On 24 June 1997, the Committee on Market Access approved a draft decision on the Supply of Information to the Integrated Database for Personal Computers which was forwarded to the General Council and adopted on 16 July 1997 (document WT/L/225).
The Council decision states:
"1.That WTO Members shall supply to the Secretariat, on an annual basis, the information referred to in document G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1.
2.That the Secretariat shall, upon request, provide technical assistance to Members in relation to the submission of the data required for the Integrated Data Base for Personal Computers.
3.That the submission of the data required for the Integrated Data Base for Personal Computers shall not prejudice the rights and obligations of Members under the WTO agreements."
The prime focus is to accept what is readily available in national capitals in order to minimize Members' response burden and to improve the participation in the IDB with useful, quality and timely data. When computerized data are not available in capitals or are being set-up, the Secretariat could provide technical assistance to Members upon request. Refer to the WTO document "Modalities and Operations of the Integrated Data Base for Personal Computers" (G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1 and G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1/Corr.1) for more information on the decision taken to establish the PC IDB.
IDB submissions comprise imports, tariffs, reference information and national tariff correlations showing changes in the national tariff nomenclature from one year to the next. The information is to be supplied annually starting from data referring to 1996. The deadlines established for the supply of information by the Committee on Market Access (see G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1/Add.1) are 30 March for the tariffs of the current year and 30 September for the imports of the previous year. For Members that do not base their tariffs on a calendar year, the deadlines are adjusted to take into account the dates when the national tariff comes into force.
The reference information is required to standardize certain data from submissions received from reporting countries. National tariff correlation tables are provided by Members to show differences between the tariff nomenclatures of the current year and the previous year. The national correlations are only required for tariff lines that have changed from one year to the next. For tariffs, the current MFN bound duties and the current MFN applied duties are required. Other duties can be provided on a voluntary basis.
Tariffs and imports should be provided at the level of customs tariffs lines. For a given year, the nomenclature used for imports should match that used for tariffs. The contents of submissions are described in detail under "Information to be Supplied", below.
IDB submissions can be furnished on PC diskettes, CD-ROMs or can be electronically transferred to the Secretariat using the Internet (refer to Annex 1 for the address to be used).
Mainframe computer tapes and cartridges can also be processed by the Secretariat, provided that the documentation accompanying the submission describes the tape characteristics and record layouts.
Countries can use standard PC compression software (available on request from the Secretariat) such as PKZIP, ARC, WINZIP, etc, to compress large files, before copying them to PC diskettes or before electronically transferring them to the Secretariat. The corresponding de-compression software should be furnished with the IDB submissions in order for the Secretariat to de-compress the files.
It is not possible to process files created as PC backups. In addition to data, these files contain technical information on the physical attributes of the storage device from which the backup was created.
Documentation (preferably in electronic format) describing the PC formats of the submissions, field/column contents, national coding schemes and other reference information is required to process submissions. Refer to Annex 1 for the documentation to be supplied.
Imports should be provided by country of origin for each tariff line, in terms of value and volume. Values are recorded in the currency used by the national authorities in the collection of their import statistics for customs purposes. Volumes are reported in one unit of quantity per tariff line, or for tariff lines having mixed or compound duties, in two units of quantity.
National tariff line number
Country of origin of imports. This should be provided at the most detailed geographic level available. For Customs Unions, imports should be provided for the individual members, if available. Other aggregated imports (such as country groups or regional totals) are not required.
Import value for customs purposes. If the customs value is not available, the import value should contain the value of imports used for recording import statistics (c.i.f., f.o.b., etc).
The import value can be provided in national currency, or in US dollars if the country records its customs statistics in that currency. The PC IDB database will contain import values in both national currency and US dollars. Therefore, the average annual exchange rate between the US dollar and the national currency should be provided by the reporting country. This is also required for reporting countries furnishing their import values in US dollars.
The import values can be submitted in units of currency, in thousands of units, etc. The unit should be indicated in the documentation accompanying the submission.
