RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/MA/W/20
20 July 1999
(99-3011)
Committee on Market Access Original:  English
APEC'S REQUEST FOR AN INTERNET MIRROR SITE
OF THE INTEGRATED DATA BASE (IDB)1
The following communication, which was presented orally at the meeting of the Committee
on Market Access on 22 June 1999, has been received from the Permanent Mission of Singapore.
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1. As set out in agenda item D of the Committee on Market Access meeting of 22 June 1999,
Singapore, as co-ordinator of APEC's Market Access Group, has been asked to make the following
request for an APEC internet mirror site of the integrated database for Members' consideration.
Background
2. The Mirror Site proposal is currently being explored by APEC's Market Access Group
(MAG).  The proposal was first initiated in 1998 where, in the context of technical assistance for the
IDB, the WTO Secretariat had conducted a seminar for APEC economies on 14 June 1998 in
Kuching, Malaysia during which the WTO Secretariat staff had conducted a demonstration utilising
the IDB CD-ROM.  At that demonstration the APEC MAG recognized that the WTO IDB would
meet APEC's need for a database for the purposes of trade policy analysis.  APEC's existing Tariff
Database (TDB) has not been able to meet this objective.  The TDB basically contains applied tariffs
and tariff-related information (i.e., customs guide, column definition, etc.).
3. Subsequently, the MAG has communicated with the WTO Secretariat on four occasions
between July 1998 and June 1999 on the possibility of establishing a Mirror Site of the IDB in the
APEC Secretariat Homepage.  The WTO Secretariat, the APEC Market Access Group and the APEC
Secretariat have been working together on the proposal which has been endorsed by the Committee on
Trade and Investment (CTI) to which the MAG repo rts.  As the Chair of MAG, Singapore has been
mandated by the CTI to formally apply and liaise, on behalf of APEC, with the WTO Market AccessCommittee on this issue.
Proposal
4. The proposed Mirror Site, which will be host ed in the APEC Secretariat Homepage, would
use the structure of the IDB, in particular, the IDB dissemination database that will be available to
users via a reporting application developed using Internet technology as set out in paragraph 7 of
WTO document G/MA/IDB/3.  The Mirror Site woul d only have information pertaining to APEC
economies of which there are 21 at present.  All APEC Economies are either WTO Members or
acceding WTO countries.  With the Mirror Site in the APEC Secretariat Homepage comprising of
trade information pertaining to only APEC economie s, APEC members would be able to gain faster
internet access to the IDB.  In this regard APEC MAG would require access to the IDB database
                                                     
1 See Annex for the Technical Note by the S ecretariat on the APEC Internet Mirror Site.G/MA/W/20
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design and software in accordance with pa ragraph 27 of the IDB dissemination practices
(G/MA/IDB/3).  The details for this are currently being worked out between the APEC Secretariat and
the WTO Secretariat.
5. The MAG has agreed that whatever conditions are associated with the current WTO IDB
would similarly be applicable to the APEC Mirror Site in the APEC Secretariat Homepage.  As in the
case of the WTO IDB, access to the Internet Mirror Site would be restricted to economies which
contributed to the IDB.  This restriction woul d apply to both WTO Members and economies in the
process of seeking accession to the WTO.
6. Therefore, at each of MAG's three meetings on 21 February 1998, 15 June 1998 and
3 February 1999, the MAG Chair has urged its members to submit updated data to the IDB.  Based onthe latest information from the WTO Secretariat, all but five APEC economies have submitted the
relevant data for the IDB.
Benefits of the WTO IDB
7. The WTO IDB has trade statistics which would facilitate the matching of tariff information
with associated trade statistics, and would be usef ul for the evaluation of the impact of tariffs on
intensity of intra-APEC trade.  In terms of tariff -related information, the IDB is more comprehensive
as it provides trade data based on various types of duties (e.g. MFN GATT bound rate, MFN Applied
rate, MFN Pre-Uruguay, etc.).  The bound tariff rates, for example, contribute to greater transparencyof tariff regimes of member economies.
8. In addition, the MAG would assist in urging all APEC economies to update their information
according to the WTO submission deadlines.  Thus , MAG would work with the WTO Secretariat for
the prompt supply of trade information.G/MA/W/20
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ANNEX
Technical Note by the Secretariat
In the context of technical cooperation, the Secretariat gave a seminar on the IDB for APEC
economies at the APEC meeting of senior officials held in Malaysia in June 1998.  The seminar
covered, inter alia , the IDB requirements, the IDB File Transfer Facility and the IDB CD-ROM.
During the seminar, the WTO Secretariat representatives explained to APEC secretariat officials thatin future, an interactive Internet application would be developed that would provide features for trade
policy analysis similar to those available on the IDB CD-ROM.  Although APEC already had a
database of tariffs for some APEC members on the Internet, this database did not include features fortrade policy analysis.  APEC and its secretariat were therefore interested in using the IDB software for
their internal trade policy analysis, thus precluding  the need for them to develop their own software.
This led to APEC's request to have a copy of the IDB database design and software.
Should the Committee on Market Access decide to give APEC permission to receive a copy
of the IDB database design and software, the APEC secretariat could first establish an Internet mirrorsite of the IDB Internet File Transfer Facility.  This would make it easier for APEC members to send
their processed IDB files to the APEC secretariat.
− The Internet site would be located on a server at the APEC secretariat.
− The APEC Internet site would be stocked with  APEC members' processed IDB files.  These
processed IDB files would be supplied to the APEC secretariat by APEC members themselves.
To facilitate this operation, APEC members could download their own processed IDB files fromthe WTO Internet site and then upload these files to the APEC Internet site.
− The WTO Secretariat could provide a copy of the IDB File Transfer Facility application software
to the APEC secretariat.  The APEC secretariat would establish their own passwords and user-
identification codes to permit APEC members to access the APEC Internet site.  The passwordsused for the IDB File transfer Facility would not  be provided to APEC.
− The Secretariat could also provide the APEC secretariat with the IDB PC Reporting Tools when
these are available.
− The WTO Secretariat could also provide the APEC secretariat with the database design and
software for the IDB dissemination database and the Internet reporting application as described in
paragraph 7 of document G/MA/IDB/3, once this application is ready.
With respect to the term "mirror site" that is used in APEC's request, the APEC Internet site
would not be a mirror site in the true sense of the term.  A mirror site usually refers to a completereplication of an Internet site (software and data) situated in a different location.  The APEC Internet
site would be a subset of the WTO IDB Internet  site containing data for APEC economies only.
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