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This database contains data on tariff protection for agriculture for the majority of World Trade Organization (WTO) members. The data are organized into three main categories:
— WTO bound tariffs are the maximum tariff rates that WTO members may impose on imports, as agreed to in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. These result from WTO negotiations or accessions that are part of each country's schedule of concessions. If a WTO member raises a tariff above the bound rate, affected countries have the right to retaliate against an equivalent value of the offending country's exports or receive compensation, usually in the form of reduced tariffs of other products they export to the offending country.
— Tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) reflect a two-tiered tariff structure that was established in the Uruguay Round by certain countries for a subset of their imported items. TRQ tariffs are expressed as in-quota tariffs and over-quota tariffs. The lower, in-quota tariff is the rate levied on imports up to a certain quantity level. The higher, over-quota tariff is the rate levied on imports in excess of the quota volume.
— Applied tariffs are annual tariff rates actually published by national customs authorities for duty administration purposes. Applied tariffs may be below or equal to bound tariffs, but may not exceed them.
For basic information on use of agricultural tariffs and the WTO, see the tariffs and market access chapter in ERS' WTO briefing room.
The tariff data are presented in a set of commodity aggregates. These aggregates
allow comparison across countries of average levels of tariff protection. The
data presented here are intended for aggregate, analytical comparisons of tariff
protection across WTO members. As such, detailed tariff information at the disaggregated
level of tariff commitments is not provided. Detailed data on bound agricultural tariff
commitments are available from USDA's
Foreign Agriculture
Service (FAS) and on applied tariffs from the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development's (UNCTAD) Trade Analysis and Information System (TRAINS) found on the
World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS)
homepage.
Users can access the data in two ways:
— A set of standard
tables in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format (*.xls) and Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf)
that are designed for the convenience of most users.
— A searchable
database for users familiar with agricultural tariffs, from which custom
tables can be developed. The data will be updated periodically; the date of
the most recent update is noted within the Documentation tab.
This database is provided as an analytical tool. For complete legal product
descriptions and enacted/proclaimed tariff rates to be used on Customs Service
documents for imports into the United States, consult the current Harmonized
Tariff Schedule and any supplements, as well as any applicable U.S. Customs
Service regulations and decisions. For questions on how to classify items for
import into the United States, contact Customs offices. For current duty levels and customs requirements on exports to
other countries, see FAS' Requirements/Certification.
For more general export assistance, see FAS' Exporter Assistance.
WTO Export Subsidy Notifications
WTO Domestic Support Notifications
Back to WTO Agricultural Trade Policy Commitments Database
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