The Consolidated Tariff Schedules (CTS) database, serves as a working tool that compiles and standardizes WTO Members' concessions on goods. Its primary purpose is the recording, consolidation, and standardization of Members' tariff commitments that can be scattered in different legal instruments. It is a working tool and does not imply any legal status for the information contained within.
Key Data Components
Tariff Commitments (Bound Tariffs) – This is the core of the database, providing information on the maximum agreed tariff rates (bound duty rates) that WTO Members can apply to imports from other Members. It includes:
- Base and final bound Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariffs.
- Implementation periods, indicating the start and end years for tariff reductions.
- Information on other duties and charges applicable to specific tariff lines
- Special safeguards (SSGs)
- Initial Negotiating Rights (INRs), which signify a Member's right to participate in renegotiations if a concession is modified.
Specific Agricultural Commitments – The CTS also contain specific commitments related to agriculture, such as:
- Domestic support measures (e.g., Aggregate Measurement of Support - AMS).
- Export subsidies.
- Tariff quota information, linked to relevant tariff line concessions.
Product Classification: The data is presented at a highly detailed tariff line level. The database is progressively updated to reflect different HS nomenclatures, starting from HS 1996 and successively moving to HS 2002, HS 2007, HS 2012, HS 2017, and ongoing transpositions to HS 2022.
Coverage and Updates: The database covers all WTO Members and is regularly updated to incorporate corrections, revisions, new accessions, and the latest HS nomenclature transpositions agreed by Members.
Access and Dissemination: Information is publicly accessible at the tariff line level through the WTO Tariff & Trade Data platform.
The CTS database, along with the Integrated Database (IDB), forms a crucial part of the WTO's efforts to promote transparency and support evidence-based policymaking in international trade.