The IOC Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange held its Seventeenth Session (IODE-XVII) at UNESCO Headquarters between 3 and 7 March 2003. The Session was attended by 72 delegates from Member States, 16 representatives of organizations, programmes and projects, and 5 observers. The Committee reviewed the work of the past intersessional period, noting inter alia the considerable progress made in cooperation with GOOS and JCOMM, the new IODE Group of Experts on Biological and Chemical Data Management and Exchange Practices (GE-BCDMEP), the new Global Ocean Surface Underway Data Pilot Programme (GOSUD), the development of a marine XML, the Marine Environmental Data Inventory (MEDI), the training system OceanTeacher, the dynamic content management system BeeBox, and the regional networks ODINAFRICA and ODINCARSA. The Committee recommended the merging of the GETADE and JCOMM ETDMP, established an inter-sessional working group to examine the future role of WDCs, RNODCs and NODCs, established an ad hoc working group on the implications of GOOS and JCOMM development on IODE, called for further support for the ODINAFRICA and ODINCARSA networks, and recommended the establishment of the OIT pilot project, jointly sponsored with JCOMM and GOOS.The Committee further defined the terms of reference for the IODE Review and expressed its strong support for the draft policy as prepared by the Intergovernmental Working Group on IOC Oceanographic Data Exchange Policy. The Committee strongly supported the establishment of an IODE Project Office and recommended that the offer of the Government of Flanders and the City of Oostende to host the Office in Oostende, Belgium be accepted. The Committee prepared two Resolutions and six Recommendations for adoption by the IOC Assembly during its 22nd Session.