RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/MA/IDB/W/8
28 February 2001
(01-1027)
Committee on Market Access
A MULTILATERAL APPRAISAL OF THE OPERATION OF THE INTEGRATED
 DATA BASE AND RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES -
NORTH AND LATIN AMERICA
Note by the Secretariat
A. INTRODUCTION
1. The purpose of this note is to provide factual information to assist Members in their
Multilateral Appraisal of the Integrated Data Base (IDB) and related Technical Assistance Activities
(document G/MA/IDB/4 of 22 February 2001 refers).
2. The objectives of the Multilateral Appraisal as set out in paragraph 2 of that document are to
"identify ways of improving IDB participation through a multilateral appreciation of all Members'experiences in complying with IDB notification requirements. To do this, the Committee will focus
on obtaining a better understanding of:
• why Members have not been able to either provide any submissions at all or achieve
regular reporting patterns;
• how Members have had success in complyin g with IDB information requirements;
• what has been the effectiveness of existing technical assistance activities."
3. The modalities consist of a series of informal meetings organized on a regional basis at which
Members in that region are strongly encouraged to describe their experiences in complying with IDBnotification requirements.
4. This note contains the region-specific information to support the first meeting devoted to
North and Latin America (paragraph 8 of G/MA/IDB/4 refers).  It is in three parts.  The first part (B),
dealing with the operation of the IDB, focuses on the status of IDB submissions (participation and
timeliness), dissemination details and problems encountered by the Secretariat in standardizing the
information for inclusion in the IDB. It is based on information contained in IDB administration
records and the guidelines for supplying PC IDB submissions which were reissued as document
G/MA/IDB/W/6 on 15 June 2000.  The second part (C) identifies supplementary sources of
information which could be of assistance to delegations in pinpointing institutional or capacity relatedbottlenecks in complying with the IDB notification requirements. It also contains information on
regional organizations' activities of relevance to  the IDB. The third part (D) summarizes the
Secretariat technical assistance accorded to WTO Members in the region.
5. The cutoff date for information contained in this note was 24 February 2001.G/MA/IDB/W/8
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B. OPERATION OF THE IDB
Participation
6. Table 1 shows that 26 out of the 34 Member s in North and Latin America have submitted
information to the IDB.  Nearly all the leading trad ers in the region participate.  Most of the Members
that do not yet participate are in the Caribbean.  For a detailed region-specific status table see the
Annex.
Table 1:  Integrated Data Base - Status of Responses of WTO Members
North and Latin America
Respondents (total 26) Non-respondents (total 8)
Argentina Anti gua and Barbuda
Barbados Belize
Bolivia Gu yana
Brazil Haiti
Canada St. Kitts and Nevis
Chile St. Lucia
Colombia St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Costa Rica Suriname
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Re public
Ecuado r
El Salvado r
Grenada
Guatemala
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicara gua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Trinidad and Toba go
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
  Source:  IDB administrative records
Status of submissions
7. Table 2 summarizes the extent of the information submitted for inclusion in the  IDB from the
start of the PC version in 1996.  It should be no ted that as at the end of February 2001, submission
rates had peaked as far back as 1998 for tariffs and 1997 for imports.  For more recent years, the
number of submissions is well below the number of Members in the region.G/MA/IDB/W/8
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Table 2:  Number of IDB Submissions
North and Latin America
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Tariffs
  Current MFN applied duties 15 19 20 17 12
  C u r r e n t  M F N  b o u n d  d u t i e s 36541
Product descriptions 12 17 17 15 11
Imports 21 24 14 10 ---
N a t i o n a l  c o r r e l a t i o n s 33553
Other references 11 12 10 7 4
 --- = Not applicable
Source:  IDB administrative records
8. The detailed records presented in the Annex show that for the last three years (1998-2000);
• Ten Members have supplied applied tariffs and imports for each of the three years as
required;
• Four Members have supplied applied tariffs and imports for at least one year in that
period;
• Seven Members have supplied applied tariffs but not imports for one or several years;
• Five Members have not supplied any applied tariffs or imports for each of the three years.
