RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/MA/M/37 
13 August 2004 
 (04-3425 ) 
Committee on Market Access  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2 JULY 2004  
 
Chairman: Dr. Magdi Farahat (Egypt
) 
  
 
 
Agenda of the meeting                      Page  
 
1. Election of the Chairperson .................................................................................................... .1 
2. Submission of HS96 documentation (G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.33)................................................1  
3. Submission of HS2002 documentation (G/MA/TAR/4/Rev.6)..............................................2  
4. Modalities and operation of the Integrated Data Base (IDB) ...............................................4  
(i)  Status of submission of the requi red documentation  (G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.19) ....................................4  
(ii)  Report by the Secretariat ................................................................................................ ..................4  
5. Consolidated Tariff Sche dules (CTS) Database.....................................................................6  
(i)  Report by the Secretariat ................................................................................................. ..................6  
6. Dissemination of the IDB and the CTS Database ..................................................................7  
(i)  Communication from the Caribbean Re gional Negotiating Machinery (G/MA/W/54) .....................7  
(ii)  Communication from the CARICOM Secretariat (G/MA/W/55) ......................................................7  
7. Review of notified quantitative restrictions based on a Secretariat summary 
(JOB(04)/92) ................................................................................................................... ...........7  
8. Date of the ne xt meeting ....................................................................................................... ....8 
 
  The above agenda as reproduced in do cument WTO/AIR/2346 dated 22 June 2004 was 
adopted with the inclusion of date of next meeti ng under "other business". An annotated agenda was 
circulated as document JOB(04)/88 dated 29 June 2004.   
 
1. Election of the Chairperson 
1.1 The Committee elected Dr. M. Farahat (E gypt) as Chairman of the Committee on Market 
Access.  The Chairman indicated that he would be holding consultations with regard to a Vice-Chair. 
 2. Submission of HS96 documentation (G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.33) 
2.1 The Chairman
 drew the Committee's attention to document G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.33  which 
reflected the present situation concerning the submission of required documentation under the 
procedures to incorporate HS changes to schedules of concessions (L/6905).  From the document, it 
could be noted that the HS96 submissions of four Members remained pending due to ongoing G/MA/M/37 
Page 2  
 
 consultations.  At its last formal meeting held on 2 April 2004, the Committee had agreed to hold an 
informal meeting in May to review the status of HS96 submissions.  However, this meeting had been 
postponed in light of the work load related to the negotiations.   2.2 The representative of the Philippines
 sought clarification regarding item 5 of the Secretariat 
document in which reference was made to only one Member, the Maldives, not having submitted 
HS96 documentation.  She had a different figur e regarding the number of Members not having 
submitted HS96 documentation.   2.3 A member of the Secretariat
 (Ms. S. Rishikesh-Mavroidis) replied that this document 
reflected the situation of Members who had requested a waiver. It was not a reflection of the situation 
of all WTO Members.   2.4 The Committee took note
 of the statements. 
 3. Submission of HS2002 documentation (G/MA/TAR/4/Rev.6) 
3.1 The Chairman
 referred to document G/MA/TAR/4/Rev.6  which reflected the situation with 
respect to the circulation of HS2002 documentati on.  A verification sheet had been issued for 
Thailand since the Committee had reviewed the situation in early April 2004.    3.2 Turning to this question of HS2002, the Chairman
 noted that the procedures to incorporate 
HS2002 changes to schedules of concessions were adopted by the General Council on 18 July 2001, 
and circulated in WT/L/407.  Since that time (i.e . it was almost three years) 33 schedules had been 
submitted, six verification sheets issued and five revi sed submissions or corrections made in light of 
those verification sheets.   It was becoming clear  that there was a problem with these procedures 
insofar as the complexities of this  exercise had been underestimated when the procedures were drawn 
up.  The system of electronic verification which had first been used in the ITA Committee in order to 
verify ITA schedules was found to be very handy in  that Committee, and it was assumed that such a 
system would work in an equally efficient way for the HS2002 transposition exercise, however, that 
had not been the case.  The current situation could not be left status quo , and as to possible solutions 
to remedy this situation, reverting to the proce dures used for the HS96 transposition exercise was not 
an option as those procedures were filled with pitf alls.  He had been doing some thinking with the 
Secretariat about what could be done and had come up with an idea which he wished to share with the 
Committee.     3.3 The one exercise that had b een successful in the Committee was the CTS project. Here, the 
Secretariat had been successful in putting together  the majority of Members' schedules on goods in 
electronic form.  Members had been required to approve their respective schedules once completed 
and any comments were incorporated.  Of course, the schedules in the database had no legal standing, 
but as practical tools they had been considered u seful.  The number of requests for access to this 
database by other organizations bore testimony to su ch a fact.  So his idea was that the Secretariat 
undertake an updating of the schedules contained in the CTS database into the HS2002.   Among the 131 schedules, three of them were already in HS2002 and would need no further work; seven 
schedules were still in HS92; and the remaining 121 schedules were in HS96.  In other words, the 
Committee, if agreeable, would need to task the Secretariat to transpose the 128 CTS schedules into 
the HS2002 nomenclature.     3.4 There were two perspectives to this exerci se:  1) the HS2007 chang es were around the corner 
and as he understood it those forthcoming changes were much more substantive then the HS2002 
changes; 2) with respect to the DDA negotiations, go ing on the basis of past experience, there would 
come a point in time when Members would need to submit schedules/offers very quickly.  If  there 
was already a set of schedules in the CTS in HS200 2,  the necessary elements (i.e. modalities) could  G/MA/M/37 
 Page 3 
 
