WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG22/11 
2 May 2006 
 
 (06-2112) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
  
 
CUSTOMS UNION BETWEEN TURKEY AND THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
 
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. A previous note by the Secretariat (doc ument WT/REG22/10 dated 20 September 2000) 
containing the calculation of general incidence u sed bound rates for the Eu ropean Communities (EC) 
rather than applied rates.  The calculation reported in this updated note uses applied rates for the EC. 
3. As applied to the case of the Customs Union be tween Turkey and the European Communities, 
the outcome of the mandated calculations will consist of two sets of comparable figures: 
• Import-weighted average tariff rates: one reflecting the pre-customs union situation 
and another reflecting the post-customs union situation. 
• The corresponding estimated valu es of customs duties collected. 
 
4. 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
 
 5. The following data were used in the calculations: 
(a) Tariff rates, by tariff line, for the EC(15) and Turkey: 
(i) Pre-customs union situation: 
- EC(15): MFN applied rates corresponding to the first step of implementation 
of Uruguay Round concessions.
1  
 - Turkey: applied rates at 1 January 1995.  
 
(ii) Post- customs union situation: 
                                                     
 
1 Ad valorem  equivalents (AVEs) were not available for 1995.  A total of 9,289 ad valorem  tariff lines 
were used in the calculation;  the 1,006 lines with no AVEs were excluded. WT/REG22/11 
Page 2  
 
  - EC(15): MFN applied rates corresponding to the second step of 
implementation of Uru guay Round concessions.
2  
 - Turkey: applied rates at 1 January 1996.   
 
(b) Average of imports, in value and quantity and by tariff line, into each of the two 
parties, from WTO partners (except those w ith which the parties maintain contractual 
preferences as of 1 January 1996), for the 1992-94 period.   
(c) Concordance table linking Turkey's 1996 tariff with import data at the tariff-line 
level.3   
(d) Concordance table linking the EC's 1996 app lied tariff in HS 96 nomenclature and 
HS 92 imports nomenclature. 
6. 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-customs union situation : average of EC(15) MFN applied tariff rates and  
Turkey's applied tariff rates in 1995, weighted by aggregated 1992-94 import 
values of the two parties. 
(ii) Post-customs union situation:  average of EC(15) MFN applied tariff rates 
and Turkey's applied tariff rates in 1996, weighted by aggregated 1992-94 
import values of the two parties. 
(b) Customs duties collected : estimates derived from the average tariff rates obtained 
under (a) and annual average import values in 1992-94. 
 
Results of the calculations  
 
7. Major parameters underlying the results are shown below: 
National weighted average 
tariff rates** Average customs duties collected 
in 1992-94*** (Billion ECUs)   Average imports  
in 1992-94*  
(Billion ECUs) Pre-CU Post-CU Pre-CU Post-CU 
Turkey     5.85 12.3 8.3   0.72   0.49 
EC(15) 237.75   5.3 4.6 12.1 10.4 
 
*    Total imports (incl. petroleum), annual averages.  (See paragraph 5(b) above.) **   Based on rates described in paragraph 5(a) above and 1992-94 import weights. 
***  Annual averages.  Estimated on the basis of 1992-94 import values and average tariff rates. 
 
                                                      
2 AVEs were available for 1996 but not included as there were no equivalents for 1995.  The 
calculation was based on a total of 9,276 ad valorem  tariff lines;  the 1,064 lines with no AVEs were excluded. 
 3 Trade was distributed according to the trade allocation provided by Turkey for some of the 1995 tariff 
lines which have more than one 1996 tariff rates according to the concordan ce table.  When trade allocation was 
not available, trade was distributed equally among the destination tariff lines.  WT/REG22/11 
 Page 3 
 
 
  8. The mandated calculations for the EC-Turkey Customs Union, according to the described 
methodology and on the basis of available data, brought out the following results: 
  Pre-Customs Union Post-Customs Union 
Weighted average tariff rates 5.48% 4.65% 
Average customs duties collected ECU 12.8 billion ECU 10.9 billion 
 
 
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