WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG220/3/Rev.1 
7 May 2010 
 
 (10-2632) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
  
 
 
ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 
 
Weighted Average Tariff Rates and Customs Duties collected
 
 
Note by the Secretariat  
 
Revision  
  
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 Enlargement of  the European Communities (EC) to include 
Bulgaria and Romania, the outcome of the mandated calculations will consist of two sets of 
comparable figures: 
• Import-weighted average tariff rates: one re flecting the pre-Enlargement situation and 
another reflecting the post-Enlargement situation. 
• 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: 
(a) three sets of tariff rates, by tariff line, for respectively the EC(25) and the 
two acceding countries: 
(i) Pre-Enlargement situation: 
- EC(25):  MFN applied rates at 1 January 2006.  
- the two acceding countries: MFN applied rates at 1 January 2006.  
(ii) Post-Enlargement situation: 
- EC(27): MFN applied rates as at 1 January 2007. 
 
 WT/REG220/3/Rev.1 
Page 2  
 
  (b) Average of imports, in value and quantity and by tariff line, into EC(25) and the 
two acceding countries, from WTO partners (except those with which EC(25) and the two acceding countries maintained contract ual preferences as of 31 December 2006), 
for the 2004-2006 period. The 2006 ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs)
1 of 
non-ad valorem  duties were provided by the EU2;  the AVEs of non ad valorem  tariff 
rates in Bulgaria's tariff are based on unit values, as those AVEs were not available.3  
In the case of lines subject to tariff rate  quotas (TRQs), only out-of-quota duties were 
considered in the calculation.   
(c) Concordance tables linking the EC(25) 2006 tariff schedule with the EC(27) tariff 
schedule.4 
(d) Concordance tables linking the EC(25) 2006 tariff nomenclature with EC 2005 and 
2004 nomenclatures.5 
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-Enlargement situation : average of EC(25) MFN applied tariff rates and  
the two acceding countries' MFN applied tariff rates in 2006, weighted by aggregated 2004-2006 import values of the parties.
6 
(ii) Post-Enlargement situation:  average of EC(27) MFN applied tariff rates, 
weighted by aggregated 2004-2006 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 2004-2006. 
 
                                                      
1 It is understood that there is no agreed methodology for calculating ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs).  
The source of the AVE estimates used in the calcu lations is indicated in the respective footnotes .  
2 The EU did not provide AVEs for US$1,523m of im ports covering 191 tariff lines and accounting for 
0.1% of imports (before excluding non-MFN partners for the calculation). 
3 It was not possible to calculate AVEs for US$8.6m of Bulgaria's imports covering 407 tariff lines.  In 
the case of Romania, 105 tariff lines had no reported duty.  Such lines accounte d for US$331m out of the 
US$14,907m which constituted Romania's total imports (before excluding non-MFN partners from the 
calculation).  
4 Between 2006 and 2007, a new nomenclature was adopted for the Harmonized System.  This change 
of nomenclature resulted in a decr ease of around 0.03% in the EU's av erage tariff rate, because the new 
nomenclature includes a larger number of tariff lines with  low or null duties.  The tariff schedules of Bulgaria 
and Romania were aligned to the EU's 2006 tariff schedule using an IDB correlation table.  Unmatched lines in 
Romania's tariff schedule (some codes are less detailed than the 8-digit common nomenclature) were matched 
with the EU's 2006 tariff schedule by splitting the values and attributing the same rates at 8 digits.  Unmatched lines from Bulgaria's tariff schedule (some codes are more detailed than the 8-digit common nomenclature) were 
matched with the EU's 2006 tariff schedule by simple averaging of duties and summarization of imports.  The 
treatment of Romania's and Bulgar ia's unmatched lines should produ ce no impact on the calculation. 
5 These tables were also used for bringing in Bulgaria's and Romania's 2004-2005 imports into 2006 
nomenclature, taking advantage of the fact that their nomenclatures were aligned almost completely with the 
EU nomenclature. 
6 Unmatched imports from Bulgaria and Romania after using 2005/2004 to 2006 correlation tables, 
were manually aligned (by the Secretar iat) with EU 2006  nomenclature.   WT/REG220/3/Rev.1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Results of the calculations  
 6. Major parameters underlying the results are shown below: 
National weighted average tariff 
rates** Estimated customs  
duties collected ***  
(US$ million)   Average 
imports  
in 2004-06* 
(US$ 
million) Initial rates 
(pre-
enlargement) Final rates 
(post-
enlargement) At initial 
rates At final 
rates 
Bulgaria 2,085 8.58 10.25 179 214 
Romania 4,917 32.49 8.94 1,597 439 
EU 25 759,466 3.70 3.67 28,112 27,851 
Three parties of C.U. 766,467 3.90 3.72 29,888 28,504 
* Total imports (incl. petroleum), annual averages.  (See paragraph 5(b) above.) 
** Based on rates described in paragraph 5(a) above and 2004-06 import weights. 
*** Annual averages.  Estimated on the basis of 2004-06 import values and average tariff rates.  
7. The mandated calculations for the EC(27) En largement, according to the described 
methodology and on the basis of available data, produced the following results: 
 Pre-Enlargement Post-Enlargement 
Weighted average tariff rates  3.90%  3.72%  
Average customs duties collected  US$29,888 million  US$28,504 million  
 
 
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