 
 be fed into the database and these standardized fil es could be made available to Members. This would 
facilitate significantly the work of Members in pr eparing their schedules/offers which would then be 
reviewed and certified at the appropriate time.   3.5 There were a number of questions and issu es that sprang to mind including whether this 
process would replace or complement the  current HS 2002 process, what would be the cost etc.  These 
were issues that the Committee would need to think about and decide upon.  However, as a first step 
and to aid in such a task, he had requested the Se cretariat to prepare a note setting out some of the 
issues that would need to be considered in the ev ent that such a transposition exercise was undertaken.  
This note
1 had only been made available today as a room  document, but he nevertheless wished to 
obtain preliminary reactions from the Committee regarding his idea.  
 3.6 In introducing the document, a member of the Secretariat
 (Mr. J. Richtering) stated that the 
document described briefly the major HS changes that were required in order to transpose the 
nomenclature to HS2002.  It  proposed a methodology that could be used to transpose the CTS HS96 
schedules into the HS2002 nomenclature. It gave tw o examples showing the main issues involved in 
the change of nomenclature, i.e. splits (tariff lin es which were broken down into further details) and 
mergers (condensing of the nomenclature). The docum ent also listed in the annex the main elements 
that needed to be taken into account in this transposition exercise.   3.7 The representative of the Philippines
 stated that her delegation was having a lot of problems 
preparing the HS2002 submission.  On the idea put forward by the Chair, she had some questions.  
Was the intention for the Secretariat to do the first part of the job, with the result then referred to 
capital for final verification?  Would this verifi ed product then be the basis of a future legal 
document?  Under the HS96 process there was a certification of a schedule, and would this be the goal under the new process?  
 
3.8 The representative of Japan
 enquired as to whether the idea was to terminate the current 
electronic verification work.   3.9 The representative of the United States
 stated that there were a number of questions that arose 
with respect to this idea and holding consultations  would be useful.  For the approximately 100 
Members that had not made a HS2002 submission, it was a straight forward matter. If the CTS was 
going to remain a living tool then these schedules w ould have to be updated to  HS2002.  For many of 
those 100 Members the only way that would happen would be if the Secretariat did the work. A related question was what to do with the curre nt 33 HS2002 submissions including one from the US 
which had been notified.  His delegation was frust rated at the current HS2002 process due to its back 
and forth process.  For example, when the US had made its HS2002 submission a list of deficiencies 
had been identified.  Trying to get them fixed had not been easy for many reasons.  So his delegation's 
preference would be to have a process where th e Secretariat produced the HS2002 submission instead 
of the verification sheet.  This submission could go to the capital for verification, and then to the 
broader membership for certification.  The attractive feature of such a process would also be its speed 
and hopefully by the middle of next year all WTO Members would have schedules in HS2002.  The 
added benefit to this process woul d be that the CTS could then be used to produce offers and final 
schedules in the context of the Doha Round   3.10 The representative of  the European Communities
 stated that his initial reaction to the idea was 
that it was interesting and worth exploring. He shared  the Chair's analysis that the existing procedures 
to introduce HS2002 changes to schedules had not really  met the expectations of Members. It was far 
more complicated to verify electronically the HS200 2 changes than it had been to verify the limited 
number of ITA issues. With regard to the Commun ities, an electronic verification had already been 
                                                      
1 Issued subsequently as  (JOB(04)/96). G/MA/M/37 
Page 4  
 
 carried out on its HS2002 submission.  But the Commun ities were in a particular situation insofar as 
following the enlargement on 1 May 2004, the Communities had withdrawn the schedules of its members, and remitted a schedule in HS2002.  His delegation was looking forward to the completion 
of the negotiations which were going to follow, bu t was also interested in seeing a reliable CTS 
database in HS2002 for all other Members.  
 
