WT/COMTD/W/222  
 
22 November 2016  
(16-6392) Page: 1/6 
Committee on Trade and Development   
 
 DUTY -FREE AND QUOTA -FREE (DFQF) MARKET A CCESS  
FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  
REPORT BY THE SECRET ARIAT1 
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The Sixth Ministerial Conference (MC6) held in Hong Kong, China in December 2005 adopted 
a decision on Duty -Free and Quota -Free (DFQF) mark et access for least developed countries 
(LDCs) (Annex F, WT/MIN(05)/DEC). Among others, the decision stipulated that the Committee on 
Trade and Development (CTD) shall annually review the steps taken to provide DFQF market 
access to the LDCs, and report to  the General Council for appropriate action.  
1.2.  In the context of further implementation of the decision taken at MC6, the Ninth Ministerial 
Conference (MC9) held in Bali in December 2013 adopted a decision (WT/L/919) on DFQF market 
access for LDCs (hereafter , the Bali DFQF Decision), which reiterates that the CTD shall continue to 
annually review the steps taken to provide DFQF market access to the LDCs, and report to the 
General Council for appropriate action. To aid in the CTD's annual review, the Bali DFQF  Decision 
also mandates the WTO Secretariat to prepare, in close coordination with Members, a report on 
Members' DFQF market access for LDCs, at the tariff line level, based on their notifications.  
1.3.  As was the case in previous years, the present report has been prepared to facilitate the 
CTD's annual review of steps taken to provide DFQF market access to the LDCs. It updates the 
report issued in November 2015 and circulated in document  WT/COMTD/W/214 .  
2  METHODOLOGY  
2.1.  This report is prepared based on Members' notifications to the WTO, pursuant to the 
Transparency Mechanism for Preferential Trade Arrangements (hereafter, PTA Transparency 
Mechanism). F or the purposes of this report, duty -free coverage of tariff lines is derived on the 
basis of data furnished by M embers to the WTO's Integrated Database (IDB). The duty -free 
coverage denotes the percentage of tariff lines that are duty free for LDCs in relation to each 
preference -granting country's total national tariff lines. The duty -free lines for LDCs also includ e 
MFN duty-free tariff lines.  
3  BACKGROUND ON NOTIFI CATION PROCEDURES  
3.1.  It may be noted that non -reciprocal DFQF or preferential market access schemes of Members 
in favour of LDCs are dealt with by different legal instruments in the WTO. Developed Members 
implement DFQF market access to LDC products mainly through their autonomous GSP 
programmes – which secures legal cover through the Enabling Clause adopted in 1979 
(Decision  L/4903  on "Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller 
Particip ation of Developing Countries"). The Enabling Clause notifications are vested in the CTD.  
3.2.  Developing Members' DFQF/preferential schemes for LDCs are authorized through a Waiver 
Decision initially adopted by Members in 1999 (WT/L/304), and extended until 30  June 2019 
(WT/L/759). The initial notification body for developing Members ' preferential schemes is the 
Council for Trade in Goods (CTG).  
                                                
