Updated: 3 February 2010
See also:
> More
on tariffs
> Schedules
of bound tariff commitments
> Tariff
bindings explained
NOTE:
The terms “country” and “countries” are used here for convenience. The terms
cover WTO members that are separate customs territories or customs unions
such as the EU.
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What are you looking for?
With both of these services, users can obtain and compare two sets
of customs tariffs:
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the legally bound commitments on customs duty rates, which act as
ceilings on the tariffs that member governments can set and are
known as “bound rates”, with
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the rates that governments actually charge on imports, which can be
lower, are known as “applied rates” and have a direct impact on
trade.
Tariff Analysis Online is the most versatile and detailed.
The tariffs are available at the level of “tariff line” (eight or
more digits of the Harmonized System codes). At this level of
detail, comparisons between countries are not always possible
because countries do not always use the same code numbers to define
products.
However, Tariff Analysis Online does allow a number of options for
looking up data and for analysing it online, including tariffs,
tariff quotas, imports and countries’ commitments on agricultural
subsidies. The results can be viewed on screen or downloaded and
printed.
The
Tariff Download Facility is simpler. The data on bound,
applied and preferential tariffs and import statistics are available
in up to six digits of the Harmonized System (HS) codes, which are
standard for all countries.
The Tariff Download Facility provides more detail than a third
collection of data, the World Tariff Profiles, where the figures are
for broader categories of products.
Customs codes and standardization back to top
Products in the databases are identified using the World Customs
Organization’s internationally agreed “Harmonized System” (HS).
Under the system, the broadest categories of products are identified
by two-digit “chapters” (e.g. 04 is dairy products, eggs and
other edible animal products). These are then sub-divided by adding
more digits: the higher the number of digits, the more detailed the
categories. For example the four-digit code or “heading” 0403
is a group of products derived from milk. At six digits,
0403.10 is the “sub-heading” for yoghurt; at the
eight-digit level, 0403.10.11 could be low-fat yoghurt
“tariff line”.
The codes are standard up to six digits, the most detailed level
that can be compared internationally. This is used in the Tariff
Download Facility. Beyond that, countries are free to use their
own definitions according to their individual requirements, and this
is reflected in the new Tariff Analysis Online.
Both Tariff Analysis Online and the Tariff Download Facility allow
data to be downloaded in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and other
formats.
For each country back to top
These services and data in simpler forms are also available through
each member country’s page on the WTO website (see for example
Argentina).
These pages can be reached from the
list of members.
The original lists of members’ bound commitments remain available.
The digit-level of the bound duty rates in these “schedules of
commitments”, can vary from country to country. The Tariff Download
Facility presents bound and applied information in a uniform
consolidated form for all member countries. Since they identify
products at the same level of detail (the same number of digits in
the Harmonized System coding), they can be used to compare the
legally bound ceilings with the rates that are actually applied.
They also show which product categories (or tariff subheadings) have
no commitments (i.e. are “unbound”).
Tariff Analysis Online provides tariff line detail reports as well
as analytical reports at higher levels of aggregation.
Data sources back to top
The information on bound rates is based on the WTO’s Consolidated
Tariff Schedules (CTS) database, which covers the legal commitments
on tariffs that member governments have made in the WTO.
The information on applied rates is drawn from the WTO’s Integrated
Database (IDB). This is data that member governments supply annually
on the tariffs they apply normally under the non-discrimination
principle of most-favoured nation (MFN). Data on lower
preferential duties under free trade agreements or preferential
schemes for developing countries are available for some members.
Annual import statistics by country of origin are also available in
the IDB.
How to obtain the information back to top
1. The database. For
standardized tariff information at HS six-digit level go to the
WTO Tariff Download Facility. See also its brief explanation and
user guide: browse; Word; pdf.
To see a country’s tariffs in
detail or to compile analytical reports go to
Tariff Analysis
Online, and its
brief explanation and user guide:
browse,
pdf,
Word
2. By country. Links to this information are available on each WTO member country’s
information page on the WTO website. To reach these, go to the
list of members
and click a country’s name.
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JARGON BUSTER |
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• ad valorem (AV): a tariff rate charged as percentage of the
price
• applied rates: duties that are actually charged on imports. These
can be below the bound rates
• bound rates (tariff binding): commitment not to increase a rate of
duty beyond an agreed level. Once a rate of duty is bound, it may not
be raised without compensating the affected parties
• digits, digit-level: (tariffs) a reference to the codes used to
identify products. Categories of products are subdivided by adding
digits. See Harmonized System
• Harmonized System: World Customs Organization’s system of code
numbers for identifying products. The codes are standard up to six
digits. Beyond that countries can introduce national distinctions for
tariffs and many other purposes
• MFN (most-favoured-nation) tariff: normal non-discriminatory tariff
charged on imports (excludes preferential tariffs under free trade
agreements and other schemes or tariffs charged inside quotas)
• schedules: (for goods) list of bound tariff rates
• tariff line (TL in the tables): a product, as defined by a system of
code numbers for tariffs
> More
jargon: glossary
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