3.11 The representative of Colombia
 viewed favourably the Chair's proposal. Her delegation 
would be happy to be able to count on the help of the Secretariat to build the CTS database and then 
have the coordination and interaction between the ca pital and the Secretariat.  Colombia had already 
received a great deal of assistance from the Secretariat and for this reason had made some progress.  
So, for a country like Colombia with a few resources  it was a very good idea.  Colombia was ready to 
participate in any consultations on the subject.   3.12 The representative of Chile
 stated that his delegation was interested in the Chair's proposal.  
He did not know what technical complexities might be encountered with this proposal, but it was true 
that in a relatively short span of time negotiating o ffers would need to be submitted.  The fact that 
Members were in such an intensive negotiating process made it even more difficult for developing countries to dedicate enough time and resources to  do this transposition exercise. Obviously 
something had to be done and Chair's proposed cour se of action had to be explored.  His delegation 
encouraged the holding of consultati ons to move the process forward. 
 
3.13 The representative of Venezuela
 agreed with other delegations that the HS2002 transposition 
process had proven to be a complex one.  There were difficulties in the electronic verification, and her 
delegation thought that the Chair's proposal was good in order to try and overcome these problems 
and facilitate the work of this Committee.  In refe rence to the comment by the Philippines, Venezuela 
was of the view that it was necessary to get approval from the capital. Venezuela's experience had 
been excellent with the Secretariat.  Through interaction between the capital and the Secretariat 
differences had been found and changes and corr ections introduced.  Her delegation was very 
interested in participating in any consultations on the subject.   3.14 The Committee took note
 of the comments and agreed  that the Chairman hold consultations 
in order to look at the different aspects of this proposal.  
 
4. Modalities and operation of the Integrated Data Base (IDB) 
(i)  Status of submission of the required documentation  (G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.19) 
4.1 The Chairman  stated that document G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.19 had been circulated to all Members.  
This document presented the situation of IDB subm issions as of 18 June 2004.  He reminded 
Members that this was a WTO notification obligation and emphasised the importance of the IDB 
submissions for a wide range of WTO work.  He en couraged those delegations that had not yet been 
able to make their submissions to the IDB to get in contact with the Secretariat and try and seek the 
necessary technical assistance to help them fulfil  that requirement.  As was the practice, the 
Secretariat's full report would be faxed to all delegations, and incl uded in the minutes of the meeting 
as annexes. 
 
(ii)  Report by the Secretariat 
4.2 A member of the Secretariat  (Mr. J. Richtering) stated that on IDB submissions ,  at the 
meeting of the Committee on Market Access in Ap ril 2004, the Chairperson had requested the 
Secretariat to contact Members with no IDB submissions.  In that context, letters were sent on 
11 June 2004 by the Division to 14 Members that had not yet provided any IDB submissions. In that 
letter, Members were encouraged to identify diffi culties that they were facing in preparing IDB  G/MA/M/37 
 Page 5 
 
 
 submissions and to ask the Secretariat for assistance if required.  So far, no feedback had been 
received.    4.3 Since the circulation of the Status of Submissions document G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.19, the 
Secretariat had received the following submissions: Barbados (2003 import data  and 2004 tariff data); 
China (2003 import and tariff data); Egypt (1999 to 2003 tariff data); and Norway (2003 import data). 
 4.4 On IDB dissemination
, the Secretariat continued to load information onto the IDB Internet 
File Transfer Facility (FTF) on a monthly basis.  As of 30 June 2004, files for 104 Members2 and four 
acceding countries or territories were available on the IDB website.  Release 12 of the IDB CD-ROM 
and Release 4 of the CTS CD-ROM were distributed via a letter dated 30 June 2004.  Due to size 
limitations of the IDB CD-ROM, data for the y ear 1996 had to be excluded from the IDB CD-ROM.  
Information for the year 1996 could be found in IDB CD-ROM Release 11. The passwords for the 
IDB Internet sites were change d on 30 June 2004.  Letters info rming delegations of their new 
passwords were sent to heads of delegations on 24 May 2004. 
 