National quantity unit used for recording import volumes. If the quantity unit is the same for all tariff lines, this information could be provided with the reference information for the submission. Otherwise, it should be provided at the tariff line level or, if required, at the tariff line/country of origin level.
If the duties attached to the tariff line are mixed or compound, and statistics are not collected for supplementary quantities (see quantity unit 2, below), the unit of quantity should, if available, correspond to the predominant unit used to collect customs duties.
Import volume expressed in the quantity unit 1.
Where applicable, national quantity unit used for recording supplementary import volumes. This would be provided when the duty attached to the tariff line is expressed in a form using two units of quantity (e.g. 1 $ per kg. plus 2 $ per piece). In this example, the import volumes recorded in kg. could be provided in import quantity 1 and the import volumes recorded in pieces could be provided in import quantity 2.
Import volume expressed in the quantity unit 2.
Tariff submissions should include the product descriptions and the current MFN bound and MFN applied customs duties for all tariff lines. Concerning MFN duties, any known changes that will take effect during the course of the year should also be provided. An example would be agricultural duties that come into force in July for some countries.
Customs tariff line
The tariff suffix can be used in cases where the customs tariff is more detailed than the corresponding import statistics, i.e. statistics are collected in less detail than the corresponding duties are recorded in the customs tariff. For these cases, the individual duties could be recorded under tariff sub-items (tariff suffix "01" - "99") and the average of the duties under the sub-items could be recorded under the principal item (tariff suffix "00").
The tariff suffix can also be used to identify duties that change during the course of the year or to record partially bound MFN duties.
Description of the product(s) covered by the tariff line. Descriptions should be provided in English, French or Spanish.
The MFN bound duty currently in force for the reference year. This can be an ad valorem duty, or a non-ad valorem duty (specific, mixed, compound or other duty). Concerning non-ad valorem duties, it would be preferable for countries to supply the ad valorem equivalents of these duties.
The MFN applied duty currently in force for the reference year. This can be an ad valorem duty, or a non-ad valorem duty (specific, mixed, compound or other duty). Concerning non-ad valorem duties, it would be preferable to supply the ad valorem equivalents of these duties.
On a voluntary basis, reporting countries can supply other duties.
Optional.
The binding and binding coverage of the tariff line can be provided by reporting countries as a code.
If binding codes are not provided, where possible, the Secretariat will use computer programs to generate them. This will be based on the presence or absence of MFN bound duties for the tariff line and the use of "ex-items" for tariff lines that are partially bound.
Examples of binding codes that could be provided are:
B = fully bound,
BX = partially bound,
C= fully bound at ceiling level,
CX = partially bound at ceiling level,
U= unbound.
Textual information concerning the duties can be provided.
Reference information is required to standardize certain data from submissions received from reporting countries. For instance, countries use different coding schemes to identify their trading partners in the import submissions. In the PC IDB, the national codes are changed to standard WTO codes in order to have a common basis for statistical reporting. Furthermore, reference information provides users of the IDB with details on the comparability of data among reporting countries.
The following reference information should be provided in electronic format if possible.
The type of tariff nomenclature (HS96, HS92, CCCN, other). This is required to verify the tariff nomenclature and to identify missing or mis-coded tariff lines.
The years to which tariff and imports refer.
A list of the national country codes used in the import submissions and their corresponding names are required to standardize the national submission.
The type of tariff relation between the reporting country and each trading partner listed in the country codes above.
A list of the national quantity unit codes used in the import submissions and their corresponding descriptions are required to standardize the national submission.
The imports valuation basis (f.o.b., c.i.f., etc). C.i.f valuations (cost, insurance and freight) include the value of the goods, the value of services performed to deliver the goods to the border of the exporting country and the value of the services associated with the delivery of the goods from the border of the exporting country to the border of the importing country. F.o.b valuations (free on board) include the value of the goods and the value of services performed to deliver the goods to the border of the exporting country. If the reporting country uses another import valuation basis, it should be described in the documentation accompanying the submission. This is required for statistical reporting purposes.