1 This document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  WT/COMTD/W/222  
 
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  3.3.  In addition to the above, as per the procedure set out in the PTA Transparency Mechanism, a 
dedicated session of the  CTD is envisaged to take up each PTA notified in the CTD, with a view to 
enhancing its transparency.2 
4  DFQF COVERAGE FOR LD CS, AT THE TARIFF LI NE LEVEL  
4.1  Developed Members  
4.1.  Since the last report, a few developed Members have submitted notifications or provide d 
updated information on their preference schemes with relevance to the LDCs. In February  2016, 
the United States (US) submitted a notification regarding its GSP scheme, containing, inter alia , 
changes to country and product eligibility resulting from GSP annual reviews  
(WT/COMTD/N/1/Add.9 ). As a result of a recent review, the US has designated five additional 
cotton products as eligible for duty -free treatment  for LDCs only . At the CTD meeting on 
8 July 2016, t he US inform ed Members th at, as of 1 July 2016 , duty -free status has been added 
for a range of travel goods – including luggage, backpacks, handbags and wallets – for LDC 
beneficiaries of the US GSP scheme as well as for benef iciaries of the African Growth and 
Opportunity Act (AGOA)  (WT/COMTD/M/99 ).  
4.2.  The other progress registered relating to DFQF market access for LDCs concerns the steps 
taken in the area of preferential rules of origin. In this regard, Japan submitted a notification in 
November 2015 concerning the simplification of its preferential ru les of origin under its 
GSP scheme (WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.16). A notification was also made by Norway in 
September  2016 concerning the preferential rules of origin in its GSP scheme (G/RO/N/149). The 
delegation of the European Union (EU) reiterated at the meeti ng of the S ub-Committee on LDCs on 
24 June 2016 that a system of self -certification of origin in the EU's GSP sch eme would enter into 
force on 1  January 2017 (WT/COMTD/LDC/M/78). The delegations of Norway and Switzerland 
reported in the Committee on Rules of Origin that they will apply the same self -certification system 
as of January 2017 (G/RO/79). Pursuant to WTO Ministerial decisions, Members are engaged on 
preferential rules of origin in the Committee on Rules of Origin.   
4.3.  The number of dutiable lines i n developed markets for LDC products is rather limited, since 
most developed Members already provide full or significant DFQF coverage to the LDCs. Hence, the 
scope for additional progress in many developed markets is rather limited.  
4.4.  A summary of develope d Members' DFQF coverage is provided in Table 1. For all developed 
Members, t he coverage  is the same or very similar to what was reflected in last year's report.  
 
                                                
2 It is to be noted that both developed as well as developing Members' DFQF or pref erential schemes are 
also reviewed in the Sub -Committee on LDCs.  WT/COMTD/W/222  
 
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  Table 1: DFQF access in GSP schemes of developed Members, 2016 or latest available 
year 
Membe rs Duty -free coverage  
(major exclusions) Number of dutiable lines  
(national tariff lines)a References on 
notifications  
Australia  100%  0 WT/COMTD/N/18  
Canada  98.6% (dairy, eggs and 
poultry)  105 WT/COMTD/N/15/Add.1,  
WT/COMTD/N/15/Add.2 and 
WT/COMTD/N/15/ Add.3  
European 
Union  98.7% (arms and 
ammunitions)  118 WT/COMTD/N/4/Add.2, 
WT/COMTD/N/4/Add.4, 
WT/COMTD/N/4/Add.5 
WT/COMTD/N/4/Add.6 and  
WT/COMTD/N/4/Add.7  
Iceland (2014) 91.8% (meat and dairy 
products, eggs, vegetables 
and plants, cereals and 
starch, oth er food 
preparations)  707 WT/COMTD/N/17 and  
WT/COMTD/N/17/Corr.1  
Japan   97.9% (rice, sugar, fishery 
products, articles of leather)  198 WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.14, 
WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.15 and  
WT/COMTD/N/2/Add.16  
New Zealand  100%  0 WT/COMTD/27  
Norway  100%  0 WT/COM TD/N/6/Add.4, 
WT/COMTD/N/6/Add.5,  
WT/COMTD/N/6/Add.5/Corr.1 
and WT/COMTD/N/6/Add.6  
Russian 
Federation  37.1% (petroleum products, 
copper, iron ores, articles of 
leather, articles of apparel 
and clothing)  7,307  WT/COMTD/N/42  
Switzerlandb 100%  0 WT/COMTD/N /7/Add.2, 
WT/COMTD/N/7/Add.3, 
WT/COMTD/N/7/Add.4 and 
WT/COMTD/N/7/Add.5  
United States 82.6%c (dairy products, 
sugar, cocoa, articles of 
leather, cotton, articles of 
apparel and clothing, other 
textiles and textile articles, 
footwear, watches)  1,863  WT/COM TD/N/1/Add.7, 
WT/COMTD/N/1/Add.8 and  
WT/COMTD/N/1/Add.9  
a These tariff lines may vary from year to year due to change in national tariff nomenclature.  
b Switzerland and Liechtenstein form a Customs Union.  
c The US has reported at CTD meetings that it curr ently provides 97.6% DFQF access to LDC 
beneficiaries under AGOA.  
Source:  WTO Integrated Database  
 
