A duty (or tax) levied upon goods transported from one customs area to another either for protective or revenue purposes. Tariffs raise the prices of imported goods, thus making them generally less competitive within the market of the importing country unless that country does not produce the items so tariffed. After seven rounds of GATT trade negotiations that focused heavily on tariff reductions, tariffs are relatively less important measures of protection than they used to be. The term "tariff" often refers to a comprehensive list or schedule of merchandise with the rate of duty to be paid to the government for importing products listed, whereas the term "duty" applies only to the rate applicable to an individual tariff item.
Derived from: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glosssz.htm#tariff
See also DUTY.
A calculation based on an agreed formula of what the impact of a non-tariff measure would be if it were converted into a tariff. Such calculations add considerably to the transparency of trade regimes.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.338
See also TARIFFICATION.
National customs tariffs contain a list of all products that can be imported. Within the tariff, products are grouped according to the material they are made of, or according to the industrial sector to which they pertain either as input or as output materials (HS six-digit headings). Within those product groups customs tariffs contain as many tariff lines as there are different levels of customs duties. In other words, each duty rate is attached to a tariff line.
In the IDB, the tariff line can be extended using the TARIFF SUFFIX where required.
These are considered as a key function of the WTO. From the entry into force of the GATT on 1 January 1948 until the Dillon Round of 1960-61, tariffs were negotiated item by item or product by product under the request-and-offer system. The principal supplier of a product to another GATT member had the right to request tariff reductions. During the Kennedy Round, it was agreed to use linear tariff cuts as the dominant method. Whole sections of the tariff were thereby reduced uniformly according to an agreed formula. In the Tokyo Round, the Swiss formula for non-linear tariff cuts was used as a working hypothesis under which higher tariffs were reduced by a greater proportion than low ones. Tariff negotiations for non-agricultural products in the Uruguay Round were partly of the product-by-product type and partly zero-for-zero tariff reductions under which tariffs are reduced to zero for whole classes of products. As concerns agricultural products, it was agreed to use what was know as the Uruguay Round formula, which consisted of an overall average reduction in conjunction with a minimum tariff line reduction.
Derived from: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.338
See also MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS.
A tariff applying to goods imported within a limit in value or quantity. A higher tariff applies to goods imported above the quota.
Related items:
A quota that is determined on the basis of the applicable tariff rate applied to imports. A predetermined amount of a good is allowed to enter at a reduced or zero tariff rate. After the quota has been filled, all subsequent shipments of that good during a specific period of time, such as a calendar year, are assessed a higher import tariff, usually the normal most-favored-nation tariff.
Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glosssz.htm#s
CURRENT ACCESS TARIFF QUOTAS - Access opportunities to be opened for agricultural products where non-tariff measures have been converted into tariffs. A formula was devised during the Uruguay Round negotiations whereby the level of access to be opened for a given product was determined through a comparison of the level of imports with consumption during the base period. Current access levels were adopted to ensure that imports represented at least 5% of domestic consumption applying in the Uruguay Round base period of 1986-88.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.89
MINIMUM ACCESS TARIFF QUOTAS - A mechanism giving a minimum level of access opportunities for agricultural products where non-tariff measures have been converted into tariffs. The Uruguay Round negotiations led to a formula whereby the level of access to be opened for a certain product was based on the import/consumption ratio during the 1986-88 base period. In countries where imports were less than 3% of consumption during the base period, access was to be increased immediately to 3% and expanded to 5% by the end of the Uruguay Round implementation period for agriculture commitments.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.229Type your drop-down text here.
A code used in the IDB to extend the tariff line number in order to record two or more duties at different levels. The tariff suffix is used in cases where the customs tariff is more detailed than the corresponding import statistics, i.e. statistics are collected in less detail than the corresponding duties are recorded in the customs tariff. For these cases, the individual duties are recorded under tariff sub-items (tariff suffix "01" - "99") and the average of the duties under the sub-items could be recorded under the principal item (tariff suffix "00"). The tariff suffix is also used to record partially bound MFN duties.
Under conditions of tariff escalation, the difference between the tariff of the more processed product and the tariff on the less processed products that are transformed into the more processed product.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.339
See ESCALATION (TARIFF).
