RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE IDB/URM/2
15February 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0586)
INTEGRATED DATA BASE
IDBUSER REFERENCE MANUAL
PART II
GLOSSARY OFTERMS
Note bytheSecretariatIDB/URM/2
Page2
WTO INTEGRATED DATA BASE
GLOSSARY OFTERMS
ACCESSION
Agovernment joining theWTO. Aspartoftheaccession totheWTO pursuant toArticle XII, the
acceding government negotiates concessions andcommitments relating toMarket Access forGoods
andServices withWTO Members.
ACM SeeArab Common Market.
ACPs
Countries inAfrica, theCaribbeans andthePacific which benefit from apreferential tariff treatment
intheE.C., under theLomé Convention.
ADVALOREM DUTY
Anadvalorem dutyisacustoms tariff dutyexpressed asapercentage ofthevalue oftheimported
goods (e.g.10%ofvalue). Inthecaseofspecific duties (i.e.$2.00 perKG)itisnecessary tocalculate
anadvalorem equivalent (AVE) which gives theequivalent levelofthedutyinpercentage terms.
ADVALOREM EQUIVALENT (AVE)
Anadvalorem equivalent istheequivalent inpercentage ofaspecific duty, mixed, compound orother
dutycontaining aspecific element. Anadvalorem equivalent iscalculated foreachcustoms dutythat
isnotadvalorem. TheAVE iscalculated from theactual dutycollection orfrom theunitvalue of
imports. Forexample, theAVE ofaspecific dutyof$1.00 perKGlevied onaproduct withaunit
value of$10.00 perKGisequal to10%($1.00/$10.00).
ADABAS
Adaptable DAta BAse System isadatabasemanagement system, produced bySoftware AG,which
isusedforthemanagement oftheIDB.
AGGREGATE (TRADE)
TheIDBimport statistics 'filecontains aggregates ofimports fromgroups ofpartners, suchasWTO
Members, MFN+GSP partners, etc.These aggregates contain accumulations ofimport values and
quantities from countries falling within eachrelevant group.
AIRCRAFT AGREEMENT (ATCA)
ATokyo Round agreement formally known asthe"Agreement onTrade inCivilAircraft". ThisMTN
agreement establishes aninternational framework governing theconduct oftrade incivilaircraft. The
agreement applies toallcivilaircraft, civilaircraft engines andtheirpartsandcomponents andtoground
flight simulators andtheirparts andcomponents. Signatories totheagreement agreed toeliminate
customs duties andother charges levied ontheimportation ofproducts foruseinacivilaircraft in
thecourse ofitsmanufacture, repair, maintenance, rebuilding, modification orconversion. Zeroduties
forallproducts covered bytheagreement areincorporated bysignatories intheirrespective GATT
schedules. Thesignatories established theCommittee onTrade inCivil Aircraft composed of
representatives ofallsignatories, forsurveillance, review, consultation anddispute settlement.
ALADI SeeLatin American Integration Association.IDB/URM/2
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ALPHANUMERIC
Datacharacteristic; afieldisalphanumeric when itcancontain anycharacter (i.e.letters, numbers,
blanks andother characters).
ANDEAN GROUP (GRAN)
Acustoms union comprising Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, PeruandVenezuela.
ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES
Article VIoftheGATT 1994permits theuseofanti-dumping measures. Suchmeasures canbeimposed
onimports ofaproduct withanexport price below its"normal value" (usually thecomparable price
ofthedomestic market oftheexporting country) ifsuchdumped imports cause injury toadomestic
industry intheimporting country. These anti-dumping measures taketheform either ofduties or
undertakings onpricing bytheexporter. Theduties levied onanydumped product should notbegreater
inamount thanthemargin ofdumping (price difference).
APEC seeAsian-Pacific Economic Cooperation
APTA seeAutomobile Products Trade Act
ARAB COMMON MARKET (ACM)
Apreferential trading arrangement between Egypt, Iraq,Jordan, Libyan ArabJamahiriya, Mauritania,
Syrian Arab Republic andYemen.
ARTICLE XXVIII
Article XXVIII refers totheArticle oftheGeneral Agreement which deals withtheprocedure tobe
followed when acontracting party intends tomodify itsSchedule. Inbroad terms, Article XXVIII
stipulates thatacontracting party canwithdraw ormodify aconcession initsGATT Schedule after
negotiationandagreementwithanycontractingpartywithwhichtheconcessionwasoriginallynegotiated
andanycontracting party which isrecognized tohaveaprincipal orasubstantial supplying interest
withaview tooffering compensation. Notifications ofchanges inGATT Schedules should include
alistofitemstobemodifiedorwithdrawn,accompaniedbystatisticsofimportsoftheproductsinvolved,
bycountry oforigin, forthelastthree years forwhich statistics areavailable. Ifspecific, mixed or
compound duties areaffected, bothvalues andquantities should beprovided, ifpossible.
ASEAN SeeAssociation ofSouth EastAsian Nations.
ASIAN-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC)
AForum formed toachieve regional freetradeandinvestment. Member countries areAustralia, Brunei
Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, NewZealand,
Papua NewGuinea, Philippines, Singapore, Republic ofKorea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand andtheUnited
States.
ASSOCIATION OFSOUTH EAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN)
AnAssociation establishing aninterim agreement fortheformation oftheASEAN FreeTrade Area
(AFTA). Member countries areBrunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, thePhilippines, Singapore,
Thailand andVietnam.
ATCA SeeAIRCRAFT AGREEMENT (Agreement onTrade inCivil Aircraft)
AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND CLOSER ECONOMIC RELATIONS TRADE AGREEMENT
(ANZCERT)
FreeTrade Area between Australia andNewZealand.IDB/URM/2
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AUSTRALIA-PAPUANEWGUINEATRADEANDCOMMERCIALRELATIONSAGREEMENT
(PATCRA)
Apreferential non-reciprocal access totheAustralian market forPapua NewGuinea.
AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTS TRADE ACT (APTA)
United States special tarifftreatment formotor vehicles andoriginal motor vehicle equipment originating
inCanada.
AUTONOMOUS DUTY SeeStatutory Duty
AVE SeeAdValorem Equivalent
AVERAGE (TARIFF)
Atariff average measures theaverage levelofnominal tariff protection. There aretwotypes oftariff
averages: asimple average andatrade-weighted average. Theexample below illustrates howthose
twotypes oftariff averages arecalculated.
