I-TIP Services has been improved to enable users to easily view the information directly on the results screen of the application, as well as to download data for trade policy analysis and research in more user-friendly formats.

• The module on "GATS" now covers the information on the preferential market access commitments for Least Developed Countries granted by WTO Members under the LDC Services Waiver. The list of notifying Members is available from the I-TIP Services portal.

Also, the schedule of specific commitments of the European Union now covers the EU25 schedule which is currently in force. The schedule replaces the schedule of commitments for the 12 original member states that dates back from 1994. It does not include Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. The MFN exemption lists currently in force are those of EC12 and the 13 other EU25 members. The MFN exemption list shown in I-TIP for EU25 is therefore a consolidation of the EC12 and the 13 other EU25 members lists of MFN exemptions.

• The new module on "Services Trade Policy Database" (STPD) replaces the previous module on Applied Regimes. This new module is developed jointly by the World Bank and the WTO Secretariat, and provides very detailed information on applied measures affecting access to markets and conditions on operation of foreign service suppliers. This feature has been developed to facilitate trade policy analysis.

The database contains comparable information on services trade policies for 129 economies, in 34 subsectors across nine broad areas—financial services, communications, distribution, transportation, professional services, computer, construction, tourism, and health services, respectively. In February 2023, information was added for all African economies (with the exception of Eritrea) and for six Pacific Island economies (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu). For those economies, additional sectors/subsectors are covered (architecture, engineering, computer, construction, health, tourism, audiovisual and postal and courier services) increasing the data coverage to 34 subsectors in total.

For 87 economies available in the STPD module, the information was collected through a survey conducted jointly by the World Bank and WTO. Information for CEFTA parties was collected in cooperation with the CEFTA Secretariat. Information for several African economies was collected in cooperation with ITC, GIZ and EU. The 2016 information for 43 economies was sourced from the OECD STRI regulatory database (2016 vintage), thanks to the co-operation of the OECD, which is gratefully acknowledged.

The World Bank-WTO STRI is now directly accessible in the Services Trade Policy Database module. It is available for the 129 economies and 34 subsectors covered by the database (23 subsectors for economies surveyed in 2016; 28 subsectors for CEFTA parties surveyed in 2019). It is also possible to access the comparable 2008-11 and 2016 STRI, and data compiled according to the old World Bank methodology in a zip file «All WB-WTO STRI data (including WB 2008-11 STRI)» in the download drop-down menu of the STPD module.

• Exports and imports of commercial services, as well as FATS data have been updated as of July 2023. Value-added data have been updated as of January 2024.

We thank you for your earlier suggestions and invite you to try out the newest features.

Further comments and suggestions are most appreciated.