WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/MA/238 
4 September 2009 
 (09-4175) 
Committee on Market Access  
  
 
 
DISSEMINATION OF THE INTEGRATED DATA BASE (IDB) AND  
THE CONSOLIDATED TARIFF SCHEDULES (CTS) DATABASE  
 
Adopted on 13 July 2009
1 
 
  This document sets out the dissemination policy for the Integrated Data Base (IDB) and the Consolidated Tariff Schedules (CTS) data base.  It  is based on the premise that providing broader 
access to the information in the IDB and the CTS data base would improve external transparency, 
increase public awareness and contribute to the eff ective delivery of market access related technical 
assistance to developing and least developed countries and would thus help developing and 
least-developed countries participate effectively in the negotiations.  It also recognizes that the IDB 
and the CTS data base are practical working tools and that there are no implications as to the legal status of the information contained therein.  
A. 
COVERAGE  
1. The information contained in the IDB covers tari ffs and imports at the tariff line level and has 
been, so far, based exclusively on notifications by  the Members.  The mandatory information covers: 
1) MFN duties for applied and current bound duty le vels on an annual basis and correlation tables 
showing changes in the tariff nomenclature from on e year to the next, and 2) Import information 
includes value, quantity, and country of origin  by tariff line.  Optional information includes ad 
valorem  equivalents of specific, mixed and compound duties, as well as preferential duties.  
2. The CTS data base contains Members' commitm ents on goods made in the context of the 
Uruguay Round, Protocols of Accession and prev ious negotiations, as we ll as post-Uruguay Round 
concessions.2  These commitments are kept up-to-date by including new accessions, rectifications, 
modifications and HS transpositions into the electronic files of Members in the CTS. 
3. The proposed dissemination policy of the IDB a nd CTS data described hereafter distinguishes 
between "provisional" and "approved" data, as well as between "restricted" and "unrestricted" data as 
follows: 
(a) Data files are considered "provisional"  when they have undergone processing into standard 
format or have been substantially revised by the Secretariat;   
(b) Data files are considered "approved"  after a period of 60 days from their circulation as a 
provisional file if no objection has been raised by the Member concerned;  
(c) "Restricted"  data are all provisional data, all ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs) provided by the 
Member and approved import statistics at the ta riff line level, i.e., more detailed than HS 
six-digit level; 
                                                      
1 This policy shall become effective on 1 January 2010.  
2 The CTS data base is documented in G/MA/63, dated 18 June 1999 and in G/MA/110 dated 
31 July 2000. G/MA/238 
Page 2  
 
  (d) "Unrestricted"
 data are approved tariff data at the tariff line level, excluding any AVEs 
provided by the Member, and approved import statistics aggregated to HS six-digit level. 
 B. 
AUTHORIZED USERS  
4. Authorized users of the IDB and CTS Database are defined as: 
(a) All WTO Members;  
(b) Acceding countries or territories that have pr ovided IDB submissions (hereafter referred to as 
authorized Acceding countries);  
(c) The WTO Secretariat; and  (d) The intergovernmental organizations: the Inte rnational Monetary Fund, International Trade 
Centre, United Nations Conference on Trade a nd Development, the World Bank and those 
organizations subsequently granted access by the Committee on Market Access as reflected in 
the addenda to this document.
3 
 5. Additional requests by other intergovernmental or ganizations for access to the restricted IDB 
and the CTS data are subject to approval by the Committee on Market Access on a case by case basis. 
C. 
CONDITIONS OF USE AND PUBLICATION   
6. Authorized users can use approved IDB and C TS information freely for internal purposes and 
in the context of market access-related technical assistance and capacity building.4  All users may 
publish approved IDB and CTS info rmation, or analyses derived from these databases, on the 
condition that: 
(a) WTO copyright of the original data is acknowledged;  
(b) 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;  
(c) Any re-dissemination by third parties of ID B or CTS data based on data downloads which 
goes beyond the purpose of publication of analytical work must be approved by the WTO 
Secretariat prior to such re-dissemination;  
(d) Publication of restricted data by authorised users should not be more detailed than the level of 
HS six-digit subheadings; and 
(e) Publication of more detailed restricted da ta by authorised users beyond the level of HS 
six-digit subheadings is contingent on obtai ning written permission from the Member(s) or 
authorized Acceding country(ies) in question through the WTO Secretariat.  The exception to 
this rule is in the case of WTO documents pr epared by the Secretariat at the request of 
Members, in which case the S ecretariat will inform the Comm ittee on Market Access prior to 
publication. 
                                                      
