Data in WTO members' notifications

What are notifications?

WTO notifications are submitted by WTO members to report their trade-related measures, fulfilling their obligations in various WTO agreements. The information provided may include tariff data, customs procedures, technical regulations, information on subsidies, agricultural policies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and many other actions that affect world trade.

Notifications help other WTO members respond to proposed and actual policy changes, facilitate discussions among members in WTO committees, and enable businesses and researchers to better understand members' trade policies.

How do I access notifications?

WTO notifications can be accessed via:

• the WTO Notifications Portal, a consolidated platform outlining WTO notification requirements and providing information on notifications received regarding WTO agreements on goods, services, intellectual property and government procurement: https://notifications.wto.org/en
• the notifications section of Documents Online, which provides access to official WTO notifications in PDF format:
  https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Search/FE_S_S003.aspx
• the Integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP),  which contains information on over 60,000 trade policy measures, covering both tariff and non-tariff measures affecting trade in goods as well as information on trade in services, trade in government procurement markets, regional trade agreements and the accession commitments of WTO members:
  https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/itip_e.htm

What can I find in notifications?

Viewed collectively, WTO notifications form a large dataset that can be searched, analysed and combined with other trade information.

Once submitted, notifications are transformed into structured data and stored in WTO databases, allowing the data to be easily filtered by member, year, agreement or topic. The data can be exported or aggregated with other datasets.

How are notifications structured?

Notifications follow standardized reporting formats defined by WTO agreements. Built-in fields include the notifying member, the relevant agreement and article, the date of submission, the affected products (often linked to Harmonized System product codes) and the type of measure.

Notifications can therefore be analysed across members and over time. Platforms such as I-TIP break down notifications into individual measures, allowing filtering across agreements and more detailed searches.

How can I make use of the data?

Advances in natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI) make it possible to extract information from the descriptive text of notifications that can be transformed into quantifiable data. For example, policy themes or trends can be identified, regulatory actions can be classified, and notification text can be linked to other trade datasets. As a result, deeper analysis of trade policies becomes possible, improving risk monitoring and leading to more evidence-based policymaking.