4.5 On the use and publication of IDB and CTS data , the Australian Productivity Commission 
had developed the "Integrated Tariff Analysis Syst em (ITAS)", a software application operating on 
the IDB and CTS data to estimate the likely effects of several tariff reduction formulae on post Uruguay tariffs.
3 As stipulated in the IDB/CTS dissemination policy (G/MA/115), the Productivity 
Commission wished to inform the Committee of its intention to make its system publicly available 
both on CD-ROM and on its website, with due re gard to IDB and CTS dissemination policy.  The 
documents sent by the Productivity Commission to  the WTO Secretariat were attached to the 
Secretariat report (Annex 4).4 
 4.6 On technical assistance
, since the April 2004 meeting of th e Committee, Secretariat staff had 
undertaken one more regional workshop on Non-Agri cultural Market Access ( NAMA) in Barbados at 
the end of May 2004 and two national workshops on  NAMA in Kenya and on the IDB in Zimbabwe 
in June 2004.  One issue of concern that emerged in  national and in particul ar in regional workshops 
was the limited knowledge of participants about IDB and CTS CD-ROMs and passwords to the IDB 
website.  As concerned IDB and CTS CD-ROMs these could be handed out by WTO staff at 
workshops or could be mailed to government officials upon request.  For the IDB passwords, 
however, the situation was slightly different.  The IDB dissemination policy (G/MA/115) stipulated 
that IDB passwords could only be sent to heads of delegations who then in turn should forward them 
the requesting national officials.  It seemed that  many national officials who could benefit from the 
IDB online facilities had not received the passwords, which were sent to their respective missions.  
Participants in several workshops raised this as a concern because they could not put into practice  
immediately what they had learned in the workshops.  In light of these concerns and in an effort to 
widen the use of IDB internet facilities (IAF and the FTF) the Secretariat suggested to use the 
following approach for all technical assistance ac tivities which involved the demonstration of IDB 
tools:      (i)       All participants would be given te mporary passwords for the duration of the training 
programme which would give them access to th e IAF only.  This applied also to all 
participants in the regular three-month trade policy courses;  
                                                     
 
2 This counts the European Communities as one for its 25  Members and Switzerland and Liechtenstein as one.  
3 The software application consists ba sically of a suite of programmes.  These have been written in SAS, a 
statistical software package for which a licence is required.   
4 It consists of two documents : (i) a letter addressed to the Director  of the Economic Research and Statistics 
Division entitled "Request fo r WTO approval in relation to acceptable use of WTO data and the public release of the 
Integrated Tariff Analysis System (ITAS )"; and (ii) a note entitled  "Response to IDB/CTS conditi ons for publication".  In 
addition, a comprehensive research memorandum entitled "T he Integrated Tariff Analysis System Version 1.0" was 
available in the Secretariat.  G/MA/M/37 
Page 6  
 
  (ii)       Heads of delegations would be re quested to inform participants nominated for the 
technical assistance activities of their respectiv e IDB passwords. Heads of delegations would 
also be informed that, unless they objected, the Secretariat would undertake to distribute 
passwords (for restricted access only) to all nomin ated government officials.  This applied to 
all Members and those countries in acce ssion having supplied data to the IDB. 
 
4.7 On the IDB Internet Analysis Facility
, as reported at the last meeting of the Committee, the 
IDB Internet Analysis Facility (IAF – http://iaf.wto. org) was now available in English, French and 
Spanish. The Secretariat was currently working on the implementation of: (1) query selection criteria 
for the CTS database; (2) a report on the CTS ta riff concessions; (3) a new product selection applet; 
and (4) a facility to display reporter notes.  The Secretariat was aiming to distribute a better version of 
the "portable" IAF after the summer break and would seek out delegations willing to test the product.  
Minor application changes would also be required to include the linked IDB-CTS files in the IAF, 
because the database would have two files, one with  and one without final bound duties, for the same 
reporting country and year. 
 
4.8 The representative of the Philippines  stated that her delegation appreciated the work done by 
the Secretariat and encouraged the Secretariat to con tinue to try to provide technical assistance to the 
14 Members that had not been able to make an y IDB submission.  She recalled that when the 
Committee had commenced this exerci se the situation had looked impossible, but now thanks to the 
assistance that the Secretariat had provided, a lot of progress had been made. There were many 
elements in the Secretariat report that were wort h exploring including the fact that IDB passwords 
were not being disseminated to the capitals.   4.9 The Committee took note
 of the statements. 
 5. Consolidated Tariff Schedules (CTS) Database 
(i)  Report by the Secretariat 
5.1 A member of the Secretariat
 (Mr. J. Richtering) stated that since the last meeting of the 
Committee, IDB/CTS staff had continued their work in the following areas:  updating Members' files with rectifications and modifications of schedules that  were issued after the creation of the initial CTS 
files;  incorporating Members' comments in their CTS files.  Comments from the Czech Republic had 
been notified to the Secretariat in early June 2004 and would  be incorporated into the database file. 
 5.2 Further to the revision of the IDB-CTS corre lation tables ("link” tables) in March 2004, new 
correlation tables had been prepared for two more Members:  Georgia and Mongolia.  In all, new 
correlation tables were now available for 63 Member s.  The Secretariat had continued to prepare 
IDB files containing the final bound duties followi ng the procedure presented in JOB(03)/217/Rev.1 
using a software application developed specifically fo r this purpose.  The Secretariat intended to load 
a first batch of linked files in the Provisional area  of the IDB File Transfer Facility in July.  The 
remainder would be posted on the FTF in the following months.  5.3 The Committee took note
 of the report. 
  G/MA/M/37 
 Page 7 
 
