What is in Plan a Meeting ?

This section contains instructions on how to schedule a meeting within the WTO Secretariat building, with or without interpretation.

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1. Conference Office

The Conference Office alone is competent to allocate rooms and arrange interpretation for WTO meetings organized by the Secretariat and WTO Members. It also establishes the official programme of meetings of the WTO.

In this section you can consult the official programme of meetings and obtain information on the procedures to be followed when scheduling meetings and reserving rooms.

Programmes of Meetings

Internal Programme of Meetings - STRICTLY INTERNAL

The Conference Office updates the Internal Programme of Meetings on a daily basis (at 8.30 a.m./12 a.m./6 p.m.). This programme is strictly for internal use and should be consulted by staff when scheduling meetings. Meetings that appear within square brackets indicate tentative meeting dates for which a confirmation is expected rapidly; meetings within square brackets followed by a question mark denote indicative meeting dates.

Official Programme of Meetings – for external public use

The Conference Office updates the Official Programme of Meetings which is posted on the WTO Website after 3 p.m. every Wednesday and Friday, in the three WTO official languages. A hard copy is available for delegates in the Conference Office (office 14).

Members' Programme of Meetings – for Members and acceding observer countries only

The Members' Programme of Meetings is updated daily and posted on the WTO Members' website every morning. This programme includes formal, informal and tentative meeting dates.

Weekly Programme of Meetings – for the use of ushers, technicians, cleaners, the Security and Safety Section and DSR

The Weekly Programme of Meetings is updated daily;  the programme includes meetings for the current week. 

Next week's Programme of Meetings – for the use of ushers, technicians, cleaners, the Security and Safety Section and DSR

Next week's Programme of Meetings is updated daily;  the programme includes meetings for the following week.

Daily Programme of Meetings

Electronic bulletin boards (EBBs) in the Secretariat announce the daily programme of formal and informal meetings. On request and space permitting, other unofficial and private meetings, as well as special announcements may also be posted. The EBBs are located as follows:

1. in the reception area at the main entrance of the CWR building
2. in the reception area at the South entrance of the CWR building
3. in the reception area adjacent to the conference rooms on the third floor of the CWR building
4. in the reception area of the Salle William Rappard - new Conference building
5. in the cafeteria (Salle des Pas Perdus)
6. smaller notice boards are located in front of rooms W, D, E and F and reflect meetings taking place in those rooms

For the convenience of delegates, the daily programme of official meetings is also recorded every evening for the following day. To listen to this recording, dial 022 739 57 57.

2. How to plan a meeting

Scheduling of meetings in the WTO

Conference rooms are allocated on a first-come first-served basis. It is sometimes necessary, however, to make adjustments depending on the importance of a meeting or because special facilities are required. The Conference Office allocates rooms on the basis of the number of participants, technical and practical requirements and also on room availability. Since many meetings are convened at short notice, all room allocations are subject to change. For this reason, room numbers are NEVER indicated on Airgrams, neither should they appear in convening notices unless absolutely necessary. Given the shortage of conference rooms and the very heavy demand, the Conference Office must always be informed immediately a meeting is cancelled, and also when a meeting has concluded.

·         The following checkpoints should be observed before contacting the Conference Office to reserve conference rooms:

1.      the date and starting time of the meeting, and the approximate finishing time

2.  the title of the meeting and the type of reservation (square brackets for tentative reservations; square brackets followed by question mark for indicative dates)

3.      the number of persons attending the meeting (if other than a formal or an informal meeting)

4.      is interpretation required? If so, in which languages? Interpreters required for languages other than the three official WTO languages must be recruited and paid for by the organizer

5.      is recording required?

6.      should microphones be switched on?

7.      is a flipchart required?

8.      are network connectivity and PowerPoint required?

9.      is an overhead projector required?

10.    is a TV/video required?

·         The video conference equipment has now been moved from 2121 to room 64

·         Receptions, Coffee Breaks - (Contact Mr. G. Carroz , ext. 5024)

·         E-mails regarding requests for or changes to meetings must be addressed to the "Conference Office" mailbox and not to individual staff members of the section. All WTO conference rooms are constantly in high demand, even for very short periods of time; it is essential, therefore, that the Conference Office be informed of cancellations and notified of any change of times.

·         Advance copies of all Airgrams, facsimiles and convening notices confirming meetings must be forwarded to the Conference Office by e-mail.

Formal and Informal Meetings 

When considering the scheduling of Formal Meetings with Chairpersons, reference should be made to the Internal Programme of Meetings in order that: 

·         no more than two formal or informal open-ended meetings take place at any one time. Flexibility will be applied for bodies with limited membership such as DSB, BOPs and Accessions

·         no more than one TNC negotiating body meets at any one time

·         only one Council meeting is held at a time i.e. General Council, DSB, TPRB or the Councils on Goods, Services and TRIPS.

