The Consolidated Tariff Schedules database (CTS) contains all WTO Members' concessions on goods in a standardized format. The database has been established as a working tool only, without implications as to the legal status of the information therein. All Members' CTS files (approved and provisional) were made available to Members on 28 June 2002 through the Integrated Data Base IDB/CTS Internet File Transfer Facility. For each WTO Member there is a CTS file in MS-Access 97 containing its tariff commitments and, if applicable, its specific commitments in Agriculture. The information is also available in text files which can easily be imported into spreadsheet or data base software.

To improve the situation regarding the recording of Members' concessions on goods the CTS project was approved by the WTO Committee on Market Access on 27 November 1998. The project involved the formatting, consolidation and standardization of Members' tariff commitments (bound tariffs) and specific commitments in agriculture (domestic support, export subsidies and tariff quota information). The Secretariat created CTS files for 118 Members. These files were reviewed by a senior expert and then sent to the Members concerned for approval. Comments and clarifications from Members were introduced into their files after which they were deemed approved. In the cases where no comments were received, the CTS files were deemed approved after a period of 90 days. However, Members have the right to review and amend their CTS files at any time. Developed Members and one transition country Member prepared their own CTS files. These files were included in the data base by the Secretariat after review for consistency with the standard CTS format and completeness of information.

As part of the conversion of the Member's schedules to a standard database format, the original coding of commitments has been expanded to at least the standard HS 6-digit nomenclature. For example, if a commitment was given at the level of a HS 4-digit heading, the same commitment has been generated, as part of the conversion, for all 6-digit subheadings falling under the respective heading.

In those cases where a national tariff was available in the Secretariat, each tariff line in the CTS has been expanded to the maximum length of the HS codes used in the national tariff. The tariff concessions have thus been transposed into the same level of detail (i.e. length of HS codes) as the national tariff nomenclature (latest year available at the time of CTS conversion), whether they were included in the original list of concessions at the chapter level or more disaggregated level of the HS nomenclature, or were part of a text note (across the board ceiling binding for example).

When a national tariff was not available, the HS96 standard nomenclature was used to expand all the tariff commitments up to the 6-digit level. In those cases where commitments were given at different levels of disaggregation, for example a mix of 4-digit and 8-digit HS codes, the detailed HS codes were kept, as found in the original documents, and the higher (4-digit or above) level HS codes were expanded to the level of the 6-digit HS96 standard nomenclature. The CTS shows therefore for some Members commitments at different level of detail, i.e. different length of HS tariff line codes.

The information contained in the CTS is confidential and its distribution is restricted to government internal use only. The WTO Committee on Market Access (which takes all administrative and political decisions concerning the IDB and CTS) has defined the following authorized users:

· WTO Members have access to all processed information contained in the CTS;

· Acceding countries/territories have access to all processed information, provided they have submitted data to the IDB within the prescribed deadlines;

· Some International Organizations have restricted access to the CTS.

The CTS files are disseminated by the WTO Secretariat as follows:

· The File Transfer Facility: this is the Internet site of the IDB/CTS. Access to the site is restricted to authorized users through a User-ID and password verification. User-IDs and passwords are sent to WTO delegations who are then responsible for their distribution to users. Authorized users can download the most recently processed data and other information (such as documents, see below) prepared by the WTO Secretariat. Loading of new information is carried out on a monthly basis.

 The CTS CD-ROM: Every six months, the WTO Secretariat distributes a CD-ROM that contains the most recently processed CTS information. Unlike the IDB CD-ROM, the CTS CD-ROM does not contain a software application for analysis of the information. Two copies of the CTS CD-ROM are distributed to authorized users. Additional copies are available on request.

The Secretariat updates the CTS files with rectifications and modifications that had not been included in the files initially approved by Members. At the same time, some further standardization is being undertaken in order to facilitate the inclusion of CTS data in the Internet Analysis Facility (IAF) and to prepare the CTS files for the link with the IDB. Corrections and revisions identified by Members and the Secretariat are also being incorporated in the CTS files. Revised files are loaded in the provisional area of the IDB/CTS Internet File Transfer Facility as soon as they have been processed, and the delegations concerned are informed.

The Secretariat is working on the link of the CTS with the IDB. This requires the establishment of detailed correlation tables, which link each tariff commitment to the respective IDB tariff line(s). Standardized and updated CTS files will be progressively linked to the latest tariff and trade submissions in the IDB. On completion of the link, users will be able, inter alia, to make exact comparisons of MFN applied and bound duties, to calculate import-weighted tariff averages of final bound duties and to identify unbound tariff lines. The extent to which the IDB/CTS link can be maintained will depend on the availability of correlation tables which align the national tariff from one year to the next.

The IDB Internet Analysis Facility (IAF - http://iaf.wto.org), is currently being enhanced to operate, on an incremental basis, from the CTS information.