WT/REG337/2  
 
27 January 2014  
(14-0430)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements   
 
 ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO 28 MEMBER STATES - 
ACCESSION OF CROATIA  
GENERAL INCIDENCE CALCULATION 
Note by the Secretariat 
1.1.  In the context of "[t]he evaluation under paragraph 5(a) of Article XXIV for the general incidence of the 
duties and other regulations of commerce applicable before and after the formation of a customs union", 
paragraph 2 of the Understanding on the Interp retation of Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 (the 
Understanding) directs the Secretariat to calculate "the weighted average tariff rates and customs duties collected" and elaborates on the approach to be used. 
1.2.  As applied to the case of the Enlargement of th e European Union (EU) to include Croatia, the outcome 
of the mandated calculations will consist of two sets of comparable figures: 
 import-weighted average tariff rates: one reflecting the pre-enlargement situation and another 
reflecting the post-Enlargement situation; and  
 the corresponding estimated values of customs duties collected. 
1.3.  The Committee on Regional Trade Agreements, thro ugh its Chairman, has instructed the Secretariat to 
perform these calculations on the basis of informat ion provided by the Parties and according to the 
methodology described below: 
Data and methodology used in the calculations
1 
1.4.  The following data were used in the calculations: 
a. two sets of tariff rates, by tariff line, for respectively the EU(27) and Croatia: 
i. pre-enlargement situation: 
 EU(27): MFN applied rates on 1 January 2013; 
 Croatia: MFN applied rate on 1 January 2013. 
ii. post-enlargement situation: 
 EU(28): MFN applied rates on 1 July 2013. The EU has confirmed that MFN rates applied on 
both 1 January 2013 and 1 July 2013 are the same. 
b. 2010-2012 average of imports, in value and quantity, by tariff line, into EU(27) and Croatia, from 
WTO partners, as follows: 
                                               
1 EU tariffs and trade were sourced from the WTO's IDB database, with the exception of EU 2012 imports, which 
were sourced from the UNSD Comtrade database. Only  the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rate was used.  WT/REG337/2 
 
- 2 - 
 
 
 i. as provided for in the Understanding, the following trade has been excluded from the 
calculations: intra-EU(27) trade, trade with partners with which the Parties have RTAs, trade 
between the EU and some ACP partners,2 trade under waivers and trade with partners who 
were not WTO Members at the time of Enlargement.3 A full list of partners with which trade 
has been excluded for both the EU(27) and Croatia is provided in the Annex; 
ii. the ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs) were calculated by the Secretariat and based on unit 
values.4 In the case of lines subject to tariff rate  quotas, only the out-of-quota duties were 
considered in the calculation. 
1.5.   No concordance tables have been used. 1.6.  The calculations were done in accordance with "the methodology used in the assessment of tariff offers 
in the Uruguay Round" (paragraph 2 of the Un derstanding) and the following definitions: 
a. average tariff rates: 
i. pre-enlargement situation: average of EU(27) MFN applied tariff rates and the MFN applied 
tariff rate of Croatia on 1 January 2013, weighted by aggregated 2010-2012 import values of 
the Parties; 
ii. post-enlargement situation: average of EU(28) MFN applied tariff rates on 1 July 2013, 
weighted by aggregated 2010-2012 import values of the Parties. 
b. customs duties collected: estimates derived from the average tariff rates obtained under (i) and 
average import values in 2010-2012. 
Results of the calculations 
 
1.7.  Major parameters underlying the results are shown below: 
 Average 
imports 
2010-2012 
(US$ million) Weighted average tariff rates Estimated customs 
duties collected 
(US$ million) 
Initial rates  
(pre-enlargement) Final rates 
(post-enlargement) At initial 
rates At final 
rates 
Croatia 6 201 2.484 4.223 154 262 
EU(27) 1 479 871 2.849 2.849 42 162 42 162 
Two parties of the 
customs union 1 486 072 2.847 2.855 42 316 42 423 
1.8.  The mandated calculations for the EU(28) enlargement, according to the described methodology and 
on the basis of available data, produce the following results: 
  Pre-enlargement Post-enlargement 
Weighted average tariff rates 2.847% 2.855% 
Average customs duties collected US$42,316 million US$42,423 million 
 1.9.  The result of the calculation is an increa se of 0.008% in the tariff of the customs union.  
                                               
