WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG170/6 
2 October 2006 
 (06-4688) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
  
ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN 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 Enlargement of the European Communities (EC) to include the 
Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Re public of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the 
Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, th e Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the 
Republic of  Slovenia and the Slovak Republic, the ou tcome of the mandated ca lculations 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) Tariff rates, by tariff line, for the EC(15) and the ten acceding countries: 
(i) Pre-Enlargement situation: 
- EC(15): MFN applied rates at 1 January 2003.1  
- the ten acceding countries: applied rates at 1 January 2003.2  
                                                      
1 Ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs) provided by the EC to the IDB up to the year 2000 were used where 
possible.  Additional AVEs were taken from the NAMA  simulation exercise where AVEs were calculated for 
bound tariffs (base years 1999-2000).  In some cases correlations had to be created in order to match the AVE 
tariff line with the same code but in a different year in th e database for incidence calculation.  In these cases, the 
AVE was used only if the specific duty in the other database was the same as the specific duty in the database 
for incidence calculation.  All but a few lines without AVEs (which account for 0.07 per cent of total trade) are 
included in the calculation. 
2 AVEs for Poland which had been submitted to the IDB were used, but those for the other nine 
acceding countries were not available. WT/REG170/6 
Page 2  
 
  (ii) Post- Enlargement situation: 
- EC(25): MFN applied rates as at 1 January 2005.
3 
(b) Average of imports, in value and quantity and by tariff line, into EC-15 and the ten 
acceding countries, from WTO partners (except those with which EC-15 maintained contractual preferences as of 1 May 2004), for the 2002-2003 period.
4 
(c) Concordance tables linking EC-15's tariff  schedule with EC-25's tariff schedule. 
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(15) MFN applied tariff rates and  
the ten acceding countries' applied tariff rates in 2003, weighted by 
aggregated 2002-2003 import values of the parties. 
(ii) Post-Enlargement situation:  average of EC(25) MFN applied tariff rates, 
weighted by aggregated 2002-2003 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 2002-2003. 
Results of the calculations  
 
6. Major parameters underlying the results are shown below: 
National weighted average 
tariff rates** Average customs duties collected 
in 2002-2003*** 
($ billion)   
Average imports  
in 2002-03* 
($ billion) 
Pre-EC(25) Post-EC(25) Pre-EC (25) Post-EC (25) 
Cyprus 1.2 5.32 7.40 0.1 0.1 
Czech Rep 5.1 3. 61 5.41 0.2 0.3 
Estonia 1.1 0.38 4.82 0.0 0.1 
Hungary 9.6 7.51 2.73 0.7 0.3 
Latvia 0.5 4.24 5.75 0.0 0.0 
Lithuania 2.1 1.33 6.20 0.0 0.1 
Malta 0.8 5.78 5.33 0.0 0.0 
Poland 9.8 9.69 4.89 0.9 0.5 
Slovak Rep. 3.5 3.39 5.30 0.1 0.2 
Slovenia 1.3 7.33 5.07 0.1 0.1 
10 acceding countries 34 .9 6.38 4. 60 2.2 1.6 
EU 15 522.6 4.21 4.18 22.0 21.8 
*    Total imports (incl. petroleum), annual averages.  (See paragraph 5(b) above.) 
**   Based on rates described in paragraph 5(a) above and 2002-03 import weights. ***  Annual averages.  Estimated on the basis of 2002-03 import values and average tariff rates. 
 
                                                      
3 AVEs for EC(15) and Poland were included as noted in footnote 1 above. 
4 Given the change to HS 2002 nomenclature, imports from two years instead of three were used in the 
calculation.  WT/REG170/6 
 Page 3 
 
 
  7. The mandated calculations for the EC(25) En largement, according to the described 
methodology and on the basis of available data, brought out the following results: 
 Pre-Enlargement Post-Enlargement 
Weighted average tariff rates 4.34% 4.21% 
Average customs duties collected $ 24.2 billion $ 23.5 billion 
 
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