. Participants in the proposed Dialogue will include a mix of private sector playes in the advertising industry, academic experts, government regulators dealing with regulation of the private sector and trade officials, including CTI representatives. |
| Dissemination | The ARCAM Dialogue will produce a report to be distributed to the CTI. The report will be posted on the APEC website. It will also be circulated to international organizations and private sector stakeholders that participate in or express interest in the Dialogue. In addition, any presentations and relevant materials from the Dialogue will be posted on the APEC website. All publications will comply with APEC copyrights and logo guidelines. |
| Gender | Dialogue organizers will be careful to include women speakers and participants in the dialogue. Women will play an important role in the planning and preparation for the Dialogue. The goal of the event – closer alignment of regulatory practices within APEC – will benefit women in the specific sector as well as women consumers.
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| Work Plan | The proposed timeline is below: April – May 2012 Agenda - Australia and Co-sponsors will draft a dialogue agenda and circulate it to other member economies for comment. Australia will incorporate the comments and finalize the agenda to reflect all interests by stakeholders. Venue arrangements – The Dialogue location will be determined and finalized no later than end of May. June – July 2012 Participants list – Australia and Co-sponsors will work with the Secretariat to invite participants from relevant APEC agencies and industry stakeholders. Australia and Co-sponsors will identify relevant speakers based on the final agenda. August 2012 Workshop –Implementation of the Dialogue with the staging of the 1 ½ day workshop. September–October 2012 Report Preparation – Immediately upon conclusion of the Dialogue, event organizers will work with co-sponsors and other participants to draft a report to the CTI on the results of the Dialogue to be presented to the CTI, including recommendations to guide further regulatory cooperation in the field of advertising self-regulation among APEC member economies.(This might be the next step ) |
| Risks | Risks associated with the ARCAM Dialogue will be minimal. There may be last-minute speaker cancelations. That risk will be managed by identifying possible back-up speakers in advance of the event. The timeframe could shift depending on the topic agreed upon and preparations are made. Project overseers will manage this by ensuring that the invitation and request for nominations are ready to be sent as soon as funding approval is received. In addition, project overseers will provide as much guidance as possible to APEC member economies to help identify the most appropriate nominations. |
| Monitoring and Evaluation | CTI will review the Dialogues outcomes report to evaluate the usefulness of the event. The report will form the basis of possible further work to address specific regulatory issues. If successful, this input will enable the CTI to develop concrete recommendations for further advancing regulatory cooperation in this area. These recommendations should focus on specific steps for future cooperation in APEC and/or other multilateral organizations that should be taken to avoid the development of new technical barriers to trade.
CTI will review the ARCAM Dialogue in consultation with other applicable APEC sub-forums to ensure that process contributes effectively and efficiently to strengthening APEC’s ability to prevent technical barriers to trade through regulatory cooperation.
In addition, Dialogue organizers will collect written feedback via evaluation questionnaires from the participants in the Dialogue to assess its usefulness in increasing understanding of the emerging regulatory issue and building capacity to address them. This feedback will be used to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of future ARCAM Dialogues on other emerging regulatory issues. |
| Linkages | Project organisers will bring together leaders of advertising self-regulation organisations (SROs) and (in economies with no SROs) advertising industry, regulators, and trade officials to exchange best practices in advertising self-regulation and share information on approaches to emerging international issues around advertising of certain product categories and depictions of individuals in the community.
Project organisers will circulate a draft agenda to CTI for comments and suggestions on speakers. On completion of the Dialogue, a Dialogue report and recommendations will be circulated to relevant APEC sub-fora . The CTI will involve economies in follow-up from the Dialogue, including developing recommendations for advancing cooperation in the field of advertising self-regulation.
ARCAM Dialogue 2 will build on the results of ARCAM Dialogue 1 in strengthening mechanisms to prevent technical barriers to trade through regulatory cooperation. ARCAM 1 on the topic of smart grid technology was particularly successful in addressing this regulatory issue. Through the ARCAM mechanism, APEC is well placed to contribute to other international efforts to address emerging technical barriers to trade. |
| Sustainability | After the ARCAM Dialogue takes place, the CTI will develop recommendations for concrete steps to further advance regulatory cooperation in the area that is selected based on the input provided by the Dialogue. These recommendations will be sent to Ministers/Leaders for when they are finalized. The CTI and its sub-fora will undertake the recommendations developed by the CTI and endorsed by Ministers/Leaders. The CTI will identify, if applicable, follow-up activities to the ARCAM Dialogue, including the development of recommendations that might be required by other APEC sub-fora. The United States will work with Co-sponsors and other interested economies to ensure follow-up on recommendations. |
| Project Overseers | Not Applicable
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| Cost Efficiency | The Dialogue will be scheduled in the second half of 2012, location to be determined. APEC offers maximum value for money because the forum encompasses a broad range of capabilities and competencies in the area of regulatory reform. APEC’s member economies have shared objectives of improving regulatory processes that improve trade and overall economic success in APEC. The success of the project hinges on the willingness of APEC economies’ to work towards common concerns through cooperation and engagement without large funding commitments. |
| Drawdown Timetable | Not Applicable
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| Direct Labour | APEC-funded positions will not be employed for this project. |
| Waivers | Some travel eligible economies may request advance payment of airfare and per diem if they are not able to wait for reimbursement.
Due to strong interest expressed by the CTI in this topic, we propose to hold this event for one and a half days instead of one day as originally proposed in the concept note. Although this has increased the per diem costs, revised estimates of airfare expenses have lowered the overall amount of funding to be sought from APEC. |
| Are there any supporting document attached? | Yes |