9. Regarding the material needed to complete the IDB submissions (product descriptions,
national correlations and other references), the information in Table 2 can be clarified as follows:
• Not all tariff submissions were accompanied by product descriptions in one of the official
WTO languages;
• Other reference information is frequently not supplied.  However, in those cases where
reference information of previous years was still considered to be valid, the Secretariat
used that information.  Confirmation by Members to do so would be of assistance to the
Secretariat and would be reflected accordingly in the status table as submission of
information.
• Correlation tables are needed to track changes in the tariff nomenclature between imports
and tariffs for a given year, and between tariffs from one year to the next (document
G/MA/IDB/W/6 refers).  An analysis of those submissions that have been processed hasshown that in most cases, there are discrepancies both between the tariff and import
nomenclature and the year to year tariff nomenclature.  It should be noted that with
respect to the import to tariff match, the Secretariat generates matching tariff lines in the
import files if no correlation table is received, and informs the Member as part of the
approval process.  The incidence of discrepancies between year to year tariffs implies theneed of a correlation table.  The Secretariat cannot generate the correlation table without
input from Members.  Discrepancies have been flagged in the Member-specific notes.
Timeliness
10. The deadline for submitting tariffs is 30 March of the current year, and for imports,
30 September of the previous year.  As at 24 February 2001, requirements were tariff information
1996-2000 and import statistics 1996-1999.
11. Tables 3 provides an overview of the extent to which IDB submissions of applied tariffs and
imports have been made in compliance with the mandated deadlines. For tariffs and imports, theG/MA/IDB/W/8
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number of submissions (based on the first date of submission) is counted on a quarterly basis starting
in 1998.  The quarters corresponding to the deadlines have been shaded in grey.
Table 3:  Number of IDB Submissions by Date Received
North and Latin America
Tariffs for year
Submission date
by quarter1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
up to1998 - 1. 33 3
1998 - 2. 11
1998 - 3. 132
1998 - 4. 222
1999 - 1. 312 2
1999 - 2. 33
1999 - 3. 2132
1999 - 4. 111
2000 - 1. 221 1
2000 – 2. 1125
2000 – 3. 12 54
2000 – 4. 12122
All submissions 15 19 20 17 12
Imports for year
Submission date
by quarter1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
up to1998 - 1. 5 2
1998 - 2. 1
1998 - 3. 3 5
1998 - 4. 3 4 1
1999 - 1. 4 4 2
1999 – 2. 4 6 1
1999 – 3. 1 1 3
1999 – 4. 3
2000 - 1. 1 1 2 1
2000 – 2. 1 3
2000 – 3. 1 4
2000 – 4. 2
All submissions 21 24 14 10
Source:  IDB administrative recordsG/MA/IDB/W/8
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12. The table demonstrates the difficulties most re spondents have experienced in complying with
these deadlines.  In 2000, only one Member submitted the tariff schedule within the required
time-frame. For imports, less than one third of the participating 26 Members submitted their import
data within the deadlines in the years 1998 to 2000.
Dissemination
13. After successful processing, IDB files are disseminated first through the IDB Internet site.  As
a first step, the files are loaded into the provisional area of the site to await the Member's approval.
Following approval, the files are loaded into the approved area.  Files that are lodged in this area are
potential candidates for the IDB CD-ROM.  Tariffs are the primary requirement for the
IDB CD-ROM software.  Tariffs with or without the corresponding imports are accepted.  Imports
without the corresponding tariffs cannot be loaded.
Table 4:  Summary of IDB Data Submitted and Disseminated as of 31 January 2001
North and Latin America
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Applied duties
  C o m m u n i c a t e d  t o  t h e  I D B 1 51 92 01 71 2
  Loaded on the Internet File Transfer Facility 11 15 18 16 10
  Included in December 2000 IDB CD-ROM 10 13 17 12 5
Imports
  Communicated to the IDB 21 24 14 10 ---
  Loaded on the Internet File Transfer Facility 15 16 8 9 ---
  Included in December 2000 IDB CD-ROM 5853 - - -
Note: The last load of the Internet File Transfer  Facility, included in this table, took place on
31 January 2001; the count of files on the Internet also includes files in the provisional area
Source:  IDB administrative records
14. The above table gives an indication of the "success rate" of IDB submissions by highlighting
discrepancies between the information Members submit to the IDB and the information that isdisseminated on the Internet File Transfer Facility.  The discrepancies can reflect processing problems
and/or delays in processing.  With respect to the tariffs, the table shows that by and large, the
Secretariat has been able to successfully process the tariff data.  A number of problems have been
encountered with respect to imports (see below).  It should be noted that the discrepancies between
the files disseminated on the Internet and the CD-ROM can be explained by the earlier cutoff date(November 2000) and the more stringent selection criteria.
Processing
15. The Secretariat addresses problems in standardizing the data supplied by capitals for inclusion
in the IDB with delegations on an ad hoc basis.  The typical problems encountered in the submissionsof Members in the region can be summarized as follows:
a. Nomenclature
1. The tariff and/or the import national files are not in the Harmonized System (HS)
nomenclature.
2. The import national file contains tariff lines reported in different versions of the HS
(HS92 and HS96).
3. The tariff and/or import national files contain invalid HS codes at the six digit level.G/MA/IDB/W/8
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4. The tariff and the import national files are not in the same version of the HS (HS88,
HS92 or HS96).
5. Nomenclature integration problems between imports and tariff for a given year (i.e. a
number of nomenclature codes in the import file do not match the tariff nomenclature
even though both are in the same version of HS).
b. Incomplete submissions
1. The reference files for the trading partner codes and/or the quantity unit descriptions
are missing.
2. The tariff file does not contain all the tariff lines.
3. The import file does not contain all the import records for the year (for example, only
some months are included).
4. The import values are either too low or too high, when cross checked against other
sources.
C. IDB INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM SUPPLEMENTARY SOURCES
16. The results of Secretariat research into electronic sources of detailed import and tariff
information that could meet IDB requirements are summarized below. The aim of this research is to
assist delegations in ascertaining whether institutional and/or capacity issues underlie problems in
complying with IDB notification requirements.  Re source constraints precluded exhaustive research.
17. The Secretariat looked at information availabl e first in the Secretariat, notably the Market
Access Division and the Trade Policy Review Division; then in readily available databases maintained
by other international organizations and agencies. The Secretariat searched for Websites of national
statistical offices, of national customs agencies, and of regional integration agreements. The search
was restricted to imports and national customs tariffs for the last three years (1998-2000).
18. The following data sources have been identified :
19. Trade Policy Review Division (TPRD):  For a number of Members in the Caribbean,
currently not participating in the IDB, tariff information was made available to the TPRD at the end of
2000.  These data could be included in the IDB contingent on authorization from the concerned
delegations being obtained.
20. Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA):  The official Website of the FTAA
(http://www.alca-ftaa.org) gives access to the Hemispheric Trade and Tariff Data Base which contains
information on current bound and applied MFN tariffs and imports for many Members in North andLatin America at the tariff line level.  The information available on the Website has been compiled
from official country submissions to the Hemispheric Data Base for Market Access. The information
is updated on an annual basis with tariffs available in March and trade flows in September.  In a
number of cases, this publicly available database is more up-to-date than the IDB.
21. Central American Secretariat for Economic Integration (CASEI/SIECA):  The Website of the
SIECA (http://www.sieca.org.gt) gives access to MFN applied tariff duties at the tariff line level for
member countries of that organization. The tariff information is only shown for the most recent year.
In a number of cases, this publicly available database is more up-to-date than the IDB.
22. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC):  The APEC Tariff Database Internet site
(http://www.apectariff.org) contains tariff information for the APEC member economies.  The
database is updated twice each year and only the most recently submitted tariff are shown.  The
updates are dependent on the submission of data by the participating economies.  The WebsiteG/MA/IDB/W/8
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indicates that the reproduced material is not an official or authorized version and advises users to refer
to the official version of the tariff in use in the respective country. In some cases, this publicly
available database is more up-to-date than the IDB.
23. Other sources:  For some Members, national Websites that contain IDB relevant information
have been identified.  In addition, the UNCTAD TRAINS database, the United Nations COMTRADE
database and the commercial provider WORLD TA RIFF were consulted.  Any information that was
more up-to-date and or more comprehensive has been included in the Member-specific notes.
D IDB RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES
24. The General Council decision of 16 July 1997 called for the Secretariat to provide technical
assistance to Members in relation to IDB submissions. The IDB Technical Assistance Programme was
launched in April 1998 following the adoption by the Committee on Market Access of document
G/MA/IDB/W/3/Rev.1 setting out the modalities. Ta ble 5 below summarizes the following technical
assistance activities for the region since that date.
Table 5:  Summary of IDB Related Technical Assistance Missions
North and Latin America
Location Date Type of Mission Participants
Malaysia 13-16/06/1998 IDB Regional APEC members
Costa Rica 10-14/08/1998 Regional on MA
with IDB componentBelize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican
Rep., El Salvador, Guatemala,Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama
Venezuela 17-19/03/1999 IDB National Venezuela
Argentina,
Guatemala
and PeruJuly 1999 SIECA Data Entry
Software1Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama,Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay
Barbados 4-6/04/2000 IDB National Barbados
Geneva
WorkshopsJuly-September
2000IDB Regional Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay,
Uruguay.
China 17-18/02/2001 IDB Regional APEC members
1In the case of Argentina and Guatemala, meetings with national authorities were held to discuss IDB
specific issues.G/MA/IDB/W/8
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Annex
Status of PC IDB submissions as of 24 February 2001
North and Latin America
Current Tariffs Date of submission
Members Year Imports
Applied BoundProduct
DescriptionsNational
CorrelationsOther
References Imports Tariffs
Argentina 1996 Yes Yes No Yes --- No 01-99 03-99
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No No 02-99 02-99
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No No 01-99 09-98
1999 Yes Yes No Yes No No 07-00 07-00
2000 --- Yes No Yes No No 01-00 07-00
Barbados 1996 Yes No No No --- Yes 06-99 01-00
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 06-99 04-00
1998 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes 06-99 04-00
1999 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No 04-00 06-99
2000 --- Yes No Yes No No 01-00 06-00
Bolivia 1996 Yes Yes Yes Yes --- No 01-99 08-00
1997 Yes Yes Yes Yes --- No 01-99 08-00
1998 No Yes Yes Yes --- No 01-00 01-99
1999 No Yes Yes Yes --- No 01-00 08-00
Brazil 1996 No Yes Yes No --- Yes 01-00 07-99
1997 Yes Yes Yes No No Yes 04-99 09-00
1998 Yes Yes Yes No No Yes 11-99 04-99
1999 Yes Yes Yes No No Yes 09-00 09-00
2000 --- Yes No No No Yes 01-00 09-00
Canada 1996 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes 12-97 03-98
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 09-98 12-97
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 03-99 03-98
1999 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 03-00 03-99
2000 --- Yes No Yes Yes Yes 01-00 03-00
Chile 1996 Yes Yes Yes Yes --- Yes 08-98 08-98
1997 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 08-98 08-98
1998 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No 08-99 08-99
1999 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 07-00 08-99
2000 --- Yes Yes Yes No No 01-00 07-00
