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CIAO DATE: 8/5/2006
WTO-forhandlingene om markedsadgang for industrivarer og fisk (NAMA)?
Arne Melchior
January 2006
Abstract
This NUPI paper surveys WTO negotiations on market access for non-agricultural products (also known as 'industrial products'), including fish. Negotiations concern the upper ceiling for tariffs ('bound tariffs'): countries may, in practice, apply lower tariffs if wished. Worldwide, between 60% and 70% of the tariffs on non-agricultural products are bound. The average bound tariff for fish is 34% for a country in the middle of the scale, whereas the applied tariff is 14%. This means that major tariff reductions will be necessary if the applied tariff is to be lowered considerably. In recent years, Third World countries have increased their share of the global trade in non-agricultural products, and some of this export encounters high tariffs. Third World countries are also responsible for over half the global export of fish. Today the export of Norwegian seafood faces a tariff burden of some 140-170 millions Euro!. Successful WTO negotiations could lighten this burden by 35-50 millions Euro. In the short term, profits are greatest in the large, well established markets, but in the longer run WTO liberalization can help to make new export markets accessible.