Tariff line
numberDuty rate Import value Duty collected
0101.11.10 50% 10 5
0101.11.90 10% 100 10
0101.19.10 0% 1000 0
0101.19.90 20% 100 20
Total 80% 1210 35
Tariff Averages:
ARITHMETIC =Sumofduties/Number ofduties =80/4=20%
TRADE-WEIGHTED=(Sumofdutiescollected/Totalimports)X100=(35X100)/1210=3%
Itshould benoted thatthetrade-weighted average isoften lower thanthearithmetic average. This
isbecause theoretically, lowduties carry more imports thanhigh duties. Subsequently, inthe
trade-weighted average, lowduties aregiven moreweight thanhighduties, thusintroducing adownward
bias. Inthearithmetic average, eachdutycarries thesame weight, whatever itslevel.
BANGKOK AGREEMENT
First Agreement onTrade Negotiations among Developing Nations oftheEconomic andSocial
Commission forAsiaandthePacific (Bangkok Agreement) apreferential trading arrangement between
Bangladesh, India, LaoPeople 'sDemocratic Republic, Philippines, Republic ofKorea andSriLanka.
BARTER TRADE
Contract bywhich anexporter accepts goods orservices fromtheimporter aspayment foritsexported
products.
BATCH PROCESSING
Computer processing which doesnotmake useofon-line facilities.IDB/URM/2
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BILATERAL AVE
Anadvalorem equivalent ofaspecific dutycalculated fromtheunitvalue ofimports fromanindividual
country. AnAVE canbeglobal (applying toallcountries entitled totheduty) orbilateral.
BILATERAL QUOTA
Limits onthevalue orquantity ofagood which canbeimported fromorexported toagiven partner
orgroup ofpartners.
BINDING
GATT Article IIprovides thatsignatories may"bind" tariffratesbyincluding theminschedules annexed
totheGeneral Agreement. Once adutyisbound, itmaynotberaised above thatbound levelwithout
compensating affected parties. Iftheactually applied rateislower thanthebound rate,thebound level
ofthedutyrateiscalled a"ceiling" binding (seeCeiling Binding ).Ifthebinding doesnotcover
allproducts inthetariff itemthebinding is"partial" andidentified by"ex"intheGATT Schedules.
BOUND RATE SeeBINDING
BYTE
Unitofcomputer storage required torepresent acharacter (alsocalled physical character).
CACM SeeCentral American Common Market.
CARIBBEAN-CANADA PREFERENTIAL TRADING ARRANGEMENT (CARIBCAN)
Apreferential trading arrangement bywhich Canada extends duty-free treatment toeligible imports
from theCommonwealth Caribbean developing countries under theCARIBCAN.
CARIBBEAN COMMON MARKET (CARICOM)
ApreferentialtradingarrangementbetweenAntiguaandBarbuda,Bahamas,Barbados,Belize,Dominica,
Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Christopher andNevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and
theGrenadines, Surinam andTrinidad andTobago.
CARIBCAN SeeCaribbean-Canada preferential trading arrangement.
CARICOM SeeCaribbean Common Market.
CATEGORY (PRODUCT)
Product categories aredefined onanadhocbasis tocompile summary reports bysectors, stages of
processing, etc.Product categories aregenerally defined interms offour-digit headings oftheCCCN
orinterms ofsix-digit groups oftheHS.
CBERA SeeUnited States Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act.
CCC SeeCustoms Co-operation Council.
CCCN SeeCustoms Co-operation Council Nomenclature.
CD-ROM (Compact DiscRead Only Memory)
TheCD-ROM isa4.7inchCompact Discholding inexcess of600megabytes ofdata, which is
equivalent toabout 250,000 pages oftextor20,000 medium-resolution images.
CEAO SeeWest African Economic Community.IDB/URM/2
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CEFTA SeeCentral European FreeTrade Agreement
CEILING BINDING
Abinding is"ceiling" iftheapplied dutyislower thanthebound duty. Thefollowing example illustrates
thedifference between "ceiling" bindings andbindings at"prevailing" level.
Tariff linenumber Type ofduty Rate Type ofbinding
0101.11.10 bound duty 50% bound atceiling of50%
applied duty 10%
010.11.90 bound duty 50% bound atprevailing rateof50%
applied duty 50%
CENTRAL AFRICAN CUSTOMS AND ECONOMIC UNION (UDEAC)
Apreferential trading arrangement between Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon
andEquatorial Guinea. Acommon external tariff wasintroduced byCameroon, theCentral African
Republic, Congo andGabon.
CENTRAL AMERICAN COMMON MARKET (CACM)
Apreferential trading arrangement between Costa Rica, ElSalvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and
Nicaragua.
CENTRAL EUROPEAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (CEFTA)
Apreferential trading arrangement between theCzech Republic, Hungary, Poland andtheSlovak
Republic.
CENTRAL PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION (CPC)
Aclassification established jointly bytheUnited Nations andtheStatistical Office oftheEuropean
Communities which covers merchandises aswellasservices. TheCPCislinked bothtotheHSand
totheSITC Rev.3.
CHAPTER
TheCCCN andtheHSarestructured nomenclatures. Thefirsttwodigits ofCCCN andHSnumbers
represent thechapter level. TheCCCN comprises 99chapters andtheHS97chapters. HSchapter
77isnotusedatpresent.
CHILE-MEXICO FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
Apreferential trading arrangement between Chile andMexico.
COLUMNS OFTHE LOOSE-LEAF SCHEDULE
Tariff concessions offered byeachWTO Member arereported intheloose-leaf schedule incolumns
3to8.Thelevelorrateofaconcession isreported incolumn 3.TheWTO legalinstrument containing
thepresent concession isreported incolumn 4.INRs onthecurrent bound ratearereported incolumn
5.TheWTO legal instrument containing thefirstconcession offered onthetariff itemisreported
incolumn 6andhistorical INRs arereported incolumn 7.Other duties andcharges (ODCs), ifnot
notified inaheadnote, areindicated incolumn 8.
COMMITTEE OFPARTICIPATING COUNTRIES (CPC)
TheCommittee ofParticipating Countries wasestablished tofacilitate theoperation andfurthering
oftheobjectives oftheProtocol Relating toTrade Negotiations Among Developing Countries. TheIDB/URM/2
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objective oftheProtocol istoexpand access onmore favourable terms fordeveloping countries in
oneanother'smarketsthroughanexchangeoftariffandtradeconcessionsdirectedtowardstheexpansion
oftheirmutual trade. Countries applying theProtocol areBangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Israel,
Republic ofKorea, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay andYugoslavia.
COMMON EFFECTIVE PREFERENTIAL TARIFF SCHEME (CEPT)
Aformal tariff-cutting scheme leading totheASEAN FreeTrade Area (AFTA) between Brunei
Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, thePhilippines, Singapore, Thailand andVietnam. Thistariffscheme
replaces theAgreement onASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangement.
COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF
Auniform tariffadopted byacustoms union (e.g.theEuropean Communities) tobeassessed onimports
entering aregion from countries outside theunion.
COMMON SYSTEM OFCODING
Governments donotusestandard codes forrecording countries, quantity units etc.National codes
areconverted toacommon coding system which hasbeenadopted byWTO. TheWTO coding system
isbased ontheInternational Standard Organisation (ISO) country codes andonthequantity unitcodes
adopted bytheUnited Nations Economic Commission forEurope.
COMPOUND DUTY
Acompound dutyisatariff dutycomprising anadvalorem dutytowhich isadded orsubtracted a
specific duty: 10%plus$2.00/KG; 20%less$2.00/KG.
COMPRESSION (DATA)
Datacompression isamethod ofreducing datastorage requirements. Ingeneral terms, themethod
usedbyAdabas istoeliminate leading zeros andtrailing blanks foreachfieldinafile.When thedata
aredecompressed, theleading blanks andtrailing zeros arerestored.
CONCESSION
Atariff reduction, tariff binding orother agreement toreduce import restrictions: usually accorded
pursuant tonegotiation inreturn forconcessions byother parties.
CONCORDANCE
Table relating twodifferent nomenclatures, itembyitem.
CONTRACTING PARTIES (CPs)
Those governments which aresignatory totheGATT 1947.
COUNTERVAILING DUTIES
Article VIoftheGATT 1994 permits theuseofcountervailing measures which areduties imposed
bytheimporting country tooffset theeffect ofthesubsidy ontheproduct inquestion.
COUNTRY OFORIGIN
Individual supplying countries from which goods areimported arecalled "countries oforigin".
CPs SeeContracting Parties.
CPC SeeCommittee ofParticipating Countries andCentral Product Classification.
C.U. SeeCustoms Union.IDB/URM/2
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CURRENCY
Information submitted isingeneral recorded using national currency units(import values andspecific
duties (Xunitofcurrency perunitofquantity)). Import values arerecorded intheIDBinnational
currency units (assubmitted) andinUSdollars. National currency unitsusedinspecific duties are
notconverted toUSdollars.
CUSTOMS CO-OPERATION COUNCIL (CCC)
Amultilateral body located inBrussels through which participating countries seektosimplify and
rationalize customs procedures. Thisinstitution isnowcalled theWorld Customs Organization.
CUSTOMS CO-OPERATION COUNCIL NOMENCLATURE (CCCN)
Asystem forclassifying goods forcustoms purposes. TheBrussels Tariff Nomenclature (BTN) was
established in1955. Thiswasaninternationally agreed nomenclature inwhich articles weregrouped
according tothenature ofthematerial ofwhich theyaremade. TheBTN wasamended in1965 and
1972. In1974, theBTNbecame theCCCN which wasagain amended in1978. In1988, theCCCN
wasreplaced bytheHarmonized Commodity Description andCoding System (see Harmonized
System ).
CUSTOMS UNION (C.U.)
Substitution ofasingle customs territory fortwoormore customs territories, sothatduties andother
restrictive regulations ofcommerce areeliminated onsubstantially allthetradebetween theconstituent
territories oftheunion. Thesameduties andotherregulations ofcommerce areapplied byeachmember
oftheunion tothetrade ofterritories notincluded intheunion.
DATA BASE
Acollection ofinterrelated datastored together toserve oneormore applications; thedataare
independent ofcomputer programs thatusethedata.
DATA BASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DBMS)
Acollection ofsoftware required forusing adatabase. TheSecretariat usestheDBMS ADABAS.
DBMS SeeDataBaseManagement System.
DISPERSION (TARIFF)
Thetariffdispersion isgenerally analyzed bycompiling tariffprofiles. Tariff profiles showadistribution
oftariff linesaccording todutyranges asfollows:
TARIFF PROFILES
MFN RANGE TARIFF LINES
NUMBER % CUMULATIVE
Total 8637 100 100
Duty-free 1780 21 21
0.1-5.0% 2087 24 45
5.1-10.0% 1929 22 67
10.1-15.0% 850 10 77
15.1-35.0% 1349 16 93
Over 35% 642 7 100IDB/URM/2
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Trade profiles show adistribution ofimports according todutyranges inasimilar manner.
DRAWBACK
Repayment ofimport duties onaproduct re-exported orusedinthemanufacture ofgoods tobe
exported.
DUTY (CUSTOMS)
Taxlevied attheborder onimported goods. Customs duties canbeadvalorem, specific, mixed,
compound, etc.
DUTIES COLLECTED
Amount ofduties collected foraparticular commodity ataspecified dutyrateforastated period.
Usually usedasaguideline toassess thecomparability ofconcessions between countries.
E.C. SeeEuropean Communities.
ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OFWEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)
Apreferential trading arrangement between Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire,
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone andTogo.
ECO SeeEconomic Co-operation Organization.
ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION ORGANIZATION (ECO)
Apreferential trading arrangement initially between theIslamic Republic ofIran, Pakistan and
Turkey and subsequently including Azerbaijan, Kyrgzstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan.
ECOWAS SeeEconomic Community ofWest African States.
EFFECTIVE PROTECTION
Theeffective tariff protection relates atariff dutytothevalue added inthemanufacturing process
ofagiven product. However, there exist inherent difficulties inmeasuring thevalue added ina
given manufacturing process anditisextremely difficult tocalculate effective rates ofprotection.
Thedataavailable intheIDBpermits thecalculation ofnominal ratesofprotection only.
EFFECTIVELY APPLIED DUTY
Acustoms dutywhich islower thanthestatutory duty. Theeffectively applied dutycanbeforan
undetermined period oftimeorforalimited period oftime(temporary duty). Effectively applied
duties aresometimes passed byParliament ordecided onandputintoeffect byagovernment for
economic reasons.
EFTA SeeEuropean FreeTrade Association.
ELEMENT NUMBER
TheIDBtextual tariff information issubmitted inseparate records identified byanelement
number (01-11). Forelements 03to07theelement number corresponds tothecolumn number of
theloose-leaf schedule.
ESCALATION (TARIFF)
Tariff escalation refers tothefactthat,asarule,tariffs onrawmaterials arelower thantariffs on
semi-manufactures, which inturnarelower thantariffs onfinished products. Tariffs escalate with
thestage ofprocessing. Intheory, areduction ofthetariff escalation entails areduction ofthe
effective protection.IDB/URM/2
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EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (E.C.)
Acustoms union between Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain andUnited Kingdom and,asfrom 1January 1995,.
