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This indicator identifies the extent to which special and differential treatment has been accorded in terms of import tariffs.

The calculation of this indicator will allow observing on how many products Developing countries and LDCs will have free access to Developed countries markets. When compared to the tariff rates applied to other countries, this indicator will allow assessing to which extent special and differential treatment has been accorded in terms of import tariffs. The evolution of this indicator will indicate progress on the phasing out of tariff rates on goods coming from Developing and LDCs.

Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB)

Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB)

Biennial

Percentage (%)

Countries are free to introduce national distinctions for tariffs and many other purposes. The national tariff line codes are based on the HS system but are longer than six digits. For example, the six-digit HS code 010120 refers to Asses, mules and hinnies, live, whereas the US National Tariff line code 010120.10 refers to live purebred breeding asses, 010120.20 refers to live asses other than purebred breeding asses and 010120.30 refers to mules and hinnies imported for immediate slaughter.

Tariff line or National Tariff lines (NTL): National Tariff Line codes refer to the classification codes, applied to merchandise goods by individual countries, that are longer than the HS six-digit level.

Tariffs: Tariffs are customs duties on merchandise imports, levied either on an ad valorem basis (percentage of value) or on a specific basis (e.g. $7 per 100 kg). Tariffs can be used to create a price advantage for similar locally-produced goods and for raising government revenues. Trade remedy measures and taxes are not considered to be tariffs.

is by product sector (e.g. Agriculture, Textile, Environmental goods), geographical regions and country income level (e.g. Developed, Developing, LDCs).

The indicator is calculated as the average share of national tariff lines that are free of duty.

This indicator is used by the Statistical Institute of Belize to monitor how many products Developing countries and LDCs will have free access to Developed countries markets.

The following caveats should be taken in consideration while reviewing this indicator:

Accurate estimates on special and differential treatment for developing countries do not exist, thus the calculations are limited to tariffs only. These are only part of the trade limitation factors, especially when looking at exports of developing or least developed countries under non-reciprocal preferential treatment that set criteria for eligibility.

A full coverage of preferential schemes of developed countries are used for the computation, but preferential treatment may not be fully used by developing countries' exporters for different reasons such as the inability of certain exporters to meet eligibility criteria (i.e., complying with rules of origin). As there is no accurate statistical information on the extent of the actual utilisation of each of these preferences, it is assumed that they are fully utilised.

Duty free treatment is an indicator of market access but is not always synonymous with preferential treatment for beneficiary countries, because a number of MFN tariffs are already at, or close to, zero, especially for fuels and minerals. International agreements on IT products also offer duty

The main information used to calculate indicators 10.a.1 is import tariff data. Information on import tariffs might be retrieved by contacting directly National statistical offices, permanent country missions to the UN, regional organizations or focal points within the customs, ministries in charge of customs revenues (Ministry of economy/finance and related revenue authorities) or, alternatively, the Ministry of trade.

All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.