3 In the spirit of inter-organizational co-operation,  the organizations that have been granted access to 
the IDB and the CTS will grant simila r access to their own respective tariff and trade-related databases and 
analytical facilities to the WTO.  
4 "Internal purposes" is understood to mean, in  the case of Members and authorized Acceding 
countries, that they are free to use and distribute their own processed files as they wish but the files of other 
Members or authorized Acceding countries can only be used internally by governments. In the case of the 
Secretariat and other organizations, "internal purposes" is understood to mean use within the organization.   G/MA/238 
 Page 3 
 
 
  7. Authorized intergovernmental organizations and authorized Acceding countries are required 
to agree to the conditions on the use and publicatio n of IDB and CTS information as set forth in this 
document prior to receiving access to the approved rest ricted data.  Any breach of the conditions will 
result in the termination of their access to the restricted data. 
D. DISSEMINATION POLICIES  
Internet Dissemination  
  8. Internet access to unrestricted data from the ID B and CTS database is accorded freely to the 
public through a user-defined identification and password system.  
9. Internet access to restricted data from the IDB and the CTS database is accorded to authorized 
users through a user-identification code and passwor d (hereafter referred to as "restricted password") 
maintained by the Secretariat and distributed directly  to the authorized users.   Each authorized user 
has its own restricted password and it is possi ble to establish several user accounts for a given 
authorized user through a user-defined identificati on and password system.  The restricted passwords 
are changed periodically.  It is the responsibility of authorized users to ensure that the IDB and CTS 
dissemination policy outlined above is respected. 
10. The IDB and CTS database information is disse minated via the following Internet facilities:
5 
(a) The Internet File Transfer Facility (FTF), which covers the distribution of processed IDB and 
CTS database files to Members.  It contains  both provisional and approved data.  All 
authorized users have access to all the approved data, but only Members and the Secretariat have access to the provisional data of this site.  
(b) The IDB/CTS Internet Analysis Facility (IAF), which allows users to make on-line analytical 
queries of the IDB and CTS database via the Internet and to extract information in different formats for further use with other PC software.  All authorized users have access to all the 
approved data, but only Members and the Secretar iat have access to the provisional data of 
this site.   The public has access only to the unrestricted approved data.   
(c) The Tariff Download Facility (TDF) allows fo r downloads of unrestricted approved data from 
the CTS and the IDB into spreadsheet formats fo r further use with other PC software.  Data 
for several Members and for several years can be downloaded in one operation. 
 CD-ROMs and DVDs 
 
 
11. The CTS CD-ROM contains approved CTS informat ion and is distributed freely to authorized 
users. 
12. The IDB/CTS Portable Analysis Facility (PAF) is an "off-line" version of the IDB/CTS 
Internet Analysis Facility (IAF) but it contains onl y approved restricted and unrestricted IDB and CTS 
information.  It is distributed freely to authori sed users in DVDs, one incl uding the setup package for 
the application and other required software compone nts and the second containing approved IDB data 
from 1996 and all Members' approved CTS files.   
 
__________ 
 
 
                                                      
5 Restrictions will be placed on pub lic users to prevent simple downl oad of whole tariff schedules of 
applied duties at the tariff line level for the current calendar year.