Austria, Finland andSweden.
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES PREFERENTIAL TRADING ARRANGEMENTS
TheEuropean Communities signed bilateral preferential trading arrangements with individual
members ofEFTA, countries intheMediterranean basin (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan,
Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey andYugoslavia) andtheCzech
Republic, Hungary, Poland, theSlovak Republic, Bulgaria andRomania andaccords trade
preferences totheACPs under theLomé Convention.
EUROPEAN FREE-TRADE ASSOCIATION (EFTA)
Asfrom 1January 1995 thefree-trade areacomprises Iceland, Norway andSwitzerland. Prior to
that, Austria, Finland andSweden hadbeen members. TheEFTA hasconcluded freetrade
agreements with Turkey, theformer Czech andSlovak Federal Republic, Poland, Romania,
Bulgaria, Hungary andSlovenia.
EUROPEAN UNION
TheTreaty onCloser European Union (the"Maastricht" Treaty) embraces theobjectives of
economic andmonetary union, acommon foreign andsecurity policy, common citizenship, and
thedevelopment ofcooperation onjustice andsocial affairs. EUmember States areAustria,
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden andtheUnited Kingdom.
EXCHANGE RATE
Thenumber ofunits ofcurrency equivalent tooneunitofanother currency.
EXCISE DUTY (alsoknown asfiscal taxorrevenue duty) SeeFiscal Tax.
EXPORT QUOTA
Restraint imposed byanexporting country onthevalue orquantity ofaproduct which canbe
exported.
EXPORT RESTRAINT
Arestriction byanexporting country ofthequantity ofexports toaspecific importing country,
established usually attherequest oftheimporting country.
FIELD
Anitemofinformation which canbeconsidered asanentity; alsocalled dataelement ordata
item.
FILE
Afileisacollection ofrelated records. Alsocalled adataset.
FILLER
Unitofstorage which isnotused butisrequired tobring therepresentation ofafield orofa
record uptoitsspecific size.
FINISHED PRODUCTS
Thethird stage ofprocessing inthemeasurement oftariff escalation. Finished products are
processed products which canbesoldtoconsumers without further processing.IDB/URM/2
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FISCAL TAX
Ataxwhich islevied onimported products aswellasondomestically produced goods togenerate
revenue. Afiscal taxistherefore notequivalent toacustoms tariff dutysince ithasnoprotective
effects. Fiscal taxes aresometimes included inthecustoms tariff duties. Insuchcases, thefiscal
element oftheduty isdeducted from thetariff duty. Only theprotective partoftheduty is
recorded intheIDBtariff files.
FIXED-LENGTH RECORD
Arecord hasa"fixed length" when allrecords inthefilehavethesame length.
FLOATING INRs
Fixed INRs aredetermined when aconcession isnegotiated bilaterally between twoGATT
contracting parties. When concessions areoffered using atariff cutting formula (e.g. Kennedy or
Tokyo rounds) there isnobilateral negotiation andtherefore noexchange ofINRs. Insuchcases,
INRs areheldbytheprincipal supplier foragiven itemandmarket. When theissue arises, the
principal supplier isdetermined from thelastthree years forwhich import statistics areavailable.
Such INRs arecalled "floating" INRs.
FORMULA APPROACH
Atariff reduction negotiating method bywhich tariffs arereduced across-the-board using a
mathematical formula agreed upon byparticipants.
FREE TRADE AREA OFTHE AMERICAS (FTAA)
TheSummit oftheAmericas Trade Ministerial drew uptheDenver Joint Declaration toprepare
fortheinitiation ofnegotiations oftheFreeTrade Area oftheAmericas.
FREE-TRADE AREA (FTA)
Agroup oftwoormore customs territories inwhich theduties andother restrictive regulations of
commerce areeliminated onsubstantially allthetrade between theconstituent territories in
products originating insuchterritories.
FTA SeeFree-trade area.
FTAA SeeFreeTrade Agreement fortheAmericas
GATT ROUNDS
Multilateral Trade Negotiations conducted under theGATT. Eight rounds havetaken place since
theestablishment ofGATT in1947:
1947 Geneva, creation oftheGATT
1949 Annecy, negotiations withcountries wishing toaccede toGATT. During this
round thefocus wasontariff reductions.
1951 Torquay, newaccessions andtariff reductions.
1956 Geneva, similar toprevious rounds.
1960-1962 Geneva, the"Dillon Round". Revision oftheGATT andnewaccessions.
1964-1967 Geneva, the"Kennedy Round". Firsttimetheformula approach wasadopted
(50% reduction, withexceptions) inaddition tothetraditional product-by-product
approach.IDB/URM/2
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1973-1979 Geneva, the"Tokyo Round". Formula tariffreductions withaviewto"harmonize"
thelevels oftariffs. Agreements ontheuseofselected non-tariff measures.
1986-1994 Geneva, the"UruguayRound". Product-by-product approach byallparticipants,
especially reciprocal offers andsectorial negotiations byanumber ofparticipants,
toeliminate orharmonize duties incertain sectors ("zero-for-zero" approach).
Strengthening oftheGATT anditsexpansion tonewareas (services, counterfeit
goods, etc.). Active participation ofdeveloping countries offering extensively new
bindings at"ceiling rates". Useofthenewconcept of"credit forbindings" and
"recognition ofautonomous liberalization measures" fordeveloping country
participants. Newaccessions toWTO. Creation oftheWorld Trade Organization
(WTO).
GATT SCHEDULES OFCONCESSIONS
Allconcessions negotiated inGATT negotiations arereported intheGATT legalinstruments containing
Schedules ofconcessions. EachWTO Member incorporates itsconcessions initsownschedule. (See
alsoLoose-leaf Schedule )
GCC SeeGulfCo-operation Council.
GENERAL TARIFF
General tariffs arethecustoms duties which apply insome countries topartners which arenotmembers
oftheWTO. Thegeneral duties aregenerally higher thantheMFN duties.
GENERALIZED SYSTEM OFPREFERENCES (GSP)
Generalized system ofpreferences offered unilaterally bydeveloped/transition economies todeveloping
countries. TheGSPisnotpartoftheGeneral Agreement. GSPisaccorded todeveloping countries
bythefollowingcountries:Australia,Bulgaria,Canada,CzechRepublic,theEuropeanUnion,Hungary,
Japan, NewZealand, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, Switzerland andtheUnited States.
GLOBAL AVE
Anadvalorem equivalent ofaspecific dutycalculated from theunitvalue ofimports from agroup
ofcountries. Thegroup canbeallpartners, WTO Members, MFN origins, etc.
