Today the web site is widely used. Figure 1 shows that the number of total hits per month averages around 12,000.

Figure 1: Number of total hits for the APEC TPT-WG web site.

Proposed Transfer of the Responsibility for the Web Site

Australia undertook to establish the web site and to manage it for an initial period. Australia’s contract with the web site provider ends in September 2000. The 16th meeting of the TPT-WG in Hong Kong will be a good opportunity to discuss transfer of management of the web site to an interested economy. This is an excellent opportunity for an economy to become involved in the management of the TPT-WG.

Problems and Solutions

At the 15th TPT-WG meeting in Santiago, Chile, Australia presented a discussion paper on the future development of the APEC TPT-WG web site. This paper was based on a survey among web site users. The survey showed that TPT-WG members considered the web site to be a helpful and user-friendly tool. However it identified three main problem categories: 1. currency of information, 2. technical problems, and 3. accessing documents.

1. After the 15th meeting of the TPT-WG in Santiago, Chile it took Australia about 10 weeks to complete the update of the web site. Australia used the CD-ROM with all meeting documents, which Chile had prepared for this purpose. Australia thanks Chile for making the meeting documents available in electronic form. To further improve the currency of the documents on the web site it is hoped that Hong Kong will be able to place all papers directly on the web site as soon as possible after the meeting.
2. The initial technical difficulties that the TPT-WG web site experienced after its implementation on 1 September 1998 have been resolved. The server is stable and the web site administrator provides an efficient service. Documents can usually be accessed on the web site within 2-3 days from their submission. However, users should notify the web site administrator immediately if a problem is experienced in viewing or downloading documents. Only if the web site administrator is aware of a problem can it be fixed.
3. Problems in accessing documents were mainly due to expert/project group pages, which had not been activated. All pages have been activated following the 15th meeting of the TPT-WG. Nearly all Chairs of expert/project groups have provided information about the aim and purpose of the group and the contact details of the Chair.

Submission of Papers

The procedure how to submit a paper to the web site is published on the content page of the web site and most users are familiar with this procedure. However, the two most common reasons for delays are a missing submission form and papers not submitted through a person listed on the contact page. It is essential for papers to be accompanied by a completed submission form because this form tells the web site administrator where to place the paper. The submission form can now be downloaded from the web site (‘submit a paper’ page) in addition to being available from economy coordinators and heads of delegations. The convenience of this solution outweighs the security considerations. Still only economy coordinators and heads of delegations (they are listed on the contact page) are entitled to submit papers. This ensures that no unauthorised documents appear on the web site. A number of economies have not nominated an economy coordinator. This means that all changes have to be endorsed by the head of delegation. These economies might want to nominate an economy coordinator to be listed on the contact page.

Outlook

To ensure that the TPT-WG web site remains the useful and user-friendly source of information that it is today cooperation from all users is required. Contact details, papers, and all information on the web site is only as accurate and up to date as the users submit it.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the above progress report be noted and be used as a basis for a discussion about the transfer of the responsibility for the web site.

This page was last updated on 1 Feb, 2008