 
 6. Dissemination of the IDB and the CTS Database  
(i)  Communication from the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (G/MA/W/54) (ii)  Communication from the CARICOM Secretariat (G/MA/W/55) 
6.1 The Chairman
 stated that on 12 June 2002, the Committee had adopted document G/MA/115 
containing the dissemination policy of the IDB and CTS database.   Certain organizations (UNCTAD, 
IMF, World Bank, ITC) had been given automa tic access to these two databases.  However, the 
Committee had agreed that other intergovernmental organizations wishing to have access would need 
to obtain approval from the Committee on a case-by- case basis.  This policy was contained in 
paragraph 5 of document G/MA/115.  Since th e dissemination policy had been adopted the 
Committee had granted access to the OECD, FAO, ITCB and UNESCAP. 
 
6.2 He reminded the Committee that the previ ous Chair of the Committee had written to the 
UNESCAP in May 2004 to inform them that the Committee had approved their access to the IDB and 
the CTS and to ask what information they might have  to share on a reciprocal basis.  He was pleased 
to inform the Committee that a response had been re ceived, which the former Chair had requested be 
circulated to Committee Members.  It had been circulated as an  addendum to UNESCAP's original 
request contained in document G/MA/W/535.  
 6.3 The Committee had now before it request s for access to these two databases from the 
Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery and the CARICOM Secretariat.  These two Secretariats had undertaken to use and publish th e information contained in these da tabases in accordance with the 
terms and conditions laid out in G/MA/115.  If the Committee agreed to grant access, he proposed 
writing to them in similar terms as the former Chair had done to the ITCB and UNESCAP and ask 
them about what data they might have that they could share with the WTO on a reciprocal basis.  
 6.4 The Committee approved
 the requests from the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery 
and the CARICOM Secretaria for access to the IDB and CTS database, and agreed  to the Chair's 
proposal.  
 
7. Review of notified quantitative restrictions based on a Secretariat summary (JOB(04)/92) 
7.1 The Chairperson
 recalled that Members were required to make notifications of the 
quantitative restrictions they maintain every tw o years pursuant to the "Decision on Notification 
Procedures for Quantitative Restrictions" (G/L/59) .  Additionally, according to the decision, the 
Committee "shall, at two-yearly intervals after re ceipt of the complete notifications, review the 
notifications received, on the basis of Secretariat su mmaries similar to the summaries prepared for the 
GATT Technical Group on Quantitative Restrictions a nd Other Non-Tariff Measures".  As agreed at 
the last meeting of the Committee, the Secretar iat had prepared a summary of the quantitative 
restrictions notified in JOB(04)/92.  In light of the recent circulation of the document, he proposed 
that the Committee conduct its review at the next meeting.   7.2 The Committee agreed.
 
 
                                                      
5 Also see Annex 3 for a list of the databases ava ilable in intergovernmental organization having access 
to the IDB and CTS.  This information was requested by a Member at the last meeting of the Committee. G/MA/M/37 
Page 8  
 
 8. Date of the next meeting 
8.1 The Committee took note
 that the next meeting of the Committee was scheduled for 
20 September 2004, subject to confirmation.     G/MA/M/37 
 Page 9 
 
 
  
ANNEX 1 
 
Integrated Data Base 
 
Report by the Secretariat 
  
IDB Submissions
 
 
 At the April Meeting of the Committee on Ma rket Access, the Chairperson requested the 
Secretariat to contact Members with no IDB submissi ons.  In that context, letters were sent on the 11th 
of June by the Division to 14 Members that had not  yet provided any IDB submissions.  In the letter 
Members are encouraged to identify difficulties that they are facing in preparing IDB submissions and 
to ask the Secretariat for assistance if required .  No feedback has been received so far.   
  