GLOBAL QUOTA
Limits onthevalue orquantity ofagood which canbeimported orexported during aperiod, ona
global basis.
GSTP SeeGlobal System ofTrade Preferences among Developing Countries.
GLOBALSYSTEM OFTRADEPREFERENCESAMONGDEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES(GSTP)
Apreferential trading arrangement between developing country members ofUNCTAD.
GRAN SeeAndean Group
GSP SeeGeneralized System ofPreferences.
GULF CO-OPERATION COUNCIL (GCC)
Apreferential trading arrangement between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, andthe
United Arab Emirates.IDB/URM/2
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HARMONIZED SYSTEM (HS)
TheHarmonized Commodity Description andCoding System (known astheHarmonized System),
instituted bytheWorld Customs Organization in1988, isaninternational product classification for
customs tariffs andtradestatistics. Thisrepresented anexpansion oftheformer 4-digit CCCN heading
tothe6-digit HSheading, asfollows:
Nomenclature CCCN HS
Section 21 21
2-digit items 99 971
4-digit items 1011 2241
5-digit items - 3558
6-digit items - 5019
HEADING DESCRIPTION
Customs tariffs contain tariff items towhich dutyrates areattached. Toavoid therepetition of
verylongproduct descriptions, customs tariffs alsocontain heading descriptions covering several
tariff items. Those headings areonlytextual andnodutyrateisattached tothem.
HIGH DUTIES
Within acustoms tariff, hightariff rates canbedefined asthetop10% orthetop20% ofthe
rates.
HISTORICAL INRs
INRs onconcessions negotiated atalevel higher thanthatcurrently inforce foragiven tariff
item. Historical INRs areshown incolumn 7oftheGATT loose-leaf schedules.
HSSeeHarmonized System.
IAG SeeInformal Advisory Group ontheIDB.
ICC
International Computing Centre. TheWTO Secretariat iscurrently using thecomputer facilities
offered bytheICC.
IDBCD-ROM
TheIDBCD-ROM, developed jointly bytheWTO Secretariat andtheWorld Bank, contains the
PCIntegrated DataBaseandanapplication system toretrieve andcompute tariff andimport data.
IMPORT LICENSING
Aprocedure which must befollowed byimporters before theycanimport goods.
IMPORT SURCHARGE
Acharge onimports, inaddition tothecustoms duty.
INFORMAL ADVISORY GROUP ONTHE IDB(IAG)
TheInformal Advisory Group ontheIDBwascreated bytheGATT Council toadvise the
Secretariat inthedevelopment oftheIDB. Allcontracting parties were invited toattend meetings
oftheGroup, whether ornottheyparticipated intheIDB.
INFORMED VALUE
ThistermhasbeenusedintheIDBdocumentation toindicate avalue thatisnotblank.
1Chapter 77isnotusedbutreserved forfuture use.IDB/URM/2
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INITIAL NEGOTIATING RIGHT (INR)
When aconcession isfirstnegotiated bilaterally between twocountries, thenegotiation takes place
between theimporting country andthecountry having aninterest intheproducts tobenegotiated.
Iftheinterested ornegotiating country obtains aconcession, thisconcession applies toallWTO
Members under theprinciple ofthemost-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment. The negotiating
country isrecorded intheGATT schedule asholding aninitial negotiating right (INR) onthe
tariff item. Acountry holding anINRonanitem does nothave tobeamong theprincipal
suppliers toenter intonegotiations withtheimporting country under Article XXVIII oftheGATT
orinsubsequent round oftariff negotiations. Forthesame product there could beseveral
countries holding INRs. (SeealsoFloating INRs andHistorical INRs)
INR SeeInitial Negotiating Right.
INSTRUMENTS (WTO LEGAL)
Theresults oftariff negotiations arepublished inthe"WTO Legal Instruments" which contain all
theUruguay Round schedules.
ISO
International Organization forStandardization.
ISRAEL-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
Free-Trade Area agreement between Israel andtheUnited States.
JUSTIFICATION SeePADDING CHARACTER .
KEY
Adataitemorsetofdataitems usedtoidentify orlocate arecord orsetofrecords.
LATIN AMERICAN INTEGRATION ASSOCIATION (ALADI orLAIA)
Apreferential trading arrangement between Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,
Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay andVenezuela.
LDC SeeLeast Developed Countries.
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (LDCs)
Least developed countries areaccorded onsome countries 'markets apreferential treatment more
favourable thanGSP(ingeneral duty-free treatment withnolimitations). Thefollowing import
markets accord LDCs more favourable GSP treatment: Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, the
European Communities, Finland, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovak
Republic, Sweden, Switzerland andtheUnited States ofAmerica.
LEGAL DUTY SeeStatutory Duty
LEVEL CODE
Product descriptions recorded intheIDBtextual tariff filerefer totariff items (level=99) orto
heading descriptions (level=01-98). Thelevel ofheadings uptothe6-digit level equals the
number ofdigits oftheheading number: level=02 forHSchapters, "04"for4-digit headings, etc.
(seealsoHEADING DESCRIPTION ).
LAIA SeeLatin American Integration Association
LOADING
Initial storing ofafileintheIDBdatabase.
LOME CONVENTION
TheFourth Lomé Convention provides forapreferential arrangement between theE.C. and70
selected countries inAfrica, theCaribbeans andthePacific (ACPs).IDB/URM/2
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LOOSE-LEAF SCHEDULE
After theTokyo Round, GATT Contracting Parties decided thatconsolidated schedules containing
allconcessions granted byaparticular country (orgroup ofcountries) since GATT wascreated
should beestablished. Theschedules areissued inaloose-leaf format tosimplify thereplacement
ofpages where thetariff numbering oraconcession isamended. National consolidated schedules
ofconcessions arereferred toas"loose-leaf schedules". (SeealsoColumns oftheLoose-leaf
Schedule) .
LOW DUTIES
Lowtariff ratescanbedefined asratesbelow 5%orasthebottom 10%oftherates.
MAASTRICHT TREATY seeEuropean Union
MANO RIVER UNION (MRU)
Preferential trading arrangement between Guinea, Liberia andSierra Leone, joined with other
West African States toestablish theECOWAS.
MARGIN OFPREFERENCE
Thedifference between thedutypaidonanMFN basis andthedutypaidunder apreferential
system.
MARKET ACCESS
Theextent towhich amarket isaccessible toforeign exporters depends ontheexistence and
extent oftrade barriers (tariff andnon-tariff). IntheUruguay Round, aGroup ofNegotiations on
Market Access wasestablished todealwith: tariffs, non-tariff measures, tropical products and
natural resource-based products. Under theWTO, aCommittee onMarket Access hasbeen
established todealwiththese issues.