2 In accordance with a 2007 Council Regulation, amende d in 2008, granting duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) 
access to all ACP countries that had initialled an EPA by th e end of 2007 (see Annex). Other ACP countries benefit either 
from the "Everything But Arms" or the GSP, and thus are no t excluded from the calculations given the non-contractual 
nature of these schemes. 
3 The exclusions were based on the list of partners and do not take into account RTA's transition periods, coverage 
and whether trade was actually carried under preferences. 
4 The AVEs calculations are based on the unit value of imports by the EU and Croatia during 2010-2011. For the 
EU, 286 tariff lines with non ad valorem  rates of duty and trade value of US$2,2 billion (0.1% of total trade), and in the 
case of Croatia, 285 tariff lines with a trade value of US$0.8 million (less than 0.1% of annual imports), were not converted into AVEs.  WT/REG337/2 
 
- 3 - 
 
 
 ANNEX 
EU(28) - Trade Data Excluded in the Cont ext of the General Incidence Calculation 
  
Trade with the following countries/customs territories has been excluded from the calculations:
1 
1. Non-WTO Members  
 
 All non-WTO Members in July 2013 
 2. Trade between Croatia and its RTA partners  
 CEFTA 2006:  
o Albania 
o Bosnia and Herzegovina 
o Moldova 
o Republic of Montenegro 
o Serbia 
o FYROM 
o UNMIK/Kosovo 
 EU(27)  
 Turkey  
 EFTA 
 3. Trade with EU(27) RTA partners: intra-EU trade and trade under other RTAs 
 
• Intra-EU (27) • Other EU RTAs: 
o Albania 
o Algeria  
o Andorra  
o Bosnia and Herzegovina   
o Chile   
o Egypt   
o Faroe Islands  
o FYROM  
o Iceland  
o Israel   
o Jordan 
o Korea (trade in 2010 included, but excluded in 2011-2012 since RTA entered into 
force in 2011) 
o Lebanon  
o Mexico  
o Montenegro  
o Morocco  
o Norway  
o Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT):  Anguilla; Aruba; British Indian Ocean 
Territory; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); French Polynesia; 
French Southern Territories; Greenland; Mayotte; Montserrat; Netherlands 
Antilles; New Caledonia; Pitcairn; Saint Helena; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; South 
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands; Virgin Islands, British; Wallis and Futuna Islands   
o Palestinian Authority  
o San Marino 
o Serbia 
o South Africa 
o Switzerland - Liechtenstein 
                                               
1 In the lists provided below, countries/customs terri tories that are not WTO Members are also included 
in the lists of parties to RTAs.  WT/REG337/2 
 
- 4 - 
 
  o Syria 
o Tunisia 
o Turkey 
 
4. Trade between EU(27) and some ACP countries 
  Trade with some ACP countries is excluded, in  accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 
1528/2007 of 20 December 2007 and amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2008 of 
8 December 2008 (OJ L 348, 31.12.2007, p. 1 and L 330 1 9.12.2008 p.1),2 respectively:  
o Bahamas 
o Barbados 
o Belize 
o Botswana 
o Burundi 
o Cameroon 
o Comoros 
o Côte d'Ivoire 
o Dominica 
o Dominican Republic 
o Fiji  
o Ghana 
o Grenada 
o Guyana 
o Haiti 
o Jamaica 
o Kenya 
o Lesotho 
o Madagascar 
o Mauritius 
o Mozambique 
o Namibia 
o Papua New Guinea 
o Rwanda 
o Saint Kitts And Nevis 
o Saint Lucia 
o Saint Vincent And The Grenadines 
o Seychelles 
o Suriname 
o Swaziland 
o Tanzania 
o Trinidad And Tobago 
o Uganda 
o Zambia 
o Zimbabwe 
 
 Trade with all other ACP countries is included 
5. Trade with countries benefitting from waivers 
 
 Trade with Moldova under the Autonomous Preferential Treatment to Moldova from the 
European Union (WT/L/722) 
__________  
                                               
2 Council Regulation applying the arrangements for prod ucts originating in certain states which are part 
of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of Stat es provided for in agreements establishing, or leading 
to the establishment of, Economic Partnership Agreements.