The currency unit used for import values.
The imports exchange rate to the US dollar, including where applicable the spread over the year. The spread is the lowest and highest exchange rate for the period.
The system of trade (general or special) used to record customs import values. The general system of trade includes imports of goods into customs warehouses and commercial free zones, which may not be included in the special system of trade.
If the tariff submission contains specific, mixed or other non-ad valorem duties, the currency unit in which these duties are expressed.
The weight of the imported goods upon which customs duties are assessed (net weight, gross weight).
When ad valorem equivalents (AVE's) are supplied for specific, mixed or compound duties, the AVE calculation method (based on imports from World, MFN origins, WTO Members, etc) should be provided.
If tariffs are reported at a greater level of detail (using the tariff suffix) than the import statistics, and averages of the duties recorded under the sub-items are provided (using the tariff suffix principal item), the averaging method (simple average, trade-weighted average) should be supplied.
Tariff correlation tables are used in the PC IDB to track changes in the tariff nomenclature from one year to the next. For tariff lines that have changed, the corresponding tariff lines of the previous year should be provided. For example, if one tariff line is broken down into several sub-items then a table should associate each of the new tariff lines with the one that covered all these items in the previous year. If several tariff lines are combined into a new one than this should be reflected in a similar way.
Tariff submissions are made at the beginning of each year and will contain the tariff situation as of that time. The corresponding import submissions are made sometime during the next year after all import statistics have been collected. When new tariff lines are introduced during the course of the year (i.e. after the tariff has been submitted for the IDB), these tariff lines will be missing from the IDB tariffs but will be included in the imports submission.
To avoid reporting countries having to provide two tariff submissions for the same year, the nomenclature of the imports is adjusted to match that of the tariff already submitted, using the tariff correlations tables provided by reporting countries.
However, if there are any tariff lines in the imports which do not match the tariff (because the tariff line was introduced and then withdrawn during the course of the year), reporting countries should include these tariff lines in the national tariff correlations.
IDB submissions should be forwarded to:
Integrated Data Base Section
Economic Research and Statistics Division
World Trade Organization
154 Rue de Lausanne
CH-1211 Geneva 21
Switzerland
Tel. + 41 22 / 739 59 34
Fax + 41 22 / 739 57 63
E-mail: idb@wto.org
Internet:
The information described in the following pages should be forwarded with IDB submissions, preferably in electronic format.
Reporting country:
Date of submission:
Official contact for the submission in national capitals:
Name:
Title:
Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
E-mail:
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Tariff nomenclature: (HS96, HS92, CCCN, other) |
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Year of tariffs: |
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Duties provided: (MFN Bound, MFN Applied, Other MFN, etc.) |
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Description of preferential trading agreements and countries covered by each agreement: (When preferential duties are provided) |
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Duty averaging method: (Simple or weighted average) |
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Duty currency unit: (For non-ad valorem duties) |
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Duty assessment: (For non-ad valorem duties - net weight or gross weight) |
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Ad valorem equivalent calculation method: (When AVEs are provided) |
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National tariff correlations: (Please provide list of correlations) Technical Information on submission files:
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Reporting country:
Date of submission:
Official contact for the submission in national capitals:
Name:
Title:
Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
E-mail:
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Imports nomenclature: (HS96, HS92, CCCN, other) |
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Year of imports: |
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National country codes and type of tariff relation: (Please provide list) |
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National quantity unit codes: (Please provide list) |
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Imports valuation basis (f.o.b., c.i.f., other): |
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Imports currency unit: |
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Imports exchange rate to the US dollar: |
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Imports exchange rate spread (lowest and highest): |
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System of trade (general, special, other): |
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National tariff correlations: (Please provide list of correlations) |
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PC Software used to prepare submission: (Type and version) |
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Compression and decompression software used: (Type and version) |
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File names and contents: |
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Record layouts (please attach): |
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