MERCOSUR SeeSouthern Cone Common Market.
MFA SeeMulti-Fibre Arrangement.
MFN SeeMost-Favoured-Nation.
MFN+GSP TRADE AGGREGATE
Thetrade aggregate MFN+GSP isusedinthecalculation oftrade-weighted tariff averages (see
alsoAVERAGE TARIFF )."MFN+GSP" imports include exclusively imports from countries
entitled totheMFN tariff andimports from countries entitled toGSP. "MFN+GSP" trade
excludes therefore imports from countries signatory tofree-trade agreements (e.g. EFTA,
Canada/United States, etc.) andimports from countries signatory toother preferential trading
arrangements (e.g. E.C./Mediterranean countries, U.S./Caribbean countries, E.C./Lomé
Convention, etc.)
MINIMUM PRICE TRIGGERING AQR
Quantitative restriction which applies iftheprice ofaproduct isbelow agiven threshold.
MIXED DUTY
Amixed dutyisadutywhere aminimum oramaximum tariff protection isensured bythechoice
between, ingeneral, anadvalorem dutyandaspecific dutyasinthefollowing examples: 10%
minimum $2.00/KG; 10%or$2.00/KG whichever isless;10%maximum $2.00/KG, etc.
MOST-FAVOURED-NATION (MFN)
With respect tocustoms duties, anyadvantage, favour, privilege orimmunity granted byany
contracting party toanyproduct originating inordestined foranyother country areaccorded
immediately andunconditionally tothelikeproduct originating from ordestined fortheterritories
ofallother contracting parties, under theprinciple ofMFN treatment. GSP, FTA andother
preferential trading arrangements areexceptions totheMFN treatment.IDB/URM/2
Page17IDB/URM/2
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MRU SeeMano River Union.
MTN SeeMultilateral Trade Negotiations.
MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT (MFA)
The Arrangement Regarding International Trade inTextiles (known astheMulti-Fibre
Arrangement), which allowed countries tomaintain discriminatory quantitative restrictions on
imports oftextiles andclothing, wasterminated in1994 withtheentry intoforce oftheWorld
Trade Organization. TheWTO Agreement onTextiles andClothing provides foratransitional
period forintegrating thetextiles andclothing sector intotheGATT 1994. TheTextile
Monitoring Body (TMB) istosupervise theimplementation ofthisAgreement.
MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS (MTN)
Trade negotiations between GATT Members aiming ateliminating orreducing tariff andnon-tariff
barriers. TheUruguay Round istheeighth round ofMTN.
NAFTA SeeNorth America FreeTrade Agreement
NATIONAL CODES
Codes usedinnational submissions forrecording countries oforigin, quantity units etc.National
codes areconverted totheWTO common system ofcoding which isusedintheIDBdatabase
files.
NATURE OFDUTIES
Nature ofduties orthedutynature refer tothedifferent kinds ofcustoms duty. Thedutynature
canbeanadvalorem, specific, compound, mixed, variable, "tariffied" orunclassified duty.
NATURAL RESOURCE-BASED PRODUCTS (NRBP)
Traditionally defined asfishery products, forestry products andnon-ferrous metals andminerals.
These products were negotiated intheUruguay Round intheGroup onMarket Access witha
viewtoimprove market access forthese products.
NOMENCLATURE
Anomenclature isanagreed system forclassifying goods according todefined criteria, andin
given detail andorder, byassociating toproduct groups anumber which isused byallparties
which adopt thenomenclature.
NOMINAL PROTECTION
Themeasurement ofthenominal tariff protection relates thedutytothevalue oftheimported
product asopposed totheeffective protection which relates theduty tothevalue added in
manufacturing theproduct. Tariff averages calculated from IDB datameasure thenominal
protection.
NON-TARIFF MEASURES (NTM)
Measures other thantariffs which restrict imports orexports.
NORMALIZED CODING
Thenormalized coding isused intheIDBcoded tariff fileforrecording specific, mixed or
compound duties inapredetermined standard format. Thenormalized coding allows computer
calculations based onthose duties andsimplifies thedesign ofprinted reports. (SeealsoPart
(Normalized Code) )
NORTH AMERICA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA)
Free-trade areaagreement between Canada, Mexico andtheUnited States.IDB/URM/2
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NRBP
Natural Resource-Based Products.
NTB
Non-Tariff Barrier.
NTM
Non-Tariff Measure.
NUMERIC
Datacharacteristic, afieldwhich cancontain onlydecimal numbers.
OCCURRENCE
Some records cancontain thesame dataelement repeated several times. Insuchacasetherecord
contains afieldidentifying thenumber ofdataelements recorded (number ofoccurrences).
ON-LINE ACCESS
Access toacomputer viaaterminal orpersonal computer.
OPERATOR
Arithmetic andlogical operators areused inthenormalized code torecord mixed duties or
compound duties. Acompound dutyisrecorded as10%+(operator +)$2.00/KG. Thevarious
operators are(P)=(+), (M)=(-), (R)=(or), (H)=(whichever isHigher) and(L)=(whichever is
Lower).
PADDING CHARACTER
Padding characters arethecharacters tobefilled inafixed-length datafieldwhen thedatatobe
recorded areshorter thanthefixed field length. This"filling in"canbedone attheleft(right
justified) ortherightside(leftjustified) ofthefield.
PART (NORMALIZED CODE)
Thenormalized code forspecific ormixed duties comprises three identical parts. Each part
comprises fields forrecording: (1)anadvalorem dutyfollowed byanoperator (P,M,R,Hor
L);and(2)aspecific duty, alsofollowed byanoperator. (SeealsoOperator )
PARTIAL BINDING SeeBINDING .
PARTNER
Country oforigin ofimports orofdestination ofexports.
PHYSICAL CHARACTER SeeBYTE .
PEAKS (TARIFF)
Acustoms tariff contains tariff peaks ifitisrelatively homogeneous butcontains inselected
sectors high tariffs compared totheoverall average tariff. During theUruguay Round, tariff
peaks were defined asduties over15%.
PLURILATERAL (CONSULTATIONS ORNEGOTIATIONS)
Several participants involved inconsultations ornegotiations among themselves.
POST-URUGUAY DUTY SeePre-Uruguay andPost-Uruguay Duty
PREFERENCES
Special trade advantages (e.g. tariff preferences) granted byagovernment tosome ofitstrading
partners topromote trade withthem.IDB/URM/2
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PREFERENTIAL TRADE AREA FOR EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICAN
STATES (PTA)
Apreferential trade arrangement between Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, Swaziland, United
Republic ofTanzania, Uganda, Zambia, andZimbabwe.
