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The texts reproduced here do not have the legal standing of the
original paper documents.
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A country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its
trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of
trade. One of the achievements of the Uruguay Round of multilateral
trade talks was to increase the amount of trade under binding
commitments (see table). In agriculture, 100% of products now have
bound tariffs. The result of all this: a substantially higher degree
of market security for traders and investors.
-
The Uruguay Round increased number of bindings
Percentages of tariffs bound before and after the 1986-94 talks
| |
Before |
After |
| Developed
countries |
78 |
99 |
| Developing
countries |
21 |
73 |
| Transition
economies |
73 |
98 |
(These
are tariff lines, so percentages are not weighted according to trade
volume or value)
The
schedules reflect the “concessions” a member has given in
trade negotiations, such as in a multilateral trade round, bilateral or
plurilateral negotiations outside a round, or membership negotiations.
Each
schedule consists of four parts:
-
Part
I : Most-favoured-nation or MFN concessions, maximum tariffs to
goods from other WTO members. Part I is further divided into:
- Section 1A — tariffs on agricultural products
- Section 1B — tariff quotas on agricultural products
- Section II — Other products
-
Part
II: Preferential concessions (tariffs relating to trade
arrangements listed in GATT Article I)
-
Part
III: Concessions on non-tariff measures (NTMs)
-
Part
IV: Specific commitments on domestic support and export
subsidies on agricultural products
Each
schedule contains the following information:
- Tariff item number
- Description of the product
- Rate of duty
- Present concession established
- Initial Negotiation Rights (or INR, such as main suppliers of
product)
- Concession first incorporated in a GATT Schedule
- INR on earlier occasions
- Other duties and charges
- For
agricultural products special safeguards may also be defined
The
tariff schedules follow the format called the Harmonized Commodity
Description and Coding System (“Harmonized System”),
established by the World
Customs Organization (WCO) (opens in new window). This system for
classifying goods trade internationally entered into force in 1988 for
those countries which were members of WCO and
contains more than 5,000 six-digit subheadings, which may be
subdivided further to reflect national administrative and statistical
requirements.
The Harmonized
System consists of 21 sections covering 99 chapters. These are:
-
Section I (Chapters 1-5, live animals and animal
products);
Section II
(Chapters 6-14, vegetable products);
Section III (Chapter 15, animal
or vegetable fats and oils);
Section IV (Chapters 16-24, prepared
foodstuffs, beverages and spirits, tobacco);
Section V (Chapters
25-27, mineral products);
Section VI (Chapters 28-38, chemical
products);
Section VII (Chapters 39-40, plastics and rubber);
Section
VIII (Chapters 41-43, leather and travel goods);
Section IX (Chapters
44-46, wood, charcoal, cork);
Section X (Chapters 47-49, wood pulp,
paper and paperboard articles);
Section XI (Chapters 50-63, textiles
and textile products);
Section XII (Chapters 64-67, footwear,
umbrellas, artificial flowers);
Section XIII (Chapters 68-70, stone,
cement, ceramic, glass);
Section XIV (Chapter 71, pearls, precious
metals);
Section XV (Chapters 72-83, base metals);
Section XVI
(Chapters 84-85, electrical machinery);
Section XVII (Chapters 86-89,
vehicles, aircraft, vessels);
Section XVIII (Chapters 90-92, optical
instruments, clocks and watches, musical instruments);
Section XIX
(Chapter 93, arms and ammunition);
Section XX (Chapters 94-96,
furniture, toys, miscellaneous manufactured articles);
Section XXI
(Chapter 97, works of art, antiques).
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For
more details see World
Customs Organization website, (opens in new window).
The
committee
See
more on the Market access
for goods gateway.
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