APIM subscription key

Azure API Management (APIM) is the gateway technology, and a subscription key is its native credential: a token the gateway checks on every request. UN Comtrade serves its final, non-preview data through such a gateway at comtradeapi.un.org, and the cataloged requirement is specific - requests to the /data/v1/get/ endpoint must carry the key in an Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key header.

Keys come from the UN Comtrade Developer Portal at comtradedeveloper.un.org, which makes enrollment a prerequisite step rather than a runtime decision. In Datadory's catalog, this header requirement is documented on the UN Comtrade Plus TradeFlow records for electrical machinery and instruments (HS 85/90), sitting alongside a separate public preview endpoint that serves the earlier-stage data.

Keyed gateways are one end of a spectrum the catalog quantifies: 574 of 1,744 datasets (32.9%) offer an official API, and managed-gateway keys are the formalized version of that access.

A required header is a hard dependency with an owner. If the vendor's pipeline calls /data/v1/get/ without the key, every request fails authentication; if the key expires or is rotated, delivery stops until someone re-enrolls at the Developer Portal.

• Preview and final are different products. Building on the preview endpoint and shipping against the final gateway invites mismatches; the subscription key marks exactly where that boundary sits.
• Enrollment lead time belongs in onboarding plans. Obtaining a key through comtradedeveloper.un.org precedes any scheduled pull, so it belongs on the project plan, not discovered during integration testing.
• Gateway credentials concentrate operational risk. Whoever holds the subscription key controls whether production data flows at all.

Use these checks to test whether a source delivers what the concept promises:

1. Verify enrollment before scheduling pulls. Confirm the team has obtained a subscription key via the UN Comtrade Developer Portal (comtradedeveloper.un.org) and recorded who owns it.

1. Inspect the request headers in a captured call. The cataloged requirement names the header exactly: Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key on comtradeapi.un.org/data/v1/get.

1. Pin the environment. Final data flows through the APIM gateway; confirm which base URL and credential combination your vendor uses for production versus preview.

1. Put key lifecycle in the contract. Rotation, expiry and revocation all terminate access silently; make notification obligations explicit.

1. Reconcile HS chapters with the endpoint you call. The documented example covers TradeFlow data for electrical machinery and instruments (HS 85/90) - validate your commodity scope against the same record.

Where to see it in context: electronic-equipment-instruments data, homefurnishing-retail data.

Entries covering the surrounding Comtrade access model:

• comtrade-public-preview-endpoint
• un-comtrade-plus-tradeflow