PRE-URUGUAY andPOST-URUGUAY DUTY
Pre-Uruguay Round dutyrefers tothebaserateofduty(bound orunbound), andPost-Uruguay
Round duty orconcession tothebound rateofduty (orfinal rate) notified intheschedules
annexed totheMarrakesh Protocol totheGeneral Tariffs andTrade 1994.
PRINCIPAL SUPPLIER
Thecountry thathasthelargest share ofimports intoagiven market. Acountry canbethe
principal WTO supplier, MFN supplier, GSPsupplier, etc.
PROFILES (TARIFF AND TRADE) SeeDISPERSION (TARIFF)
PTA SeePreferential Trade Area forEastern andSouthern African States.
QRSeeQuantitative Restriction.
QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS (QRs)
Restrictions which limit thevalue orquantity ofgoods which canbeimported orexported during
agiven period.
QUANTITY UNIT
Thevolume ofimports isrecorded inthestatistical file. Theunitusedtoexpress import volumes
varies according totheproduct andaccording tothereporter. Thequantity unitusedistherefore
attached toquantity dataintheimport statistics. Thequantity unitisalsousedinthenormalized
codeforspecific duties.
RAW MATERIAL
Aproduct unprocessed orinitsnatural state. Rawmaterials form thefirststage ofprocessing in
theanalysis ofthetariff escalation.
RECORD
Arecord isacollection ofrelated data.
RECORD KEY SeeKEY.
RECORD LENGTH
Thelength ofarecord isthenumber ofcharacters contained intherecord. Therecord length can
be"fixed" or"variable".
REFERENCE FILES
Reference filesareIDBdatafilescreated bytheSecretariat toallow necessary verifications of
national submissions, update transactions, etc.Tables usedforconverting national codes toWTO
codes arealsoincluded inthereference files.
REFERENCE YEAR
Thetariff itemnumbers used intheIDBtariff filesarethose reported innational tariffs fora
given yearwhich istaken asthe"reference year". Participants totheIDBdatabase should
provide allfilesintheirsubmission according tothetariff nomenclature ofthereference year.IDB/URM/2
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RELATION (TARIFF)
Thetariff relation isacodeattached toeachcountry oforigin intheIDBimport file,toidentify
thetariff relationship between asupplier andanimporting country. Thetariff relation code is
unique foragiven supplier onagiven market.
Relation code Tariff relationship
0 most-favoured-nation (MFN)
1 free-trade area(FTA)
2 zone-zone (agreement between FTAs and/or Customs Unions)
3 other preferential agreement
4 GSPorMFN
5 GSPorother preference
6 GSPorgeneral
8 general
9 unspecified
REPORTER
Acountry supplying datafortheIDB.
REPORTING COUNTRY Equivalent to"REPORTER ".
ROUNDS ofMultilateral Trade Negotiations seeGATT ROUNDS
RULES OFORIGIN
Regulations todefine acountry oforigin ofgoods ininternational trade. Acountry mustsatisfy the
rules oforigin tobeconsidered asthecountry oforigin ofgoods forthepurpose ofobtaining MFN
treatment orpreferential treatment.
SAFEGUARD
Agricultural products, which were "tariffied", having recourse toArticle 5oftheAgreement on
Agriculture, Special Safeguard Provisions. Aspecial safeguard maybeinvoked inspecific cases to
partly offset asignificant decline inimport prices orasurge inthevolume ofimports.
SITC SeeStandard International Trade Classification.
SCHEDULE OFCONCESSIONS SeeGATT Schedule ofconcessions
SECTIONS
CCCN andHSchapters arelogically grouped insections representing groups ofproducts. There are
21CCCN orHSsections.
SECTOR SeeCategory (product)
SEMI-MANUFACTURES
Products which might undergo further processing before theyaresoldtoconsumers. Semi-manufactures
form thesecond stage ofprocessing intheanalysis ofthetariff escalation.
SEQUENCE (OFAFILE)
Thesequence ofafileistheorder inwhich therecords arestored inthefile(e.g.inascending order
ofthetariff itemnumber).IDB/URM/2
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SOUTHERN CONE COMMON MARKET (MERCOSUR)
Aninterim agreement fortheformation ofacustoms union between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and
Uruguay.
SOUTH PACIFIC REGIONAL TRADE AND ECONOMIC AGREEMENT (SPARTECA)
Preferential non-reciprocal access tothemarkets ofAustralia andNewZealand forthefollowing South
PacificNations:CookIslands,Fiji,Kiribati,Nauru,Niue,PapuaNewGuinea,SolomonIslands,Tonga,
Tuvalu, Vanuatu andWestern Samoa.
SPARTECA SeeSouth Pacific Regional Trade andEconomic Agreement
SPECIFIC DUTY
Aspecific dutyisacustoms dutywhich isnotrelated tothevalue oftheimported goods buttothe
weight, volume, surface, etc.ofthegoods. Thespecific dutystipulates howmany unitsofcurrency
aretobelevied perunitofquantity (e.g.2.00Swiss Francs perKG).
STAGES OFPROCESSING
Fortheanalysis ofthetariff escalation, products areclassified according totheirstage ofprocessing.
Products canbeclassified, ingeneral, according tothreestages ofprocessing, namely, rawmaterials,
semi-manufactures andfinished products.
STAGES OFREDUCTION
Concessions offered inGATT negotiations aresometimes staged overaperiod ofseveral years before
theconcession isfullyimplemented. Forexample, adutyreduction of10percentage points canbe
offered over5years with5equal stages of2points every year.
STANDARD DEVIATION
Thestandard deviation ofdutyrateswithin acustoms tariff istheaverage deviation ofalldutyrates
from theoverall arithmetic tariff average. Thestandard deviation isameasure ofthedispersion of
duties around theaverage. Theexample below illustrates howthestandard deviation iscalculated for
agroup oftariff lines.
Tariff line
numberDuty rate Deviation from the
average (20%)Square deviation
0101.11.10 50% +30 (30*30) =900
0101.11.90 10% -10 (-10*-10) =100
0101.19.10 0% -20 (-20*-20) =400
0101.19.90 20% 0 (0*0) =0
TOTAL 80% 1400
ARITHMETIC AVERAGE =Sumofduties/Number ofduties =80/4=20%
VARIANCE =Sumofsquare deviations/Number ofduties =1400/4 =350
STANDARD DEVIATION =Square rootofthevariance =18.7%IDB/URM/2
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STANDARD INTERNATIONAL TRADE CLASSIFICATION (SITC)
TheSITC isaclassification developed bytheUnited Nations forstatistical analysis oftrade data.
