WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG231/1 
3 October 2008 
 (08-4704) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
  
 
  
SOUTHERN AFRICAN CUSTOMS UNION 
 
Weighted Average Tariff Rates and Customs Duties Collected
 
 
Note by the Secretariat  
 
 1. In the context of "[t]he evaluation under pa ragraph 5(a) of Article XXIV of the general 
incidence of the duties and other regulations of comme rce applicable before a nd after the formation of 
a customs union", paragraph 2 of the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of the 
GATT 1994 (the Understanding) directs the Secretariat to calculate "the weight ed average tariff rates 
and customs duties collected" and elab orates on the approach to be used. 
2. As applied to the case of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) whose members are 
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Sw aziland, the outcome of the mandated calculations 
will consist of two sets of comparable figures: 
• Import-weighted average tariff rates: on e reflecting the situation before the 2004 
Agreement and another reflec ting the post-2004 situation.
1 
• The corresponding estimated valu es of customs duties collected. 
3. The Committee on Regional Trade Agreements, th rough its Chairman, has instructed the 
Secretariat to perform those calculations, on the ba sis of information provided by the parties and 
according to the methodology described below. 
Data and methodology used in the calculations  
 4. The following data were used in the calculations:
2 
(a) Tariff rates, by tariff line, for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and 
Swaziland: 
                                                      
1 The SACU, which has been in existence since 1910, was renegotiated in 1969 and 2002.  The 2002 
Agreement entered into force on 15 July 2004 and was notified to the WTO on 25 June 2007.  Members of the 
SACU have applied a common external tariff since 1 July 1910.  
2 South Africa's tariff schedule for 2001-2003 was ta ken from the WTO-IDB;  its 2004 tariff schedule 
was taken from the UNCTAD TRAINS database, as this da ta was not provided to the IDB, nor was it available 
from the South African authorities. Other SACU members' tariff schedules were available from 
IDB (2002, except Lesotho) or UNCTAD (2001).  As the tariff schedules were the same among SACU members each year , the missing reporter/periods were filled in using So uth Africa's IDB tariff sc hedules.  According to 
the Parties, there may have been differences on very few lines due to the time lag in making amendments. WT/REG231/1 
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  (i) Pre-2004 situation: 
- Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland:  
MFN applied rates at 1 January 2003.
3  
(ii) Post- 2004 situation: 
- Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland: 
MFN applied rates as of 1 January 2004. 
(b) Average of imports, in value and quantity a nd by tariff line, into Botswana, Lesotho, 
Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland, from WTO partners (except those with which 
these five countries maintained contractual preferences as of 15 July 2004),4 for the 
2001-2003 period.5 
(c) Concordance table matching 2003 and 2004 tariff schedules.6 
5. The calculations were done in accordance with "the methodology used in the assessment of 
tariff offers in the Uruguay Round" (see para graph 2 of the Understanding) and the following 
definitions: 
(a) Average tariff rates  
(i) Pre-2004 situation : average of individual SACU members' MFN applied 
tariff rates in 2003, weighted by aggregated 2001-2003 import values of the parties.
7 
(ii) Post-2004 situation:  average of individual SACU members' MFN applied 
tariff rates, weighted by aggregated 2001-2003 import values of the parties. 
(b) Customs duties collected : estimates derived from the average tariff rates obtained 
under (a) and annual average import values in 2001-2003. 
                                                      
3 Ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs) submitted by South Africa were used when available.  Tariff lines 
subject to mixed duties (containing a specific duty rate and an ad valorem  part) in South Africa's schedule were 
converted to AVEs using the ad valorem  part only.  For less than a hundred  lines, it was necessary to calculate 
the unit value (using South Africa's trade only) to produce the AVE.  If the specific du ty was the same in 2004, 
the AVE for 2001-2003 was used for the 2004 tariff. 
4 The following trade flows were excluded:  in tra-SACU trade flows;  imports from SADC 
(Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Moza mbique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, 
Zambia, Zimbabwe);  in the case of Swaziland, imports from COMESA (Angola, Burundi, Comoros, 
Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Er itrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, 
Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe);  in the case of South Africa, imports from EC(15).  
5 South Africa's imports for 2001-2003 were taken from the IDB.  For Botswana, Namibia and 
Swaziland, imports were taken from COMTRADE.  In Leso tho's case, a two-year average was used as data was 
only available from COMTRADE for 2001-2002.   
6 Prepared by WTO Secretariat. 
7 COMTRADE data at six digits was pasted into the corresponding tariff lines, splitting trade equally 
among tariff lines where necessary.  The same procedure was used for the non-matching imports from 
South Africa.  Imports in HS Chapters 98 and 99 were discarded.    WT/REG231/1 
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  Results of the calculations  
 
6. Major parameters underlying the results are shown below: 
National weighted average tariff 
rates** Average customs duties collected 
in 2001-2003***  
($ million)  
Average imports in 
2001-03* 
(US$ million) 
Pre-2004 Post-2004 Pre-2004 Post-2004 
Botswana 376 6.87 6.64 26 25 
Lesotho 140 15.35 14.93 21 21 
Namibia 252 6.15 5.67 15 14 
South Africa 15,008 5.00 4.75 750 713 
Swaziland 69 15.2 14.60 10 10 
SACU 15,845 5.20 4.94 824 783 
Source: WTO Secretariat. 
* Total imports (incl. petroleum), annual averages.  (See paragraph 5(b) above). 
** Based on rates described in paragraph 5(a) above and 2001-03 import weights. 
*** Annual averages.  Estim ated on the basis of 2001-03 impor t values and average tariff rates.  
7. The mandated calculations for the SACU, accordi ng to the described methodology and on the 
basis of available data, brought out the following results: 
 Pre-2004 Post-2004 
Weighted average tariff rates 5.20% 4.94% 
Average customs duties collected $824 million $783 million 
Source: WTO Secretariat. 
 
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