When an exporting country uses part of the following year's quota during the current year.

See also QUOTAS

When an exporting country utilizes the previous year's unutilized quota.

See also QUOTAS

See ESCALATION (TARIFF).

IDB product categories are used to compile summary reports by sectors, stages of processing, etc. Product categories are generally defined in terms of six-digit groups of the HS.

A binding is "ceiling" if the MFN applied duty is lower than the MFN bound duty. The following example illustrates the difference between "ceiling" bindings and bindings at "prevailing" level.

Tariff line number	Type of duty	Rate	Type of binding
0101.11.10	MFN bound duty	50%	Bound at ceiling rate of 50%
	MFN applied duty	10%
010.11.90	MFN bound duty	50%	Bound at prevailing rate of 50%
	MFN applied duty	50%

 

A classification established jointly by the United Nations and the Statistical Office of the European Communities, which covers merchandise as well as services. The CPC can be linked both to the HS and to the SITC Rev.3.

See Harmonized System (HS).

Getting around commitments in the WTO such as commitments to limit agricultural export subsidies. Includes: avoiding quotas and other restrictions by altering the country of origin of a product; measures taken by exporters to evade anti-dumping or countervailing duties.

FAO/WHO commission that deals with established international standards on food safety.

Broadly defined, any article exchanged in trade, but most commonly used to refer to raw materials, including such minerals as tin, copper and manganese, and bulk-produced agricultural products such as coffee, tea and rubber.   

Source: http://www.asycuda.org/cuglossa.asp?firstlet=C&submit1=Browse

The EU's comprehensive system of production targets and marketing mechanisms designed to manage agricultural trade within the EU and with the rest of the world.

Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.68

A tariff rate uniformly applied by a common market or customs union, such as the European Community, to imports from countries outside the union. For example, the European internal market is based on the principle of a free internal trade area with a common external tariff (sometimes referred to in French as the Tariff Extérieur Commun (TEC)) applied to products imported from non-member countries.

Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glossac.htm#commonext

In a free trade area, countries maintain their own tariff structure vis-à-vis third parties.

A more developed type of customs union in which, in addition to the free movement of goods between member states, labour, capital and services can also move without restriction. Common markets lead to highly integrated economies.

Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.70

Governments do not use standard codes for recording countries, quantity units etc. in their IDB submissions. National codes are converted to a common coding system which has been adopted by WTO. The WTO coding system is based on the International Standard Organization (ISO) country codes and on the quantity unit codes adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

See DUTY.

See DUTY.

One of the methods for customs valuation permitted by the WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the Customs Valuation Agreement) if no reliable price information is available. A computed value consists of the sum of (a) the cost or value of the materials and their processing, (b) a normal amount for profit and general expenses, and (c) the cost or value of all expenses necessary, such as transport, port handling, charges and insurance.

Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.76

Describes a staged approach to tariff reductions. The highest rates are reduced first, then the second-highest, and so on until the target levels have been achieved across the board.

Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.76

A tariff reduction, tariff binding or other commitment to reduce import restrictions: usually accorded pursuant to negotiation in return for concessions by other parties.

Table relating two different nomenclatures, item by item.

Those countries or separate customs territories that were signatory to the GATT 1947.

Article VI of the GATT 1994 permits the use of countervailing measures, which are duties imposed by the importing country to offset the effect of the subsidy on the product in question.

Related terms:

UPSTREAM SUBSIDIES - Subsidies provided to a manufacturer's supplier of inputs for a product. To be included in the calculation of the countervailing duty, the upstream subsidy must provide a "competitive benefit", or be passed through, to the downstream producer of the product under investigation and must have a significant effect on the cost of manufacturing the product under investigation. Petitioners must submit substantial argumentation and evidence before an upstream subsidy investigation is started.  

Source: http://www.asycuda.org/cuglossa.asp?firstlet=U&submit1=Browse

Country in which the goods have been produced or manufactured, according to the criteria laid down for the purposes of application of the customs tariff, quantitative restrictions, or any other form of import measures (see also Partner). Imports in the IDB are to be supplied by country of origin at the tariff line level.

Information submitted for the IDB by WTO Members is in general recorded using national currency units (import values and specific duties (X unit of currency per unit of quantity)). Import values are recorded in the IDB in national currency units (as submitted) and in US dollars. The exchange rate from the national currency unit to US dollars is usually provided by the Member submitting the information.   If not, the IMF annual average exchange rate of the national currency unit to the US dollar is used.  National currency units used in specific duties are not converted to US dollars.

See TARIFF QUOTA.

See DUTY.

See DUTY.

The government service responsible for the assessment and collection of import and export duties and taxes and the administration of other laws and regulations that apply to the importation, transit, and exportation of goods.

Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glossac.htm#cpt

The particular category in a tariff nomenclature in which a product is classified for tariff purposes. Also, the procedure for determining the appropriate tariff category in a country's nomenclature system used for the classification, coding, and description of internationally traded goods. Most major trading nations classify imported goods in conformity with the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, also called the Harmonized System.

Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glossac.htm#cpt

Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glossac.htm#cpt

A multilateral body located in Brussels through which participating countries sought to simplify and rationalize customs procedures. This institution has become the World Customs Organization.

A system for classifying internationally-traded goods for customs purposes. The Brussels Tariff Nomenclature (BTN) was established in 1955. This was an internationally agreed nomenclature in which articles were grouped according to the nature of the material of which they are made. The BTN was amended in 1965 and 1972. In 1974, the BTN became the CCCN, which was again amended in 1978. In 1988, the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (see Harmonized System - HS) replaced the CCCN. The HS was subsequently amended in 1992, 1996 and 2002.

International efforts to increase the uniformity of customs nomenclatures and procedures in cooperating countries. The Harmonized System, a uniform system of tariff classification adopted by most major trading countries in recent years, was one such effort. Discussions and action to further these efforts are normally coordinated by the World Customs Organization.

Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glossac.htm#cpt

Substitution of a single customs territory for two or more customs territories, so that duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce are eliminated on substantially all the trade between the constituent territories of the union. The same duties and other regulations of commerce are applied by each member of the union to the trade of territories not included in the union.

See also COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF (CET or sometimes CXT) and NOT-ON-THE-WHOLE-HIGHER-OR-MORE-RESTRICTIVE CRITERION.

An administrative charge levied by a customs authority to clear the import or export of goods. This fee should be based on the cost of providing the service. It should not be used to protect domestic products or as a source of revenue for the government.

Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.90

AGREEMENT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE VII OF GATT 1994 — A WTO agreement that is the successor to the Customs Valuation Code negotiated during the Tokyo Round to establish a uniform, fair, and predictable international system for the valuation of goods for customs purposes and to preclude the arbitrary use of national valuation systems as nontariff barriers to trade. The Customs Valuation Code established the "transaction value" — or the price actually paid or payable for imported goods plus certain permitted additional costs — as the primary method of valuation by customs officials, and it specified a hierarchy of other methods to be employed when the transaction value method could not be used. Like its predecessor, the WTO agreement applies only to the valuation of imported goods with respect to which ad valorem duties are levied. It does not set forth obligations concerning valuation in connection with export duties, quota administration, internal taxation, or foreign exchange control.

Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glossac.htm#agrimpvii

See also the Agreement on the Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994 on the WTO Website.

The value of the imported goods upon which the customs duties are levied. See also "Import Valuation Basis".