WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/CTE/EDB/9/Add.1 
6 November 2012 
 (12-6150) 
Committee on Trade and Environment  
  
 
ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENTAL DATABASE FOR 2009 
 
Note by the Secretariat 
 
Addendum 
 
This database has been prepared under the Secretariat's own 
responsibility and without prejudice to the positions of Members 
and to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  
 
  To facilitate usage of the Environmental Data base (EDB), EDB 2009 has been prepared in 
two parts: a Word-format part, which contains a brief description of th e 2009 environment-related 
notifications under the WTO Agreements and refe rence to environmental measures and policies 
mentioned in Trade Policy Reviews (TPRs) ci rculated as document WT/CTE/EDB/9; and, an 
Excel-format part, which provides more detailed in formation, and is circulated exclusively in 
electronic form
1.  
 
The following paragraphs provide a short user's manual for the Excel-part of the environment 
database.     
 
I. WHAT INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE IN THE ELECTRONIC EDB? 
1. The electronic EDB compiles all environment-re lated notifications made under the various 
WTO Agreements and environment-related measur es/activities reported in the TPRs in an Excel 
Workbook.  It allows users to search through the EDB environment-related in formation according to 
specific criteria, for instance by Member, agreem ent, type of measure, product, activity, or 
environmental objective.   
2. The Excel Workbook is divided into two main worksheets:  "Notifications", listing all the 
environment-related notifications; and "TPRs", providing the environment-related information 
mentioned in TPRs.  In addition, a third worksheet  entitled "Summary" is included to allow users to 
retrieve pre-defined summary tables and graphs. 
A. "NOTIFICATIONS " WORKSHEET  
3. The "Notifications" worksheet displays the following information: 
 Agreement:  the WTO Agreement being notified; 
 Document symbol:  the symbol of the notification document (when available); 
 Document link:  the Web link to the notification document through WTO Documents 
Online website ( http://docsonline.wto.org/ );   
                                                      
1 In English only. WT/CTE/EDB/9/Add.1 
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   Notifying Member:  the Member notifying the environment-related measure; 
 Region group:  the region of the notifying Member; 
 Development status:  the development status of the notifying Member; 
 Year:  the year of notification; 
 Notification pursuant to:  the provisions of  the relevant Agreement under which the 
notification is made; 
 Measure description:  a description of the measure as indicated in the notification; 
 Type of measure:  the type of measure stated in the notification; 
 Subject to the measure:  products/activ ities subject to the notified measure; 
 ICS - HS code:  ICS or HS classification of  the relevant products (when available); 
 Implementation period:  the impl ementation period or date of the entry into force of the 
notified measure; 
 Environment-related objective:  the environm ent-related objective of the measure;  and  
 Keywords:  the environment-related keywor d search included in the notification (see 
Annex II). 
4. Three harmonized categories have also  been created to facilitate research: 
 Category of environment-related objectives;  
 Category of measures; and 
 Category of products/activities. 
B. "TPR S" WORKSHEET  
5. The "TPRs" worksheet displays  the following information: 
 Type of TPR:  TPR reports prepared by either the Secretariat (S) or the Member (M); 
 Document symbol:  the symbol of the TPR document; 
 Document link:  the web link to the TPR document through WTO Documents Online 
website ( http://docsonline.wto.org/ );   
 Document reference:  the reference made to  the paragraph number "§" of the original 
TPR document; 
 Member:  the Member subject to the TPR; 
 Region group:  the region of the Member; 
 Development status:  the development status of the Member; 
 Year: the year of publication of the TPR; 
 Type of information:  the type of enviro nment-related information found in the TPR; 
 Type of measures or sectors:  the measure or sector associated with the environment-
related information; 
 Relevant information:  a description of th e environment-related measure, provision or 
programme; and  WT/CTE/EDB/9/Add.1 
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   Keywords:  the keyword search include d in the TPR reports (See Annex II). 
C. "SUMMARY " WORKSHEET  
6. The "Summary" worksheet provides pre-define d information and graphs on environment-
related notifications to each WTO Agreement and measures mentioned in TPRs.   
II. HOW TO USE THE ELECTRONIC EDB? 
7. The Excel Workbook allows searches through all the variables mentioned above by using the 
filter function.  Users can, by clicking on the right -bottom arrow icon of the heading of the selected 
variable, either select the information on a drop-down list (see left Figure 1) or type in the relevant 
information (see right Figure 1). 
Figure 1: Search function 
 
8. Multiple criteria search is also possible, for instance, to search all notifications made by a 
given country or region/developmen t status group with a specific environment-related objective or a 
specific type of measure.  
9. For example, retrieving all TBT notifications that contain performance/efficiency 
specification measures to promote energy conserva tion and efficiency, can be done as follows:  
1. select the "Notifications" spreadsheet; 
2. select the TBT Agreement in the column "Agr eement" by clicking on the bottom-right 
arrow icon and typing "TBT" in the search box; WT/CTE/EDB/9/Add.1 
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  3. select the type of measure in the column "Category of type of measure" by clicking on 
the bottom-right arrow icon of the heading and typing "performance/efficiency specification" in the search box; 
4. select the type of measure in the column "Category of environment-related objective" by 
clicking on the bottom-right arrow icon of th e heading and typing "energy conservation 
and efficiency" in the search box. 
10. After the search, to go back to th e full database, it is important to follow the reverse order of 
the selection:   
1. click on the bottom-right arrow icon of the heading of the variable "Category of 
environment-related objective" and select the "Select All" box; 
2. click on the bottom-right arrow icon of the head ing of the variable "Category of type of 
measure " and select the "Select All" box;  and  
3. click on the bottom-right arrow icon  of the heading of the variable "Agreement" and 
select the "Select All" tick box. 
11. Once the data is selected through the filter, the user can print the records by hiding the 
variables of no interest (select the column, right-clic k and select "hide" option).  In addition, the user 
can apply the scaling option available with the printe r to fit all the selected columns on one page.  
 
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