 Since the circulation of the Status of S ubmissions document, G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.19, the 
Secretariat received the following submissions:   
• Barbados  2003 imports and 2004 tariff  
• China   2003 imports and tariff  
• Egypt   1999 – 2003 tariffs 
• Norway  2003 imports 
 IDB Dissemination
 
 
 The Secretariat continues to load information onto the IDB Internet File Transfer Facility on a 
monthly basis.  As of 30 June 2004, files for 104 Members6 and four acceding countries or territories 
are available on the IDB website.   Release 12 of the IDB CD-ROM and Release 4 of the CTS CD-ROM were distributed via a 
letter dated 30 June.  Due to size limitations of th e IDB CD ROM, data for the year 1996 had to be 
excluded from the IDB CD-ROM.  Information for the year 1996 can be found in IDB CD-ROM 
Release 11.   The passwords  for the IDB Internet sites were cha nged on 30 June.  Letters informing 
delegations of their new passwords were sent to heads of delegations on 24 May. 
 
Use and publication of IDB and CTS data
 
 
The Australian Productivity Commission has de veloped the "Integrated Tariff Analysis 
System (ITAS)", a software application operating on the IDB and CTS data to estimate the likely 
effects of several tariff reducti on formulae on post Uruguay tariffs.7  As stipulated in the IDB/CTS 
dissemination policy (G/MA/115), the Productivity Commission herewith informs the Committee of 
its intention to make its system publicly availa ble both on CD-ROM and on its website, with due 
                                                      
6 This counts the European Communities as one for its 25  Members and Switzerland and Liechtenstein as one.  
7 The software application consists ba sically of a suite of programmes.  These have been written in SAS, a 
statistical software package for which a licence is required.   G/MA/M/37 
Page 10  
 
 regard to IDB and CTS dissemination policy.  The documents sent by the Productivity Commission to 
the WTO Secretariat are attached to the speaking notes that will be made available to delegations.
8 
 
Technical Assistance  
 
 Since the April 2004 meeting of the Committee, Secretariat staff have undertaken one more 
regional workshop on Non-agricultural Market Acc ess (NAMA) in Barbados at the end of May and 
two national workshops on NAMA in Keny a and on IDB in Zimbabwe in June. 
   One issue of concern that emerged in national and in particular in regional workshops is the 
limited knowledge of participants about IDB and C TS CD ROMs and passwords to the IDB website.  
As concerns IDB and CTS CD ROMs these can be ha nded out by WTO staff at workshops or can be 
mailed to government officials upon request.  For the IDB passwords, however, the situation is 
slightly different.  The IDB dissemination policy (G/MA/115) stipulates that IDB passwords can only be sent to heads of delegations who then in turn s hould forward them the requesting national officials.   
 
  It seems that many national officials who c ould benefit from the IDB online facilities have not 
received the passwords, which were sent to their respective missions.  Participants in several 
workshops did raise this as a concern because they co uld not put into practice immediately what they 
had learned.   
  In light of these concerns and in an effort to widen the use of IDB internet facilities (IAF and 
FTF) the Secretariat suggests to use the following  approach for all TA activities which involve 
demonstration of IDB tools.    
1.       All participants will be given tem porary passwords for the duration of the training 
programme which would give them access to the IAF only.  This applies also to all 
participants in the regular three-month trade policy courses.  
2.       Heads of delegations will be requested to inform nominated participants of their respective 
IDB passwords. Heads of delegations will also  be informed that, unless they object, the 
Secretariat will undertake to distribute passwor ds (for restricted access only) to all nominated 
government officials.  This applies to a ll Members and those countries in accession having 
supplied data to the IDB. 
 IDB Internet Analysis Facility
 
  As reported at the last meeting of the Committee, the IDB Internet Analysis Facility  
(IAF – http://iaf.wto.org) is now availabl e in English, French and Spanish.  
  The Secretariat is currently working on the implementation of (1) query selection criteria for 
the CTS database, (2) a report on the CTS tariff concessions, (3) a new product selection applet; and 
(4) a facility to display reporter notes.  
 The Secretariat is aiming to distribute a beta version of the "portable" IAF after the summer 
break and will seek out delegations willing to test the product.  
                                                     
 
8 It consists of two documents : (i) a letter addressed to the Director  of the Economic Research and Statistics 
Division entitled "Request fo r WTO approval in relation to acceptable use of WTO data and the public release of the 
Integrated Tariff Analysis System (ITAS )"; and (ii) a note entitled  "Response to IDB/CTS conditi ons for publication".  In 
addition, a comprehensive research memorandum entitled "The In tegrated Tariff Analysis System Version 1.0" is available 
in the Secretariat (to be found in Annex 4).   G/MA/M/37 
 Page 11 
 
 
  Minor application changes will also be require d to include the linked IDB-CTS files in the 
IAF, because the database will have two files, one  with and one without fi nal bound duties, for the 
same reporting country and year. G/MA/M/37 
Page 12  
 
 ANNEX 2 
 
Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database
 
 
Report by the Secretariat  
 
 
 Since the last meeting of the Committee, IDB/ CTS staff have continued their work in the 
following areas:  
• Updating Members' files with rectifications an d modifications of schedules that were issued 
after the creation of the initial CTS files. 
 