Colombia 1996 Yes Yes No Yes --- Yes 02-98 02-98
1997 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes 06-98 02-98
1998 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No 07-99 06-98
1999 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No 06-00 06-00
2000 --- Yes No Yes Yes No 01-00 06-00
Costa Rica 1996 Yes No No No --- Yes 10-98 01-00
1997 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 10-98 10-98
1998 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 10-99 10-98
1999 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 12-00 04-99
2000 --- Yes No Yes No Yes 01-00 05-00
Cuba 1996 Yes Yes No No --- No 06-99 03-99
1997 Yes Yes No No No No 06-99 10-99
1998 No Yes No No No No 01-00 10-99G/MA/IDB/W/8
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Current Tariffs Date of submission
Members Year Imports
Applied BoundProduct
DescriptionsNational
CorrelationsOther
References Imports Tariffs
Dominica 1996 Yes Yes No Yes --- Yes 04-99 02-00
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 04-99 02-00
1998 No Yes No Yes No No 01-00 04-99
Dominican Republic 1996 No Yes No Yes --- No 01-00 10-00
1997 No Yes No Yes --- No 01-00 10-00
1998 No Yes No Yes --- No 01-00 10-00
1999 No Yes No Yes --- No 01-00 10-00
2000 --- Yes No Yes No No 01-00 10-00
Ecuador 1996 Yes Yes No No --- No 07-99 07-99
1997 Yes Yes No No No Yes 11-98 07-99
1998 No Yes No No No No 01-00 07-99
1999 No Yes No No No No 01-00 07-99
El Salvador 1996 Yes Yes No Yes --- Yes 02-00 02-00
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 02-00 02-00
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 02-00 02-00
Grenada 1996 Yes No No No --- No 02-99 01-00
1997 Yes No No No No No 02-99 01-00
Guatemala 1996 Yes Yes No Yes --- No 09-98 12-98
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No No 09-98 09-98
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 10-99 09-98
1999 No Yes No Yes --- No 01-00 10-99
Honduras 1996 Yes No No Yes --- No 02-98 01-00
1997 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No 02-98 05-98
Jamaica 1999 No Yes No Yes No No 01-00 04-99
Mexico 1996 Yes No No No --- Yes 04-99 01-00
1997 Yes No No No No Yes 04-99 01-00
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 08-00 04-99
1999 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 08-00 08-00
2000 --- Yes No Yes No No 01-00 08-00
Nicaragua 1996 Yes Yes No Yes --- No 12-98 12-98
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No No 12-98 12-98
1998 No Yes No Yes No No 01-00 12-98
1999 No Yes No Yes No No 01-00 07-00
Panama 1996 Yes No ---1No --- Yes 07-98 01-00
1997 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes 07-98 07-98
1998 No No Yes No No Yes 01-00 01-00
Paraguay 1996 No Yes No No --- No 01-00 03-99
1997 Yes Yes No Yes No No 07-99 10-00
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No No 07-99 07-99
1999 No Yes No Yes No No 01-00 10-00
2000 --- Yes No Yes No No 01-00 10-00
Peru 1996 Yes No No Yes --- No 03-98 01-00
1997 Yes No No Yes No No 03-98 01-00
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No No 10-98 03-98
                                                     
1 Was not a Member at that time.G/MA/IDB/W/8
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Current Tariffs Date of submission
Members Year Imports
Applied BoundProduct
DescriptionsNational
CorrelationsOther
References Imports Tariffs
Trinidad and Tobago 1997 Yes No No No No No 06-99 01-00
United States 1996 Yes Yes No No --- Yes 12-97 12-97
1997 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes 09-98 12-97
1998 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes 03-00 03-98
1999 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes 10-00 03-99
2000 --- Yes No Yes No No 01-00 04-00
Uruguay 1996 Yes No No No --- No 03-99 01-00
1997 Yes No No No No No 03-99 01-00
1998 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 06-00 03-99
1999 Yes Yes No Yes No Yes 06-00 06-00
2000 --- Yes No Yes No Yes 01-00 06-00
Venezuela 1996 Yes No No No --- No 10-98 01-00
1997 Yes No No No No No 10-98 01-00
Yes =  information received.
No =  information not received.--- =  not applicable.
In the column National Correlations, "No"  may also indicate that the Secretariat has not yet been able to ascertain
the need for such a correlation table.
__________