4.5.  It may be noted that a few Members maintain multiple non -reciprocal market access schemes 
benefitting LDCs. For example, AGOA offers non -reciprocal market ac cess to eligible countries in 
Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes a large number of LDCs. The US provides 97.6%  DFQF access 
for LDC beneficiaries  under AGOA. In addition, Haiti benefits from DFQF market access in the US 
through the Caribbean Basin Trade Par tnership Act (CBTPA).  
4.6.  The review of developed Members' tariff schedules schemes indicate a relatively small 
number of tariff lines subject to Tariff -rate Quotas (TRQs) for imports from LDCs. TRQs indicated 
in the Canadian tariff schedule spread over some 84 tariff lines ( e.g. dairy, poultry and egg 
products). There are some 131 tariff lines (e.g. meat, dairy products sugar, cocoa, tobacco) 
subject to TRQs indicated in the US tariff schedule. It may be noted that while beneficiaries of the 
US GSP scheme othe r than LDCs may face automatic limits on the quantity or value of any one 
product imported under the scheme, the LDCs are not subject to this restriction.  
4.2  Developing Members  
4.7.  Since the last report, two developing Members – namely China and India – submitte d  
notifications containing updated information on their DFQF schemes for LDCs. India's notification, WT/COMTD/W/222  
 
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  with information on the product coverage and the rules of origin of its Duty -Free Tariff Preference 
(DFTP) Scheme for LDCs was circulated in November 2015  (WT/COMTD/N/38/Add.1). The updated 
information on China's DFQF Programme for LDCs was circulated in November 2016 
(WT/COMTD/N/39/Add.2). In addition, Kazakhstan notified its preferential rules of origin for LDCs 
in October 2016 (G/RO/N/148/Rev.1), and the  Secretariat also received preferential tariff data 
which enabled it to include data on Kazakhstan's duty -free coverage for LDCs in this report.   
4.8.  So far, six d eveloping Members  (Chile, China, India, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Thailand)  
have notified their DFQF schemes put in place in favour of LDCs. Developing Members are 
permitted to phase -in their DFQF commitments for LDCs. They have also been accorded flexibility 
in the coverage of such commitments. The scope and coverage of preferences granted by these 
developing Members vary from one scheme to another.  
4.9.  Most of these developing Members grant a significant degree of DFQF access to the LDCs; a 
number of them have reached or are in the process of attaining comprehensive DFQF coverage for 
LDCs. For instance , Chile provides nearly full DFQF coverage to the LDCs, with 99.5% DFQF access 
to the LDCs.  At the CTD meeting of 8 July 2016, China reiterated that it presently grants  LDCs 
DFQF market access on 97% of its tariff lines. At the same meeting, India re called  that the D FQF 
coverage in its DFTP Scheme for LDCs presently stands at 96% of its tariff lines (at the aggregated 
6-digit level) , with preferential access granted on an additional 2.2% of tariff lines  
(WT/COMTD/M/9 9). 
4.10.   Four developing Members, namely Kazak hstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkey, 
have provided preferential tariff data to the IDB, though they are yet to make a notification 
pursuant to the PTA Transparency Mechanism. Kazakhstan's scheme for LDCs allows duty -free 
access for 37.4% of i ts tariff lines. In 2013, the Kyrgyz Republic provided nearly complete 
duty-free market access to products originating from LDCs. Data provided by Tajikistan indicates 
some duty -free tariff lines for LDCs in 2014, along with preferential treatment on a lar ge number 
of tariff lines. The duty -free coverage of Turkey for LDCs stood at 81.7%  in 2015.  
4.11.   A summary of developing Members' DFQF coverage is provided in Table 2. The DFQF 
coverage indicated in the Table is based on data provided to the IDB.  WT/COMTD/W/222  
 
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  Table 2: DF QF access under selected developing Members' LDC preference schemes, 
2016 or latest available year  
Membersa  Duty -free coverage 
(major exclusions)  Number of dutiable 
lines  
(national tariff lines) b References on 
Notifications  
Chile  99.5% (wheat, wheat fl our 
and sugar)  41 WT/COMTD/N/44 and  
WT/COMTD/N/44/Add.1/Rev.1  
Chinac  -  -  WT/COMTD/N/39 , 
WT/COMTD/N/39/Add.1/Rev.1  
and WT/COMTD/N/39/Add.2  
 