IntheSITC, articles aregrouped byclasses ofgoods suchasfood, rawmaterials, chemicals, machinery
andtransport equipment andalsobystage offabrication andbyindustrial origin. TheSITC wasfirst
revised in1960 (Revision 1)tomatch theCustoms Co-operation Council nomenclature (CCCN). A
second revision wasestablished tomatch therevised version oftheCCCN, in1972. Thethirdrevision
wasestablished in1985 tomatch theHS.
STANDARD WTO CODES
Standard WTO codes arethecodes usedintheIDBdatabaseforrecording countries, quantity units,
INRs, etc.Allnational codes areconverted to"standard WTO codes" before submissions areloaded
intothedatabase(seeCOMMON SYSTEM OFCODING ).
STATUTORY DUTY
Acustoms dutywhich isgenerally aCustoms Tariff Lawvoted byParliament. Thestatutory duty
isalsoreferred toastheautonomous orlegalduty. Thepublished customs tariff generally report the
statutory duty. ForWTO Members, thestatutory dutycannot behigher thantheGATT bound duty.
SUB-ELEMENT
Thesub-element number ispartofthekeyidentifying records inthetextual tariff file.
SUBMISSION (NATIONAL)
Theinformation tobeincluded intheIDBiscommunicated byparticipants oncomputer readable media.
Alldatasubmittedoncomputerreadablemediabyaparticipantarereferredtoasa"nationalsubmission".
SUBSIDIES
Anyform ofincome orprice support granted byacountry, which serves toincrease exports ofany
product from orreduce imports ofanyproduct intoitsterritory.
SUBSTANTIAL SUPPLIER
Acountry which hasashare ofatleast10percentintotalimports ofanitemonagiven market.
TAPE SPECIFICATIONS
"Tape specifications" refers tothetechnical information which should accompany acomputer tape
toidentify, forinstance, thecomputer usedtocreate thetape,thereporting country, thevolume number,
etc.(Refer toUserReference Manual, PartIIIorPartIIIAddendum).
TARIFF ESCALATION See"ESCALATION ".
TARIFFICATION
Conversion ofborder measures, other thanordinary customs duties, totariff equivalents ofnon-tariff
measures. AspartoftheUruguay Round Market Access foragricultural products, allnon-tariff border
measures were "tariffied" byparticipants before atariff reduction wasmade.
TARIFFIED SeeTariffication
TARIFF LINE
National customs tariffs contain alistofallproducts which canbeimported. Within thetariff, products
aregrouped according tothematerial theyaremade of,oraccording totheindustrial sector towhich
theypertain either asinputorasoutput materials (HSsix-digit headings). Within those product groups
customs tariffs contain asmany tariff linesasthere aredifferent levels ofcustoms duties. Inother
words, eachdutyrateisattached toatariff line.IDB/URM/2
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TARIFF QUOTA
Atariffapplying togoods imported within alimitinvalue orquantity. Ahigher tariffapplies togoods
imported above thequota.
TRANSACTION (UPDATE)
Corrections tothedatacontained intheIDBdatabasefilesareprocessed viatheupdate system. The
revised dataarecoded inaformat compatible withtheIDBdatabase fileformats andpreceded bya
code, the"transaction" code, showing which fileistobeupdated andwhat kindofupdate istobe
done: creation, deletion, amendment, etc.
TREATMENT (TARIFF)
Thetreatment codeisproduct specific andisattached toeachcountry oforigin intheIDBimport file.
Thiscodeidentifies foreachtariffitem, whether imports areentitled totheMFN tariff, toapreference
ortoanother tariff treatment. Thetreatment codecantakethesame values astherelation codeexcept
thevalue "5"and"6"(seeRELATION).
TRADE EXPANSION AND COOPERATION AGREEMENT
Apreferential trading arrangement between Egypt, India andYugoslavia.
TROPICAL PRODUCTS
Thistrade arearefers toagricultural andother products exported bydeveloping countries intropical
climates. IntheUruguay Round, tropical products included thefollowing product sectors: tropical
beverages;spices,flowersandplants,plantingproducts,etc.;certainoilseeds,vegetableoilsandproducts
thereof; tropical roots, riceandtobacco; tropical nutsandfruits; rubber andtropical wood; andjute
andhardfibres.
UDEAC
Central African Customs andEconomic Union.
UNBOUND DUTIES
Acustoms dutyrateisunbound ifitwasnever subject toatariff concession during anyGATT round
oftariff negotiations (seeBINDING).
UNITED STATES CARIBBEAN BASIN ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT (CBERA)
Apreferential trading arrangement bywhich theUnited States provides duty-free treatment toeligible
imports from Caribbean Basin countries benefitting from provisions oftheCBERA.
VALID VALUES
National submissions totheIDBareverified toensure thatallinformation recorded hasacorrect format
andthateachcodehasacorresponding entry inthereference fileswhich contain allcorrect (valid)
values forcodes expected tobesubmitted.
VARIABLE DUTY
Avariable dutyisadutyrelating thecustoms dutycollection totheprice oftheimported products.
Forexample, avariable dutycould bethepricedifference between theunitvalue oftheimported product
andtheunitvalue oftheequivalent product produced domestically intheimport market. Iftheprice
oftheimported goods islower thantheinternal price, avariable dutyislevied.
VARIABLE LENGTH
Arecord hasavariable length when records inafilemaybeofdifferent lengths. Thelength isrecorded
inarecord length fieldpreceding thedataportion. Therecord length isequal tothelength oftherecord
length fieldplusthelength ofthedataportion (data portion +record length fielditself).IDB/URM/2
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VARIABLE LEVY SeeVARIABLE DUTY .
VIRTUAL DECIMAL POINT
Adecimal point is"virtual" ifitisimplied butnotphysically recorded.
WEST AFRICAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (CEAO)
Apreferential trading arrangement between Benin, Burkina Faso, Côted'Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania,
Niger andSenegal, joined withother West African States toestablish theECOWAS.
WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO)
Aninternational body located inBrussels through which participating countries seektosimplify and
rationalize customs procedures. WCO isresponsible forallissues related tothenomenclature and
classification ofproducts. Thisinstitution wasformerly called theCustoms Co-operation Council.
WTO TRADE AGGREGATE
Thetrade aggregate "WTO" isusedinthecalculation oftrade-weighted tariff averages (seealso
AVERAGE TARIFF). "WTO" imports include imports from allWTO Members whether theyare
entitled toMFN tariffs, toGSPpreferences ortopreferential treatment under FTAorother preferential
trading arrangements.