JOB/MA/138  
JOB/AG/154  
 
20 March 2019  
(19-1684) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Market Access  
Committee on Agriculture  
Special Session  
 Original: English  
 
 ENHANCING TRANSPAREN CY IN APPLIED TARIFF S 
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE RUSSIAN FEDERATIO N 
 
The following communication, dated 15 March 2019, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Russian Federation.  
 
_______________  
 
 
1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  Transparency constitutes one of the main pillars of the multilateral trading system and one of 
the basic principles of the WTO. Under the Ministerial Decision on Notification Procedures “Members 
affirm[ed] their commitment to obligations under  the Multilateral Trade Agreements […] regarding 
publication and notification”.  
1.2.  The existing WTO rules require Members promptly to publish their trade regulations and no t to 
enforce certain  regulations  (e.g. "an advance in a rate of [customs ] duty […] imposing new or more 
burdensome requirement  […] on import s”) before they  have been officially published. According to 
these requirements, the dissemination of the comprehensive information on applied tariffs 
throughout the year is limited to the national level  of transparency.  
1.3.  Meanwhile , in terms of transparency  at the WTO level , no requirements are set forth for the 
Members to circulate the information on changes in applied tariffs throughout the year, as changes 
occur, or  to enable traders to get acquainted w ith trade regulations on tariffs.  
1.4.  This legal lacuna in the relationship between mechanism of transparency at the national and 
WTO levels may constitute additional obstacles for business, including small and medium -sized 
enterprises (SMEs), and i nterfere with ensuring predictable market access conditions.  
2  WTO REQUIREMENTS ON TRANSPARENCY IN RESP ECT OF IMPORT CUSTOM S DUTIES  
2.1.   The basic provision on transparency in respect of rates of customs duties is contained in 
Article  X of the GATT, which requir es that all laws, regulations, judicial decisions and administrative 
rulings “shall be published promptly in such manner as to enable governments and traders to become 
acquainted with them” and that “no measure of general application taken by any contracti ng party 
effecting an advance in a rate of duty or other charge on imports under an established and uniform 
practice […] shall be enforced before such measure has been officially published”.  The Appellate 
Body in US – Underwear held that “the essential imp lication [of Article X of the GATT] is that Members 
and other persons affected, or likely to be affected, by governmental measures imposing restraints, 
requirements and other burdens, should have a reasonable opportunity to acquire authentic 
information ab out such measures and accordingly to protect and adjust their activities or 
alternatively to seek modification of such measures”.1 
                                                
1 Appellate Body Report, US – Underwear , p. 19 .  JOB/MA/138 • JOB/AG/154  
 
- 2 - 
 
  2.2.  Nevertheless, the provisions of Article X of the GATT do not contain any minimum time limit 
for the publications. There are n o requirements to inform the Members about the changes of the 
applied tariff s at the WTO level  beyond the annual notification to the IDB Database (see 
paragraph  2.5 below) . 
2.3.   To reinforce already existing commitment under paragraph 1.1 (b) of Article I of t he 
Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) , Members undertake promptly to publish the applied rates of 
duties “in a non -discriminatory and easily accessible manner in order to enable governments, 
traders, and other interested parties to become acquainted wit h them”. These provisions also set 
forth the obligations focused on transparency limited by the publication of relevant information at 
the national level.  
2.4.   The other transparency mechanism with respect to applied import customs duties is provided 
for in t he Article 1.4(a) of the TFA. However, this mechanism is limited to notification the Committee 
on TFA of “the official place(s) where the [applied tariffs] have been published”.  
2.5.   In parallel with the obligations under the GATT and the TFA, Members are to s ubmit tariffs 
containing applied duties annually before the deadline “30 March” to the Integrated Data Base 
(IDB).2 However, during the year numerous trade regulations related to customs duties may be 
adopted by the Members. It makes the information provid ed to the IDB irrelevant for the suppliers 
of products. The data submitted to the IDB serves rather a practical purpose of monitoring the trade 
policy developments of Members than monitoring the current market access conditions.  
2.6.  It is clear that the existi ng provisions on transparency under current WTO rules do not fully fill 
in the gap between mechanism of transparency at the national and WTO levels.  
3  PROPOSALS TO ENHANCE  TRANSPARENCY  
3.1.  WTO rules provide for the submission of notifications in almost all areas  falling under WTO legal 
system, including TBT, SPS, quantitative restrictions, import licensing, trade remedies, customs 
valuation, TFA and etc. These notifications are circulated among Members as an official document 
with a document symbol. However, the same requirements are not established in respect of import 
customs duties, which are the most frequently used instrument of import regulation.  
3.2.  Without prior notice , suppliers of products run risks of facing any changes in applied rate of 
duties while their  consignments are en route. Such situations are likely to cause an unpredictable 
financial burden for suppliers of products and disrupt trade particularly when it comes to increasing 
of import duties.  
3.3.  The enhancement of transparency in respect of import cu stoms duties may reduce uncertainty 
in the Members’ trade policy, create more predictable trade environment, and therefore reduce costs 
for business, and encourage business, including SMEs, to get more involved in international trade.  
3.4.  We believe that the e xisting legal lacuna in the relationship between the transparency 
mechanism s at the national and WTO levels should be addressed within the framework of the 
Committee on Market Access. We encourage Members to look into possible ways to enable traders 
timely  to get acquainted with changes to trade regulations related to import tariffs throughout the 
calendar year.  
 
 
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2 Modalities and operation of the Integrated Data Base (G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1/Add.1 of 4 December 1997).