INTRODUCTION: Condensing 5,000 to 10,000 tariff line duties for more than 150 countries and customs territories in one single book of manageable dimensions is no easy task. In spite of the many ways in which this information can now often be obtained and viewed in electronic form, it nevertheless appeared worthwhile and even essential to prepare a comprehensive reference publication that presents this vast amount of information in a comparable and synthetic format.

The standardized presentation lends itself to easy analyses and comparisons between countries, between sectors and between bound and applied duties for WTO Members. This ease of use should, however, always be seen in the context of a number of caveats that invariably apply when information is highly aggregated and when estimations are used for non-ad valorem duties.

Statistical measures of tariff data have been used for a long time. While these appear to be rather straight forward and simple to calculate, it was felt that some additional methodological work was needed to provide compatible, transparent and robust figures for international comparisons. To achieve this objective, the standard structure of the World Customs Organization's Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature was used as the main building block for all the aggregate measures used in this publication. The standard HS nomenclature breakdown was chosen as the yardstick for most calculations lest the very diverse breakdowns of national tariff line nomenclatures affect the comparability between bound and applied duties and across countries.

A key factor that drives trade negotiations and tariff reductions is often the interests of exporters in their endeavours to capture new export markets. Access to new export markets is largely infl uenced by preferential arrangements as by export supply capacities. Indicators on these two aspects are therefore included in this publication because they are key to the understanding of the structure of today's trading networks.

The publication is presented in three main parts. The first part shows summary statistics for all WTO Members and other countries and customs territories for all products, as well as broken down by agricultural products and non-agricultural products. The second part shows, for each of these countries and territories, one full page with disaggregations by sectors and duty ranges. It also contains a section on the market access conditions faced in their respective major export markets.

The third part contains data sources and two articles which discuss in more detail issues related to the calculation of ad valorem equivalents (AVEs) and to different aggregation methods for tariff averages.

The summary tables in the first part are designed to allow a cross-country comparison as well as a comparison of the levels of bound and applied duties. Apart from the standard indicators like tariff averages, maxima, percentage of duty-free tariff lines, peaks and non-ad valorem duties, it also contains indicators of tariff dispersion such as the number of distinct duties and the coeffi cient of variation. The calculation of these indicators is based, where applicable, on a pre-aggregation to HS six-digit subheadings, which leads to a standardization across countries and thus makes the comparisons more compatible. However, the impact of different nomenclature breakdowns cannot be fully eliminated.

In some cases, one can observe the average of bound duties to be lower than the average of MFN applied duties, although there is no single applied duty higher than the corresponding bound duty. Such an apparent binding violation may simply be the result of different nomenclature breakdowns. The bound duties are based in nearly all instances on the HS 1996 nomenclature, whereas the MFN applied duties are based on the HS 2002 nomenclature. The impact of different tariff breakdowns on averages is discussed in the technical annexes in part three.

The country pages are divided into two blocks covering (A) the domestic market access protection and (B) the protection faced in the six major export markets. In part A, information on bound and applied duties is presented by duty ranges and by sectors. Information for agricultural and non-agricultural duties is shown separately. In addition, there are indicators on the occurrence of special safeguards and on tariff quotas. The caveats mentioned above also apply to the country pages.

In part B, the trade diversifi cation and market access conditions in the major export markets are depicted. Taking into account preferential schemes as available in any of the three organizations' databases, trade-weighted preferential margins are also estimated.

In the comparison of bound and applied duties within countries and across countries, there are three additional caveats that need to be taken into account besides that of the effects of different nomenclature breakdowns.

These relate to: (1) binding coverage; (2) tariff bindings not fully implemented; and (3) AVEs.

• While binding commitments cover all agricultural products, this is not always the case for non-agricultural goods. There are a number of WTO Members where the binding coverage for non-agricultural products is less - and sometimes much less - than 100 per cent. Any comparison of bound and applied tariff indicators is only valid in cases of full binding coverage.
• For most WTO Members, except those who acceded most recently, all commitments dating back to the Uruguay Round have by now been implemented. In cases where commitments are not yet fully implemented, one may see MFN applied averages or maxima exceeding the corresponding bound duty indicators.
• Last but not least, the AVE calculation may affect the comparison between bound and applied duties, because the changes in nomenclature may have resulted in the use of different unit values. In other cases, bound duties have been expressed in a way that is not directly comparable with the currently used applied duties. In a number of cases, the estimated MFN applied AVEs were adjusted when the corresponding bound tariff lines were defi ned in ad valorem terms. In these cases, the corresponding bound ad valorem duty was used as a ceiling for the AVE estimate.

The third part contains the data sources and two articles that discuss in more detail issues related to the calculation of AVEs and to different aggregation methods for tariff averages. These two articles explain in more detail two key methodological issues that are frequently faced by many tariff data analysts. A glossary, which briefl y explains some of the most commonly used terms, concludes the publication.

Download World Tariff Profiles 2006

PDF format, 1.3MB, 226Pages.

© World Trade Organization and International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO 2007.
ISBN: 978-92-870-3369-7

Table of contents:
Part 1 Summary tables
Technical notes ........................................... 1
All products ................................... 2
Agricultural products ............................................ 8
Non-agricultural products ....................................... 14
Part 2 Country pages
Technical notes ...................................... 21
Country pages ............................. 27
Part 3 Technical Annexes
A. Tariff aggregation methods – what are the implications ............... 179
B. Methodology for the estimation of non-ad valorem tariffs ........ 186
C. Data sources ........................... 198
D. Glossary of tariff and trade related terms ............. 205

WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.

WTO's main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. It does this by: administering trade agreements, acting as a forum for trade negotiations, settling trade disputes, reviewing national trade policies, assisting developing countries in trade policy issues through technical assistance and training programmes and cooperating with other international organizations.

UNCTAD
Established in 1964, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) promotes the developmentfriendly integration of developing countries into the world economy. UNCTAD has progressively evolved into an authoritative knowledge-based institution whose work aims to help shape current policy debates and thinking on development, with a particular focus on ensuring that domestic policies and international action are mutually supportive in bringing about sustainable development.

Three key functions of UNCTAD are: (1) to function as a forum for intergovernmental deliberations, supported by discussions with experts and exchanges of experience, aimed at consensus building; (2) to undertake research, policy analysis and data collection for the debates of government representatives and experts; and (3) to provide technical assistance tailored to the specific requirements of developing countries, with special attention to the needs of the least developed countries and of economies in transition.

ITC
The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the joint technical cooperation agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) for business aspects of trade development. ITC’s mission is, with its partners, to provide integrated trade development programmes focusing on export impact for business in developing countries.

ITC’s strategic objectives are to strengthen the international competitiveness of enterprises, to develop the capacity of trade service providers to support businesses and to support policymakers in integrating the business sector into the global economy.

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