RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/105/Suppl.1
12 May 1999
(99-1957)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
SURVEY ON THE ELECTRONIC FACILITIES AVAILABLE
IN NATIONAL ENQUIRY POINTS
Supplement
The following is additional information of the Survey received from 13 enquiry points of
ten Members.  An updated conclusion has been prepared.G/TBT/W/105/Suppl.1
Page 2
ComputersInternet
Service
ProviderInternet
AccessWeb siteWeb
Publishing
SoftwareE-mailElectronic
trans-mission of
documentsEnquiry
points of
Members
yes number yes no yes no yes no yes no yes no yes noWord processor
version
B e l g i u m x 4 0 xxxxx x M S  W o r d  6
Chile x 8 x x x x x x Word 97
Iceland x 3 x x x x x x Microsoft word 97, 8.0 Version
Italy x 3 x x x x x x MS Word 97
New Zealand x 50 x x x1xx x M S  W o r d  9 7
Panama x 10 x x x x x x Windows 97 and 98
Peru x 7 x x x x x x Word  97, Office 95 and 97
Philippines x - x x x x x x MS Office 97
S w e d e n x 2 xxxxx W o r d  9 7
Tunisia2
Tunisia3
Tunisia4
Tunisia5x
x
x
x1
3
-
-x
x
x
xx
x
x
xx
x
x
xx
x
x
xx
x
x
xxx
x
xWindows 95
Word 97
Win-word 6
T O T A L 1 3 - 1 3 0 1 2 18594 1 1 2 1 0 3
                                                          
1Deemed not necessary at this stage
2Enquiry point of Ministry of Public Health
3Enquiry point of  Ministry of Communications
4Enquiry point of  Ministry of Agriculture
5Enquiry point of  Ministry of CommerceG/TBT/W/105/Suppl.1
Page 3
CONCLUSION (Updated)
1. All the 64 enquiry points possess computers.  The number of computers range from
one to 665.  The most commonly used word processing software is Word 97.
2. There are Internet Service Providers in the territories of all the 56 Members.3. Almost all the enquiry points have internet access, except the ones in Benin, Cuba, Myanmar,
Romania, Tunisia (Enquiry point of Ministry of  Commerce) and Zimbabwe.  Although they are
planning to acquire such access, the main obstacles are the technical constraints, lack of resources and
permanent premises (Romania).
4. Out of the 64 enquiry points, 29 do not have web sites, and the reasons provided include the
following:  (i) there are government web sites related to their relevant authorities or Ministries;  (ii)
they do not think there is a need to establish one;  (iii) there is a lack of financial resources;  and
(iv) there is a communication problem.  Some of the enquiry points stated their intention to create
their own web site in the future (Barbados, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt,
Fiji, Ireland, Jamaica, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Tunisia and Zimbabwe), and anumber of them indicated that technical assistance would be needed to establish one.
5. Thirty-one of the enquiry points are equipped with web publishing software.  The reasons for
those which do not possess the software are the lack of funding and technical know-how, or they hire
outsiders for such service.  Some of the enquiry points indicated that they are considering to acquiresuch software.
6. All of the enquiry points have e-mail, excep t two in Tunisia and the one in Benin due to
financial and technical constraints.
7. Forty-seven enquiry points regularly transmit documents electronically, depending on
demand.  The reasons for those which do not do so are:  (i) there is a higher demand for hard copy
texts;  (ii) their documents are not available in electronic format;  (iii)  due to the limited funding and
training;  (iv) lack of the relevant facilities;  (v) software incompatibility;  and (vi) procedural or
technical difficulties.  However, some enquiry points are planning to start transmitting documentselectronically.
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