Restrictions that limit the value or quantity of goods which can be imported or exported during a given period. Article XI of the GATT 1994 establishes the general elimination of QRs, with some exceptions.
The Council for Trade in Goods adopted the Decision on Notification Procedures for Quantitative Restrictions (G/L/59) on 1 December 1995. The decision states inter alia that Members should make complete notifications of the quantitative restrictions which they maintain every two years and notification of changes as and when they occur. The notifications are to contain: a full description of the products and tariff lines (or parts of tariff lines) affected together with the relevant heading or sub-heading in the Harmonised System nomenclature; a precise indication of the type of restriction, using the agreed symbols (BISD 32S/108); an indication of the grounds and WTO justification for the measures maintained, including the precise provisions which they cite as a justification; a statement on the trade effects of the measure. In order to ensure full transparency, the notification should include a description of the administrative mechanism associated with the measure, unless this mechanism has been notified under the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures or another WTO Agreement. Also under trade effects, the notification should include information on the quantity of permissible imports, on the degree of quota utilization (in the case of exiting quotas) and, where available, on the level of production or consumption.
The Secretariat maintains a database of the Quantitative Restrictions notifications, as mandated by the Decision. Extracts of the database are available to Members upon request. The types of measures included in the database can be summarized as follows:
Licensing (automatic and non-automatic)
Quotas (Bilateral and global)
Minimum price triggering a QR
Mixing regulations
Prohibitions
QRs made effective through state-trading
"Voluntary" export restraints
Most of the above measures have additional entries in the database for QRs applied on a seasonal basis and for QRs applied to exports.
The volume of imports is recorded in the IDB imports file. The unit used to express import volumes varies according to the product and according to the reporter. The quantity unit used is therefore attached to quantity data in the imports file. Some countries use a common unit to collect import volumes.
Export Quotas:
Restrictions or ceilings imposed on the total value or volume of certain exports. They are designed to protect domestic producers and consumers from temporary shortages of these products or to improve the prices of specific products on world markets by shortening their supply. The later is only possible where a country, or group of countries, is the dominate exporter of the product.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.133
Import Quotas:
Restrictions or ceilings imposed by an importing country on the value or volume of certain products that may be bought from abroad. They are designed to protect domestic producers from the effects of lower-priced imported products. Import quotas are a form of quantitative restrictions.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.175
Fixed Quota:
A quota set for the volume of import of goods that may not be exceeded in set period.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.139
Limits on the value or quantity of a good which can be imported or exported during a period, on a global basis.
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