RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/MA/IDB/W/7
8 December 2000
(00-5348)
Committee on Market Access
REVIEW OF THE OPERATION OF THE INTEGRATED DATA BASE (IDB)
AND RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES
An informal meeting of the Committee on Market Access was convened on 2 October 2000 to
continue informal consultations concerning the re view of the operation of the IDB and IDB technical
assistance activities.  Some Members suggested that the review exercise, which was being conducted
in accordance with paragraph 19 of document G/MA/IDB/3 of 1 June 1999 (Dissemination of the
Integrated Data Base), could be more thorough. The idea of a multilateral review exercise similar to
that conducted for the successful HS96 transposition exercise was put forward and received overall
support. However, some Members raised questions concerning the modalities. As a result, theChairman was requested to put together a proposal on the modalities for conducting such a review.
A draft proposal (Job Number 7080) was tabled fo r discussion at an informal meeting of the
Committee held on 23 November 2000 for this purpose. Delegations expressed general support for theChairman's proposal. However, certain revisions we re suggested and clarifications requested. The
following revised proposal for a multilateral appraisal of IDB participation attempts to take these
issues into consideration.G/MA/IDB/W/7
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A MULTILATERAL APPRAISAL OF THE OPERATION OF THE INTEGRATED DATA BASE
AND RELATED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES
OBJECTIVES
1. The objective of this exercise is to identify ways of improving IDB participation through a
multilateral appreciation of all Members' expe riences 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.
MODALITIES
2. In order to be comprehensive in coverage and allow enough time to discuss individual
Members' experiences in participating in the IDB, the multilateral examination will be undertaken
through a series of informal meetings.
3. The meetings will be organized on a regional basis in order to give delegations with similar
experiences a chance to inter-act. A regional approach can also provide an opportunity to refer to
experiences in supplying similar information to regional integration organizations.
4. The composition of the regional meetings is based on the seven regional groupings in the
WTO Annual "International Trade Statistics" Report. These groupings have no implications regarding
Members' status. The WTO regions have been regrouped into four large regions, defined as follows:
• North America and Latin America;
• Western and Eastern Europe including Baltic States and CIS;
• Africa;
• Asia including Middle East.
Four informal regional meetings, open to all WTO Memb ers, will therefore be held.  Annex 1 sets out
the country composition for each regional meeting.
5. It is hoped that non-resident delegations could attend at least their regional meeting at which
they would be encouraged to share their experiences in responding to the IDB notificationrequirements. However, those non-resident delegations that cannot attend would be encouraged to
provide documentation or information which could be presented by the Chairman.
6. Each regional meeting will be organized along similar lines as follows:
(a) The Chairman will introduce the general documentation put together by the
Secretariat;
(b) Members of the region could take the floor in alphabetical order to describe their
experiences. Given that a complete multilateral examination would best help the
Committee to achieve its objectives, the participation of all Members in the process,although not obligatory, is strongly encouraged. As stated above, regional Members
not present at the meeting could provide information to the Chairman of the Market
Access Committee who could present it on their behalf.G/MA/IDB/W/7
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(c) This will be followed by open discussion.
DOCUMENTATION7. For each meeting, the Committee will have before it a region-specific Secretariat Note that
will include:
• the points covered in the general review (G/MA/IDB/W/5 and revisions refer);
• more detailed information on the status of submissions;
• regional organizations' activities of relevance to the IDB;
• identification of supplementary sources of information that could be of interest to
delegations.
8. Members are encouraged to share, on a volunt ary basis, their experiences in complying with
the IDB notification requirements. To assist Members in their preparations, the Chairman of the
Committee will send before each regional meeting to all Members of that region, a letter which will
contain some Member-specific information compiled from IDB administrative sources and Secretariat
research. Any other guidance or assistance to Members in preparing their presentations could be
provided by the Secretariat.  To facilitate the discussion, Members could offer to provide copies of
their presentations in advance to the Secretariat for circulation before the meeting.
TIMETABLE
9. It is recognized that Members need sufficie nt lead-time to prepare their presentations. The
Secretariat itself also needs time to prepare the Member-specific information and the regional
documentation.
10. A three months lead-time for the first regional meeting would be necessary to give all
participants enough preparatory time. Therefore, th e first regional meeting is to take place three
months after the regional approach is agreed upon. The three other meetings will take place at one-
month intervals.
FOLLOW-UP11. The Secretariat will prepare a report of the regional meetings for the consideration of the
Committee on Market Access.G/MA/IDB/W/7
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ANNEX 1
COMPOSITION OF REGIONAL MEETINGS
North America and Latin
AmericaWestern and Eastern Europe
including Baltic States and CISAfrica Asia including
Middle East
Antigua and Barbuda Albania Angola Australia
Argentina Bulgaria Benin Bahrain
Barbados Croatia Botswana Bangladesh
Belize Czech Republic Burkina Faso Brunei Darussalam
Bolivia Estonia Burundi Cyprus
Brazil European Communities Cameroon Fiji
Canada Georgia Central African Republic Hong Kong, China
Chile Hungary Chad India
Colombia Iceland Congo Indonesia
Costa Rica Kyrgyz Republic Côte d'Ivoire Israel
Cuba Latvia Democratic Republic of the Congo Japan
Dominica Malta Djibouti Jordan
Dominican Republic Norway Egypt Korea, Republic of
Ecuador Poland Gabon Kuwait
El Salvador Romania Gambia Macau, China
Grenada Slovak Republic Ghana Malaysia
Guatemala Slovenia Guinea Maldives
Guyana Switzerland Guinea-Bissau Mongolia
Haiti Turkey Kenya Myanmar
Honduras Lesotho New Zealand
Jamaica Madagascar Oman
Mexico Malawi Pakistan
Nicaragua Mali Papua New Guinea
Panama Mauritania Philippines
Paraguay Mauritius Qatar
Peru Morocco Singapore
St. Kitts and Nevis Mozambique Solomon Islands
St. Lucia Namibia Sri Lanka
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Niger Thailand
Suriname Nigeria United Arab Emirates
Trinidad and Tobago Rwanda
United States of America Senegal
Uruguay Sierra Leone
Venezuela South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania, United Republic of
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
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