Reference may be made to "Guidelines on the Arrangements for Scheduling of Meetings of WTO Bodies" adopted by the General Council on 15 November 1995 (WT/L/106) and also to WT/GC/M/73, para. 97 and WT/GC/M/74, para. 171).

Airgrams convening meetings must be issued at least 10 working days prior to the scheduled date. Meetings normally take place between 10.00-13.00 and 15.00-18.00; with advance notice, it is possible to extend the working hours. When interpretation is required, however, it is not always possible to comply and extra costs will be incurred by a prolongation.

Delegates are required to complete an attendance form at the beginning of all formal meetings; these forms are collected by the Conference Ushers and retained by the Conference Office for a period of twelve months. WTO Officers may consult these forms at any time in the Conference Office.
 

Informal Meetings and Panels

In principle, interpretation is not automatically provided for informal meetings and panels but, if required, the same rules apply as for formal meetings. Recordings of meetings are not automatic and should be requested in advance, together with requests for microphones; recordings cannot be made if microphones are not used. Taped recordings of meetings are kept for three months by the Conference Office for the use of Divisions.

Non-official Meetings

Regional Groups, Bilaterals, Divisional and Secretariat meetings, Lectures and University visits, NGOs, etc.

Interpreters are not recruited for non-official Meetings (exceptions are made for some regional groups such as the African group, LDCs or ACP) and requests for interpretation cannot therefore be guaranteed. If, however, a team is available at the time of the meeting in question (due to a cancellation or early completion of another meeting), interpretation may be made available. Requests for microphones and recordings must be requested at the time of reservation.
 

Technical Equipment

Requests for technical and other equipment (PowerPoint, overhead projector, flipchart/markers, etc.) in conference rooms should be made by e-mail to the Conference Office with a copy to the Ushers and Technical Services.

Requests for Telephone Conferences should be made by e-mail to the Telecom Unit with a copy to the Conference Office.

Until further notice, requests for Video Conferences should be made to Helpdesk with a copy to the Conference Office in order to reserve Room 64.
 

Security

For visitors other than WTO delegates and representatives of other Geneva-based organizations who are not in possession of a valid badge, reference should be made to the following Secretariat documents:

OFFICE(01)/23  : Security procedures for visiting groups (16/02/2001)
OFFICE(01)/62  : Security - procedures for visitors (28/06/2001)
e-mail               : Mesures de sécurité avec effet immédiat (24/09/2001)

3. Interpretation

WTO interpreters

The WTO has a permanent team of six interpreters who are available to cover a single meeting conducted in the three working languages of the organization (English, French and Spanish) for 2 x 3-hour sessions with a break of 2 hours in between.

Free-lance interpreters

Free-lance interpreters are recruited for additional meetings at a cost of CHF 657 per person, per day (3 languages = 6 interpreters per meeting). Interpreters work 2 x 3-hour sessions per day and are required to break for two hours between sessions. Free-lance interpreters are not always available on demand, therefore meetings requiring interpretation should be scheduled as far as possible in advance. Meetings which require extended working hours must be announced in advance to permit timely recruitment of additional interpreters.

Important notice: Free-lance interpretation can only be cancelled without cost to the WTO if so instructed at least 60 days prior to the cancellation. Staff members responsible for meetings with interpretation are therefore urged to take this into consideration when scheduling meetings.

Documentation

Any informal papers, Chairman's Notes and Statements associated with a meeting must be provided in advance for the Interpreters in all available languages; this includes relevant PowerPoint presentations.

Recordings

All formal and informal meetings conducted with interpretation are automatically recorded in both the original language and in English; additional copies of recordings should be requested in advance. Recordings are made available to the respective Divisions on request and the tapes should be returned to the Conference Office for recycling; normally, tapes are retained by the Conference Office for a period of three months, after which time they are recycled. Please note that recording is not automatic when there is no interpretation; if required, it should be requested in advance. Recordings can only be made if microphones are used.

4. Conference Rooms

Capacity

The WTO Conference Office has at its disposal thirteen conference rooms when the Council Room is divided in two, ranging in capacity from 714 seats (Council Room) to 10 seats (PCO in the new building) - consult the conference room plan.

Seven conference rooms are equipped with interpretation booths. Rooms CRI, CRII, W and D each have more than three booths in order to accommodate a fourth language when necessary (a fourth booth has been made available for meetings such as Accession Working Parties, e.g. Chinese or Russian). Rooms E and F each have three booths; Room B has two booths and is mainly used for Panel meetings, African Group and other small meeting groups where only two languages are required.

There is a mobile TV/Video set for use in Room A that can be moved to another conference room when necessary.

Overhead projectors, screens, PowerPoint connections and laptops have been installed in all conference rooms except Rooms X, PCR and PCO.
 

Meeting Statistics

Statistics of meetings held in the Secretariat in the course of the current year; statistics for previous years are also available in office 14.
 

5. Contacts