U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement
Tariff Elimination Schedule
The United States and Morocco completed negotiating a free trade agreement between the two countries on March 2, 2004. The U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Morocco FTA) entered into force on January 1, 2006. When the FTA entered into force, 95 percent of qualifying U.S. manufactured consumer and industrial goods immediately became duty free. Duties on most remaining qualifying products will be phased out over a period of up to 9 years. For a limited number of products, tariffs will be phased out over a period of up to fifteen years.
The Moroccan Tariff Elimination Schedule only applies to goods that originate in the United States and qualify pursuant to the rules of origin under the U.S.-Morocco FTA.
To determine when your product can enter Morocco duty-free:
- It is first necessary to determine the appropriate HS number for your product.
- With this number it is then possible to check the Moroccan tariff schedule to find out at what rate the duties on your product will be reduced. The U.S.-Morocco FTA tariff schedules code each line item with a letter, indicating the staging by which the current tariff for each item is reduced and ultimately eliminated. The schedules also note the base rate of customs duty, which is used to determine the starting point and interim rate at each stage of reduction for an item. For purposes of eliminating duties, interim stage rates are rounded down, at least to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. For importing goods from Morocco to the United States, check the U.S. tariff schedule.
Staging Categories
Except as otherwise noted in the headnotes section to each tariff schedule, the codes are generally defined as follows:
Category A: Goods were duty-free immediately upon the date that the FTA entered into force, i.e., January 1, 2006.
Category B: Duties will be eliminated in two equal annual stages beginning January 1, 2006, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year two.
Category C: Duties will be eliminated in five equal annual stages beginning January 1, 2006, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year five.
Category D: Duties will be reduced by fifty percent on January 1, 2006. Beginning January 1 of year 2 duties will be eliminated in five equal annual stages, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year six.
Category E: Duties will be eliminated in eight equal annual stages beginning January 1, 2006, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year eight.
Category F: Duties will be eliminated in nine equal annual stages beginning January 1, 2006, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year nine.
Category G: Duties will be eliminated in ten equal annual stages beginning January 1, 2006, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year ten.
Category H: Duties will be eliminated in ten stages January 1, 2006. On January 1 of year one, duties will be reduced by three percent of the base rate, and by an additional three percent January 1 of years two, three, and four. Beginning on January 1 of year five, duties will be eliminated in six equal annual stages and products shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year ten.
Category I: Duties will be eliminated in twelve equal annual stages beginning January 1, 2006, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year twelve.
Category J: Duties will be eliminated in fifteen equal annual stages beginning January 1, 2006, and shall be duty-free effective January 1 of year fifteen.
Category K: Duties will remain at base rate during years one through six. On January 1 of year seven, duties will be reduced by 5.6 percent of the base rate. Duties will be reduced an additional 5.6 percent of the base rate on January 1 of years eight through 12. On January 1 of year 13, duties will be reduced by an additional 11.1 percent of the base rate. Duties will be reduced an additional 11.1 percent of the base rate on January 1 of years fourteen through eighteen. Goods will become duty free on January 1 of year eighteen.
Category L: Goods already receiving duty-free treatment shall continue to receive duty-free treatment under the FTA.
There are some additional categories for products going to Morocco. If the staging category for your product is not listed above, go to the general notes for the tariff schedule for Morocco for additional staging categories for products going from the United States to Morocco.
Sample Calculations for Exports to Morocco
The following examples are expressed in terms of the Customs Tariff Schedule of Morocco, which is similar to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), but is not exactly identical.
Tomato Puree (HS 2002.90.9011): According to the Morocco tariff schedule, this product has been designated Category G staging with a base rate of 50 percent. The duty for the product will be reduced in ten equal annual stages. Therefore, the product's duty is 46 percent the first year of the agreement, beginning January 1, 2006. The duty will lower 4 percent January 1 of each new year until it becomes duty free January 1 of year ten of the agreement.
Footwear incorporating a protective metal toe-cap, (HS 6401.10): According to the Morocco tariff schedule, this product has been designated Category F with a base rate of 50 percent. Beginning on the first day of the agreement, the duty will be reduced on a yearly basis in nine equal stages. Thus, the first year of the agreement the duty will be 44.4 percent, in year 2, 38.8 percent, year 3, 33.2 percent etc., until the product becomes duty free on January 1 of year 9.
Prepared by the International Trade Administration
Trade Information Center