Impact of WTO Accession and the Customs Union on the Bound and Applied Tariff Rates of the Russian Federation

Shepotylo, Oleksandr; Tarr, David G.

Impact of WTO Accession and the Customs Union on the Bound and Applied Tariff Rates of the Russian Federation

Autores

Shepotylo, Oleksandr

Tarr, David G.

Editor

World Bank, Washington, DC

Descripción

After 18 years of negotiations, Russia has joined the World Trade Organization. This paper assesses how the tariff structure of the Russian Federation will change as a result of the phased implementation of its World Trade Organization commitments between 2012 and 2020 and how it has changed as a result of its agreement to participate in a Customs Union with Kazakhstan and Belarus. The analysis uses trade data at the ten digit level, which allows the first accurate assessment of the impact of these policy changes. It finds that World Trade Organization commitments will progressively and significantly lower the applied tariffs of the Russian Federation. After all commitments are implemented, tariffs will fall from 11.5 percent to 7.9 percent on an un-weighted average basis, or from 13.0 percent to 5.8 percent on a weighted average basis. The average "bound" tariff rate of Russia under its World Trade Organization commitments will be 8.6 percent, that is, 0.7 percentage points higher than the applied tariffs. Russia's commitments represent significant tariff liberalization, but compared with other countries that have acceded to the World Trade Organization, the commitments of the Russian Federation are not unusual, especially when compared with the Transition countries.

Palabras clave

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, APPAREL, APPLIED TARIFF, AVERAGE TARIFF, AVERAGE TARIFFS, BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, BILATERAL FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS, CONCESSIONS, CUSTOMS, CUSTOMS UNION, DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ENDOGENOUS TARIFF, EQUIPMENT, EXCHANGE RATES, EXPORTERS, EXTERNAL TARIFF, FOOD INDUSTRY, FREE ACCESS, FREE TRADE, GOVERNMENT REVENUE, HIGH TARIFFS, IMPORT DATA, IMPORT DUTIES, IMPORT SHARE, IMPORT STATISTICS, IMPORT TARIFF, IMPORT TARIFFS, IMPORTS, INFLATION, INTERMEDIATE INPUTS, INTERNATIONAL BANK, LOBBYING, MARKET ACCESS, MEMBER COUNTRIES, METAL PRODUCTS, MOST FAVORED NATION, POLITICAL ECONOMY, PREFERENTIAL STATUS, SET OF TARIFF, TARIFF CLASSIFICATION, TARIFF COMMITMENT, TARIFF COMMITMENTS, TARIFF CUTS, TARIFF DATA, TARIFF EQUIVALENTS, TARIFF ESCALATION, TARIFF LEVELS, TARIFF LINE, TARIFF LINES, TARIFF POLICY, TARIFF PROTECTION, TARIFF RATE, TARIFF RATES, TARIFF SCHEDULE, TARIFF STRUCTURE, TRADE AGREEMENTS, TRADE DATA, TRADE DISTORTIONS, TRADE PERFORMANCE, TRADE POLICY, TRANSACTION, TRANSITION COUNTRIES, UNIFORM TARIFFS, VALUE OF IMPORTS, WORLD TRADE, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION