Each day the World Trade Organization produces a wealth of information generated by its Members. At the end of 1996 the WTO inaugurated the Document Dissemination Facility (DDF) with the aim of facilitating the distribution of documents via the Internet. As interest in the WTO increased, with dispute settlement activities gaining additional attention, and the volume of documents growing in parallel, it became apparent that the dissemination system had to be complemented with an advanced search mechanism. Launched today, the new Documents online (DOL) facility offers users access to over 100,000 official WTO documents in English, French and Spanish. It allows users to conduct simple or complex searches of these documents according to their preferences.
TWO IMPORTANT FEATURES
Advanced Search facility
In this mode, the search is constructed by entering criteria in one or more data fields. These fields include: document symbol, date, number, title, subject, countries, products, WTO/GATT Articles and WTO/GATT Bodies.
One of the most important features of Documents online is the introduction of searches by means of a thematic list: Users do not need to know or remember document symbols to perform searches. When, for example, the user clicks on the question mark to the right of the Document Symbol field, the user sees a complete list of all current WTO symbols, organized by broad subject or theme, hence a thematic list. The user can click on the question mark to the right of the other fields for guidance.
Browse facility
Frequently requested documents are available on the Browse pages. These include: * Official records of WTO Bodies and Committees: the minutes and reports of meetings of WTO Bodies and Committees; * Dispute Settlement: Appellate Body Reports, Panel Reports, Minutes of the Dispute Settlement Body, Decisions of Arbitrators, Procedural information; * Ministerial Meetings: documentation pertaining to the WTO Ministerials.
PLEASE CHANGE YOUR BOOKMARKS! If you have created bookmarks (favorites) in your web browser which point to the old DDF (document dissemination facility) please replace them with links to the new database, "Documents online". The DDF will not function after 2 February 2001.
Please try out the new Documents online facility and if you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to come back to us. Click on the following link or cut and paste it into the address field of your browser::