Conversion of border measures, other than ordinary customs duties, to tariff equivalents of non-tariff measures. As part of the Uruguay Round Market Access for agricultural products, all non-tariff border measures were "tariffied" by participants before a tariff reduction was made.
The ratio of prices (unit values) of a country's exports to the prices (unit values) of its imports. Some economists have discerned a deteriorating trend in this ratio for developing countries as a whole. Other economists maintain that whereas the terms of trade may have become less favorable for certain countries during certain periods — and even for all developing countries during some periods — the same terms of trade have improved for other developing countries in the same periods and perhaps for most developing countries during other periods.
Source: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/trade/glosssz.htm#terms
The framework for commitments under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. The three pillars are market access, domestic support and export subsidies.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.343
A bilateral or multilateral treaty or other enforceable compact committing two or more nations to specified terms of commerce, usually involving mutually beneficial concessions.
Source: http://www.asycuda.org/cuglossa.asp?firstlet=T&submit1=Browse
TRADE CREATION
An increase of trade flows among members of a preferential trading arrangement subsequent to the elimination or reduction of trade barriers agreed by the establishment of the preferential trading arrangement. Not all increased trade is welfare increasing as a part of the larger intra-trade of the preferential trading arrangement is due to trade diversion.
TRADE DIVERSION
A redirection of trade between a non-member and a member of a preferential trading arrangement to trade among members of a preferential trading arrangement caused by the more advantageous tariff treatment of suppliers from members of the trading arrangement. Trade diversion leads to global welfare losses (borne by non member suppliers as well as by the importing member) as imports are shifted from a source with low production costs to a source of supply within the preferential trading arrangement with somewhat higher production costs.
Once formal trade barriers come down, other issues become more important. For example, companies need to be able to acquire information on other countries’ importing and exporting regulations and how customs procedures are handled. Cutting red-tape at the point where goods enter a country and providing easier access to this kind of information are two ways of “facilitating” trade.
The 1996 Singapore ministerial conference instructed the WTO Goods Council to start exploratory and analytical work “on the simplification of trade procedures in order to assess the scope for WTO rules in this area”.
The easing of competitive pressures on domestic firms through the use of trade remedies.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.358
Usually refers to anti-dumping measures, countervailing duties and safeguards to deal with the effects of trade actions by others. In the United States it is also a term for a measure applied under a trade law to deal with the effects of perceived unfair trade practices by other countries or injuries caused by rapidly increasing imports. The selection of the available trade remedy depends on the section of the trade law applicable to each case. It can include tariff increases, import quotas, countervailing measures, retaliation, etc.
Source: Walter Goode: Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms, Fourth Edition, (Cambridge University Press/WTO, 2003), p.358
The area surrounding a port of entry in a coastal country that serves as a storage and distribution center for the convenience of a neighboring country - a land-locked country, for example - lacking adequate port facilities or access to the sea. A transit zone is administered so that goods in transit to and from the neighboring country are not subject to the customs duties, import controls or many of the entry and exit formalities of the host country. A transit zone is a more limited facility than either a free trade zone or free port.
Source: http://www.asycuda.org/cuglossa.asp?firstlet=T&submit1=Browse
Allows members to impose restrictions against individual exporting countries if the importing country can show that both overall imports of a product and imports from the individual countries are entering the country in such increased quantities as to cause - or threaten - serious damage to the relevant domestic industry.
Degree to which trade policies and practices, and the process by which they are established, are open and predictable.
The treatment code was used in the mainframe IDB. It was product specific and attached to each country of origin in the IDB import file. This code identified for each tariff item, whether imports were entitled to the MFN tariff, to a preference or to another tariff treatment. The treatment code was not included in the PC IDB.
This trade area refers to agricultural and other products exported by developing countries in tropical climates. In the Uruguay Round, tropical products included the following product sectors: tropical beverages; spices, flowers and plants, planting products, etc.; certain oilseeds, vegetable oils and products thereof; tropical roots, rice and tobacco; tropical nuts and fruits; rubber and tropical wood; and jute and hard fibres.
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