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.

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News 

 

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Introduction 

  

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The mandate 

  

  

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Get Tariff Data 

Data on WTO members' tariffs are of two types:

  • Bound rates (the ceiling rates as listed in members’ “schedules” or lists of commitments)
  • Applied rates (the rates members currently charge, which can be lower than the bound rates).

WTO tariff databases contain both bound and applied rates. Options for accessing and searching the databases can be found here.

See also:
> Goods schedules gateway
> Current situation of goods schedules
> The “Goods schedules and tariff data” section on each member's page

 

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Work on tariffs in the WTO 

 

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Disputes 

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

  

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Statistics on tariffs/customs duties 

WTO Data
A central and user-friendly data portal to access a wide range of WTO statistical indicators on international trade, tariffs, non-tariff measures and other indicators.

 

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Co-published with Cambridge University Press in 2018.

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Tariff Bindings Database: 1996-2011

The Tariff Bindings Database provides estimates of WTO members' tariff binding rates — that is, the maximum upper bound rate at which a WTO member could set a tariff under WTO commitments — from 1996 to 2011. The database covers 143 members and 5,767 products at the HS6 level to allow for comparison across countries.

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