WTO: Interactive Service Gives Tariff Research New Sophistication

(WTO)

A new service was added to the WTO’s set of tools for finding out information on customs tariffs on 3 February 2010. The latest addition, “Tariff Analysis Online”, is the WTO’s most versatile so far. It includes the greatest available level of detail on the tariffs that WTO members have legally bound and the rates they are actually charging, summary import statistics, and the ability to analyse these interactively.

Tariff Analysis Online draws on two WTO databases: the Integrated Database (IDB) of tariff and import data, and the Consolidated Tariff Schedules, which contains WTO members’ commitments on tariffs and agricultural subsidies.

It provides users with flexible search criteria and produces a range of analytical reports – the results of the searches – covering both tariffs and imports, in detail and summary levels. Users can manipulate the analysis online and download and print the resulting reports.

The development of the new service is in line with the Market Access Committee’s decision of 13 July 2009 to make detailed information on tariffs available to the public.

The existing Tariff Download Facility is simpler and would be the service of choice for users looking for more basic information. It provides standardized statistical information on bound, applied and preferential tariffs on products defined in slightly less detail, by Harmonized System (HS) six-digit codes, with the ability to compare between countries swiftly.

A third service, the World Tariff Profiles, provides similar information to that of the Tariff Download Facility but for broader product categories.