ON THIS PAGE:    News   Introduction    The mandate    Tariff data    Work in the WTO    Disputes    Publications    Statistics    Links

home > trade topics > tariffs

Tariffs

Customs duties on merchandise imports are called tariffs. Tariffs give a price advantage to locally-produced goods over similar goods which are imported, and they raise revenues for governments. One result of the Uruguay Round was countries’ commitments to cut tariffs and to “bind” their customs duty rates to levels which are difficult to raise. The current negotiations under the Doha Agenda continue efforts in that direction in agriculture and non-agricultural market access.

 See also:
> ITC Market access map

News  back to top

Introduction  back to top

• Information on tariffs in “Understanding the WTO”
    
• Information on tariffs and market access for agriculture

The mandate  back to top

• The original mandate: GATT article XXVIII bis (GATT 1947)
    
• The Doha mandate: Paras. 16, 50, and 31 (iii)
    
• Mandate under the July Package, 1 August 2005. See agricultural market access in Annex A and non agricultural market access in Annex B.
    
• Schedules of market access commitments on goods by WTO Members
    
• There is no legally binding agreement that sets out the targets for tariff reductions. Instead, individual members of the WTO have listed their commitments to cut and bind tariffs on goods schedules that are part of the Uruguay Round Agreements. Additional commitments were made under the 1997 Information Technology Agreement.

Tariff Data  back to top

Data on WTO member countries’ tariffs are of two types:

• Bound rates (the ceiling rates committed in the WTO) as listed in members’ “schedules” or lists of commitments. The schedules bound rates can be found on each member’s page and from this table. (More on schedules)
    
• Applied rates (the rates members currently charge, which can be lower than the bound rates). The applied rates can be found on each member’s page.
  NOTE ON HS DIGITS: The data on applied rates are for products identified by 6-digit codes under the “Harmonized System” (HS). This coding system defines product categories. The broadest categories are identified by two digits (e.g. 04 is dairy products, eggs and other edible animal products). These are then sub-divided — the higher the number, the more detailed the categories (e.g. 0403 is a group of products derived from milk, 0403.10 is yoghurt, 0403.10.11 could be low-fat yoghurt, etc).

Work on tariffs in the WTO  back to top

• Negotiations under the Doha Agenda
  - Non-agricultural market access (NAMA)
  - Agricultural market access and tariff reduction methods
    
• Committee on Market Access
    
• Agriculture: notifications on current tariff quotas
    
• Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products

Disputes  back to top

Information on disputes and customs duties and tariffs in the WTO Analytical Index.

Publications on tariffs  back to top

• Comprehensive tariff data on the WTO website
    
• WTO Discussion Papers — No. 1: Industrial Tariffs and the Doha Development Agenda
    
• WTO World Trade Report 2003 — CH IIA The Role of trade and trade policy in the development process
    
• WTO World Trade Report 2004 — CH IB Selected Issues in Trade and Trade Policy
    
• Tariff information available in the Secretariat

Statistics on tariffs/customs duties  back to top

Statistics database — information on tariffs/customs duties by country.

Click “Trade profiles”, then “Selection” in left column. Choose the countries that interest you and click “Continue” to see details of tariff binding coverage, MFN tariffs and MFN duty free imports.

Links  back to top

• World Customs Organization
• International Customs Tariffs Bureau