RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/REG3/3
18November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5070)
Committee onRegional Trade Agreements
ENLARGEMENT OFTHE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
ACCESSION OFAUSTRIA, FINLAND AND SWEDEN
Weighted Average Tariff Rates andCustoms Duties Collected
Note bytheSecretariat
1. Inthecontext of"[t]he evaluation under paragraph 5(a)ofArticle XXIV ofthegeneral incidence
oftheduties andother regulations ofcommerce applicable before andaftertheformation ofacustoms
union", paragraph 2oftheUnderstanding ontheInterpretation ofArticle XXIV oftheGATT 1994
(theUnderstanding) directs theSecretariat tocalculate "theweighted average tariff ratesandcustoms
duties collected" andelaborates ontheapproach tobeused.
2. Asapplied tothecaseoftheEnlargement oftheEuropean Communities (EC)toinclude Austria,
Finland andSweden, theoutcome ofthemandated calculations willconsist oftwosetsofcomparable
figures:
Import-weighted average tariffrates: onereflecting thepre-Enlargement situation and
another reflecting thepost-Enlargement situation.
Thecorresponding estimated values ofcustoms duties collected.
3. TheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements, through itsChairman, hasinstructed the
Secretariat toperform those calculations, onthebasis ofinformation provided bytheparties and
according tothemethodology described below.
Dataandmethodology usedinthecalculations
4. Thefollowing datawere usedinthecalculations:
(a) Tariff rates, bytariff line,corresponding tothefirststepofimplementation
ofUruguayRoundconcessions,foreachofthefourparties(Austria,theEC-12,
Finland andSweden). Dataontariff ratesthusrelated to:
(i) ForAustria, Finland andSweden: bound ratesat1January 1995.
(ii) FortheEC-12: inthecaseofagricultural products, bound rates at
1July1995; forother products, bound ratesat1January 1995.
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(b) Annual average ofimport values, bytariff line,intoeachofthefourparties,
fromWTO partners (except those withwhich theparties maintain contractual
preferences), forthe1992-94 period.
(c) Concordance tables (including trade allocation) linking dataunder (a)and(b)
above, atthetariff-line level.
5. Thecalculations were doneinaccordance with"themethodology usedintheassessment of
tariffoffers intheUruguay Round" (seeparagraph 2oftheUnderstanding) andthefollowing definitions:
(a) Average tariff rates
(i) Pre-Enlargement :Combined national averages ofbound tariff rates ofthe
fourparties(correspondingtothefirststepofimplementationofUruguayRound
concessions), with1992-94 import values usedasweights.
(ii) Post-Enlargement: Average ofbound tariffratesoftheEC-12 (corresponding
tothefirststepofimplementation ofUruguay Round concessions), weighted
byaggregated 1992-94 import values ofthefourparties.
(b) Customs duties collected: Estimates derived from theaverage tariff ratesobtained
under (a)andannual average import values in1992-94.
Results ofthecalculations
6. Major parameters underlying theresults areshown below:
Average imports
in1992-94*
(Billion Ecus)National
weighted average
tariff rates**Average customs duties
collected in1992-94***
(Billion Ecus)
Austria 7.29 11.5% 0.84
EC-12 257.12 7.3% 18.66
Finland 4.08 12.0% 0.49
Sweden 8.93 6.3% 0.55
* Total imports (incl. petroleum), annual averages. (Seeparagraph 4(b)above.)
** Based onrates described inparagraph 4(a)above and1992-94 import weights.
*** Annual averages. Estimated onthebasis of1992-94 import values andaverage
tariff rates.
7. Themandated calculations fortheECEnlargement, according tothedescribed methodology
andonthebasis ofavailable data, brought outthefollowing results:
Pre-Enlargement Post-Enlargement
Weighted average tariff rates 7.4% 7.3%
Average customs duties collected Ecu20.54 billion Ecu20.22 billion