India  94.0% (meat and dairy 
products, vegetables, coffee, 
tobacco, iron and steel 
products, copper products) 676 WT/COMTD/N/38 and  
WT/COMTD/N/38/Add.1  
Kazakhstan  37.4% (meat, sugar, 
industrial products)  7,277  IDB 
Korea, Republic of  90.3% (meat, fish, 
vegetables, food products)  1,184  WT/COMTD/N/12/Rev.1 and 
WT/COMTD/N/12/Rev.1/Add.1  
Kyrgyz Republic 
(2013)  99.9% (meat, fruits, 
chemicals, wood and paper, 
machinery, watches) 15 IDB 
Chinese Taipei  31.0%. Some 136 products 
enjoy exclusive duty -free 
access, including selected 
plastic items, raw hides and 
skins, textile and clothing 
articles, parts of vehicles, 
preciou s stones, etc.  6,159  WT/COMTD/N/40 and  
WT/COMTD/N/40/Corr.1  
Tajikistan (2014)  3.7%. Duty -free access 
includes live animals, 
petroleum products, 
machinery products.  10,553  IDB 
Thailand (2015)  74.7% (fish and dairy 
products, industrial products)  2,421  WT/C OMTD/N/46  
Turkey (2015)  81.7% (meat, fish, food, 
steel products, etc.)  3,020  IDB 
a This Table has no implications for any matter relating to the level of development of WTO Members.  
b These tariff lines may vary from year to year due to change in nationa l tariff nomenclature.  
c China has reported  at CTD meetings  that it has expanded DFQF coverage for LDCs to 97% of its 
tariff lines, as of 1 January 2015. A notification in this regard was circulated in November 2016 
(WT/COMTD/N/39/Add.2). Further, t he dele gation of China has indicated to the Secretariat that its 
authorities have been working to submit updated data on preferential duties for recent years . 
Source:  WTO Integrated Database  
 
4.12.   It may be noted that, like some developed Members, a number of developi ng Members also 
accord preferences to LDCs through regional or bilateral channels.3  
4.13.   On the basis of the data available to the Secretariat, a  review of developing Members' tariff 
schedules  indicates that there are presently no tariff lines subject to TRQs for imports from LDCs.  
5  CONCLUSION  
5.1.  Efforts continue to be made to advance DFQF market access for LDC products. DFQF market 
access remains a standing item on the CTD's agenda , and Members have continued discussions on 
DFQF implementation in the Committee . At the CTD meeting of 8 July 2016,  the LDC Group tabled 
a proposal for a Secretariat study concerning the implementation of DFQF market access for LDC 
products (WT/COMTD/W/218). A revised proposal (WT/COMTD/W/218/Rev.1) was subsequently 
circulated for consi deration at the CTD meeting of 24 November 2016.  
                                                
3 For example, unilateral preferences are granted to a number of LDCs under the China -ASEAN FTA 
framework (WT/TPR/S/300/Rev.1). Similarly, preferential rates are granted by India to South Asi an Free Trade 
Agreement (SAFTA) LDC parties (WT/TPR/S/249/Rev.1; WT/TPR/S/313/Rev1).  WT/COMTD/W/222  
 
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  5.2.  The above review shows that nearly all developed Members provide either full or significant 
DFQF market access to LDC products. The exceptions to duty -free treatment relate to a few 
sectors, and to a limite d number of developed Members. The Bali DFQF Decision stipulates that: 
"Developed -country Members that do not yet provide duty -free and quota -free market access for 
at least 97% of products originating from LDCs, defined at the tariff line level, shall see k to 
improve their existing duty -free and quota -free coverage for such products, so as to provide 
increasingly greater market access to LDCs, prior to the next Ministerial Conference".   
5.3.  Developing Members, namely: Chile, China, India, Korea, Chinese Taipei  and Thailand have 
notified their individual DFQF schemes to the WTO. Some of these Members provide 
comprehensive DFQF access to LDCs. In addition, four developing Members ( Kazakhstan, the 
Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkey) offer DFQF market access to  LDCs. The Bali DFQF Decision 
stipulates that: " Developing -country Members, declaring themselves in a position to do so, shall 
seek to provide duty -free and quota -free market access for products originating from LDCs, or 
shall seek to improve their existin g duty -free and quota -free coverage for such products, so as to 
provide increasingly greater market access to LDCs, prior to the next Ministerial Conference".   
5.4.  It is recommended that Members introducing or improving DFQF market access for LDCs 
provide deta iled information to the WTO, pursuant to the PTA Transparency Mechanism. This 
would enhance transparency on preferences being accorded by Members to the LDCs and would 
allow this to be included in any future reports by the Secretariat.  
 
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