• Incorporating Members' comments in their C TS files.  Comments from the Czech Republic 
have been notified to the Secretariat early June and will be incorporated  into the database file. 
  Further to the revision of the IDB-CTS corre lation tables ("link” tables) in March, new 
correlation tables have been prepared for two more  Members:  Georgia and Mongolia.  In all, new 
correlation tables are now available for 63 Members.  The Secretariat has continued to prepare IDB files containing the final bound duties followi ng the procedure presented in JOB(03)/217/Rev.1 
using a software application developed specifically fo r this purpose.  The Secretariat intends to load a 
first batch of linked files in  the Provisional area of  the IDB File Transfer Facility (FTF) in July.  The 
remainder will be posted on the FTF in the following months. 
 
  
  G/MA/M/37
 Page 13ANNEX 3 
 
Databases available in intergovernmental organ izations having access to the IDB and CTS  
 
 
 Following a request from a Member at the last meeting of the Committee concerning access to data bases of intergovernmental org anizations which have been granted 
access to the IDB, a list with the relevant information is shown below. 
 
Organization  Data  Sources Password                     Website 
restricted 
Food and Agricultural 
Organization (FAO) Agriculture 
production, merchandise trade FAOSTAT on-line 
database x
 http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/collections  
International Monetary 
Fund (IMF) Merchandise trade, 
Trade in services, 
BoP, National accounts, Prices, 
GDP IFS on-line database 
 
WEO database x
 http://ifs.apdi.net/imf/ifsbrowser.aspx?branch=ROOT  
 
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ ft/weo/2004/01/data/index.htm  
International Textiles 
and Clothing Bureau (ITCB)      
International Trade 
Center (ITC) Market Access data MacMap database  http://www.intracen.org/mas/mac.htm  
Organisation for 
Economic Co-operation and 
Development (OECD) Merchandise trade 
unit values, Energy and Commodity 
prices OLIS database 
 OECD databases x http://www.olisnet.oecd.org 
 
 http://titania.sourceoecd.org/vl=7576267/cl=26/nw=1/rpsv/oecd_database.htm
 
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 
(UNCTAD) Foreign investment, 
Tariff and non-tariff measures, 
Merchandise trade 
data Handbook of Statistics 
 FDI  
 
TRAINS   http://stats.unctad.org/restricted/eng /ReportFolders/Rfview/Explorerp.asp
 
 http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=1923&lang=1
 
 
http://r0.unctad.org/trains/intro.htm  
World Bank World Development 
Indicators WDI on-line  http://www.worldbank.org/data/wdi2004/index.htm  
 
 G/MA/M/37 
Page 14  
 
 ANNEX 4 
 
Request for WTO approval in relation to acceptable use of WTO data and
 
the public release of the Integrated Tariff Analysis System (ITAS ) 
  
 
 
Melbourne Office 
Level 28, 35 Collins Street 
Melbourne  VIC  3000 
Locked Bag 2 Collins Street East  
Melbourne  VIC  8003 
Telephone 03 9653 2100 
Facsimile 03 9653 2199 
Canberra Office 
Telephone 02 6240 3200 
www.pc.gov.au 
Dr. Patrick Low 
Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division WTO Secretariat World Trade Organization Centre William Rappard Rue de Lausanne 154 
CH-1211 Geneva 21 
Switzerland 
Dear Dr. Low 
Request for WTO approval  
in relation to acceptable use of WTO data  
and the public release of the Integrated Tariff Analysis System (ITAS) 
 
 The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government’s principal review and advisory 
body on microeconomic policy and regu lation. Part of the Commission’s mandate is to monitor trends 
in trade and assistance. This, along with its ongoing in terest in multilateral liberalisation, has led to 
the Commission examining the likely effects of the tariff reduction formulas proposed during the Doha round of trade negotiations. 
 
 As part of this work, the Commission has developed a suite of (SAS) programs to process WTO trade and tariff data and to estimate the lik ely effects of several formulas on post Uruguay 
tariffs. Our system is called ITAS (the Integrated  Tariff Analysis System). ITAS operates on the 
WTO’s Consolidated Tariff Schedule (CTS) and Inte grated Database (IDB) data. The ITAS package 
includes: 
− a 17 country implementation of ITAS, which in cludes detailed and summary tables for bound and 
applied tariffs on over 5000 HS6 industrial pr oducts for 17 importing countries and about 200 
exporting partners;  
− the SAS code required to process the primary WT O data, convert it into a standardised form, 
apply various formulas to tariffs on bilateral trad e flows and create a range of data summaries for 
further analysis; and  G/MA/M/37 
 Page 15 
 
 
 − a research memorandum, The Integrated Tariff Analysis System Version 1.0 , outlining the general 
structure of the suite of programs and the primary data on which it is based. 
 
