Governments do not necessarily use standard codes for recording countries, quantity units, etc. In the IDB, national codes are converted to a WTO common coding system, based on the International Standard Organization (ISO) country codes and on the quantity unit codes adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Tables are to be suppled with IDB submissions, identifying the tariff lines for the current year and the corresponding tariff lines of the previous year where the tariff nomenclature has hanged, or identifying the import items and the corresponding tariff lines where the nomenclature has changed. These correlation tables can also provide the trade allocation in percentage terms for the data submission.

The principle of giving others the same treatment as one's own nationals. GATT Article III requires that imports be treated no less favourably than the same or similar domestically-produced goods once they have passed customs.

Traditionally defined as fishery products, forestry products and non-ferrous metals and minerals. These products were negotiated in the Uruguay Round in the Group on Market Access with a view to improve market access for these products.

The duty nature refers to the different technical methods of levying customs duty. The duty nature can be ad valorem, specific, compound, mixed, variable, "tariffied" or unclassified.

In IDB, the duty nature is recorded in the Tariff Coded (TC) file as follows:

A = Ad valorem duty

S = Specific duty

C = Compound duty

M = Mixed duty

O = Other duty

A nomenclature is an agreed system for classifying goods according to defined criteria, and in given detail and order, by associating to product groups a number, which is used by all parties which adopt the nomenclature.

The measurement of the nominal tariff protection relates the duty to the value of the imported product as opposed to the effective protection, which relates the duty to the value added in manufacturing the product. Tariff averages calculated from IDB data measure the nominal protection.

In the non-agricultural market access negotiations, products not covered by Annex 1 of the Agriculture Agreement. Fish and forestry products are therefore non-agricultural, along with industrial products in general.

See also  AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.  

See DUTY-FREE.

A preferential agreement offered unilaterally on a non-reciprocal basis.

Measures other than tariffs that restrict imports or exports.

A criterion used in the assessment of whether a customs union is in conformity with the rules of the GATT. Article XXIV requires that the common external tariff of a new customs union must not on the whole be higher or more restrictive than the national tariffs of the members were before they joined the union. Much argument has arisen over the method to be used in ascertaining whether the criterion has been met, especially over the question of the use of the average tariff or a trade-weighted average tariff. Outcomes clearly can be quite different depending on which calculation is used. The Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV concluded as part of the Uruguay Round clarified the matter. It says that an evaluation of tariff levels must be based on an overall assessment of weighted average tariff rates and of customs duties collected.

Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.257-258

Term used in IDB analyses to indicate cases where there are non-ad valorem customs duties for which the ad valorem equivalents are not available.

A tariff so low that it costs the government more to collect it than the revenue it generates - in general, a tariff with no or minimal protective effect.

Derived from: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.258

Related terms:

RESIDUAL TARIFFS - Used by some to describe the low tariffs on industrial products that are now the rule in developed economies. Some see them as “left-overs” from the Uruguay Round that now should be eliminated completely.

Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.295