The World Bank has completed a new database on technical barriers to trade and standards, based on a survey of 689 firms in 17 developing countries. The World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) database includes information on both mandatory technical regulations, as well as the use of voluntary standards. For example, the data include information on the costs of meeting standards and technical barriers required in major export markets. The data also include firms' experiences with product testing and their responses to questions regarding mutual recognition agreements. Preliminary analysis that draws on the database is underway at the Bank and the data set with additional information, including the survey instrument and background description, are available through the database, below.

Search functionality of survey results using MS Access back end and ASP front end:

• Existing Excel data will be imported into MS Access format
• ASP Search Functionality Search will be built to allow viewing of summary data
  • Search will provide ability to select multiple groups, i.e. Financial, Export, etc
  • Search will allow selection of Country or Region to view only data related to that selection
  • Search will allow multiple grouping options including Region and Country
• ASP Survey Results will display question, possible answers and results, as well as percentage of total