ITAS is intended to be complementary to other tariff information and analysis software, such 
as PC-IDB, World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) and Market Access Map (MAcMap). 
 
Over the past few months we have been in  touch with WTO staff (Bijit Bora and Jurgen 
Richtering) with regard to our work and its inte nded release. We have also sent them the ITAS 
research memorandum and the software package for evaluation.  
ITAS is now nearing completion and we would like to make it publicly available both on CD-
ROM and on our website in early August. Such a re lease would allow others to use this tool to 
conduct tariff analysis to inform discussions on tariff changes. However, before  this public release can 
occur, we need to ensure that such a public release would be with in the WTO’s conditions of use for 
the IDB and CTS data on which it is based. 
Please find attached a statement of what we  believe to be the WTO’s conditions for 
publication of information and analyses derived from CTS and IDB data, and our response to each 
condition. We believe that we have  satisfied the conditions of use but  require official confirmation of 
this from the WTO before we can proceed with the release of ITAS. 
If we have satisfied the conditions for publi cation, would you please send me a letter (by 
email) to that effect. If, however, there are other steps we should take, I would be grateful for your 
advice. 
 
Yours sincerely 
 Robert Kerr Head of Office rkerr@pc.gov.au 
 
 G/MA/M/37 
Page 16  
 
 Response to IDB/CTS conditions for publication
 
 
 In order to release the ITAS paper and so ftware, the Productivity Commission proposes to 
meet the conditions for publication of IDB and CTS information and analysis as follows: 
 
1.  WTO copyright of the original data is acknowledged. 
 
We have included an acknowledgement of WTO co pyright of the original data in several 
places, including in chapter 1 of the paper a nd on the “front page” of the ITAS CD-ROM. 
 
2.  Any conclusions or analyses based on IDB and CTS data are accompanied by a disclaimer 
stating that they are the responsibility of th e authors and do not necessarily represent the 
opinion of the WTO. 
  We propose to include the following disclaimer in  several places, including in chapter 1 of the 
paper and on the “front page” of the ITAS CD-ROM:  Disclaimer:
 
Neither the Productivity Commission nor the WTO (The Agencies) provide any guarantee with 
respect to ITAS and its supported databases. The user s assume all risk for the installation, use of, and 
results obtained from the system. The Agencies shall not  be liable for any error contained in ITAS, in 
the research memorandum, in the documentation, in an y other material supplied with the system, nor 
for incidental or consequential damage resulting from the furnishing, performance, or use of the 
system. The designation employed and the presentati on of the material in this publication do not 
imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on th e part of The Agencies concerning the legal 
status of any country, territory, city or area, or of  its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its 
frontiers or boundaries.  
3.  The Committee on Market Access is info rmed through the WTO Secretariat of intended 
publication prior to publication. 
 
The Committee on Market Access has been informed  of our intended publication of the paper 
and software by the attached letter to the Secretariat. 
 
4.  The most detailed level of data that can be published is at the level of HS 6-digit sub 
headings.  
 The most detailed level of data that is publis hed in the paper and on the CD-ROM is at the 
level of HS 6-digit sub headings.  
5.  Publication of detailed data beyond the level of HS 6-digit sub headings is contingent on 
obtaining written permission from the Member(s) or authorized Acceding country(ies) in 
question through the WTO Secretariat. 
 
Supplementary data
 
We propose to include the source data (more detail ed than HS6) on a ‘supplementary CD-ROM’ that 
would only be made available (on request) to ‘WTO au thorised users’. This would be done to ensure 
that authorised users were able (for example) to modify our treatment of missing values, add extra 
importing countries to the system and so on.  Publication of detailed data beyond the level of HS 6-digit sub headings is contingent on obtaining 
written permission from the Member(s) or authorized Acceding country(ies) in question through the 
WTO Secretariat. As the Supplementary CD does not  constitute publication a nd will only be released  G/MA/M/37 
 Page 17 
 
 
 to users who already have access to the IDB and C TS, we assume that we do not need to obtain 
“written permission from the Member(s) or authori zed Acceding country(ies) in question through the 
WTO Secretariat” in order to make this Supplem entary CD-ROM available on the basis described 
above.  
__________