Art. XXVIII bis, ad Art. XXVIII bis, GATT

The eight GATT Rounds of multilateral trade negotiations have been very successful in reducing customs duties. Over 47 years, the average duty on industrial products imposed by developed countries has impressively decreased from about 40 per cent ad valorem to 3.9 per cent ad valorem.A survey of the Post-Uruguay Round individual tariff structures shows, however, that tariffs are still an important barrier in international trade. Most developing countries have either bound their tariffs at relatively high rates, the average of which ranges between 25 and 50 per cent ad valorem for industrial products, or they have bound only a limited number of items. Developed countries have bound all or most of their non-agricultural tariff lines; their customs duties, which are low on average, show however significant peaks on “sensitive” products such as textiles, clothing and leather goods,which are of particular export interest to developing countries. Least developed countries (LDCs) benefit from preferences by developed countries, though a preferential treatment is similarly accorded to some developing countries and to other developed countries under the provisions of regional trade agreements. Therefore, it is not surprising that an important part of the Doha Round Agenda is still devoted to tariff negotiations. However, as in general the relevance of tariffs as trade barriers has considerably lowered, the interest of the Doha Round negotiators is largely revolving around the elimination or reduction of non-tariff measures and domestic regulatory policies. In this domain, the negotiating efforts made since the Kennedy Round have indeed produced less visible results than those reached through the tariff liberalisation process