WTO+country+tables+-+simulations+by+ICFTU+via+COSATU





Via COSATU
Sent: 20 April 2006 10:41 PM To: Global Unions Forum on Trade and International Labour Standards Subject: Country tables NAMA: India, Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia**
 * From: ICFTU

Dear All,

As part of the urgent action that is needed at the national level concerning the NAMA negotiations I have prepared a number of country tables that show the effects of the Swiss formula on the tariffs for different sectors.

The current NAMA proposals for tariff reductions, based on the so called Swiss formula, will have an impact on the bound tariffs but also on the applied tariffs in many developing countries and in many sectors of manufacturing. The applied rate is the tariff a country actually applies to an imported product whereas the bound rate is the maximum tariff a country can apply to that product. Reductions in the bound rate reduce the "space" and level of protection a country has to raise tariffs when needed. If the new bound tariff becomes lower than the actual applied tariff, then the applied tariff will also be reduced, which will have an impact on imports, domestic production and employment.

Given that the EU and US push for a Swiss formula with a coefficient of 15, this would lead to substantial cuts in the applied rates for many sectors in developing countries.

The tables show the employment data per sector, the applied and bound rates per sector, the bound rates after using the Swiss formula with a coefficient of 15 and 30, the reductions in applied rates, and the bound rate after applying the ABI formula with a factor 3.

Tables are available now for Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, which are all attached. The Spanish versions are available for Argentina and Colombia.


 * Documents, Word format, click to download:**

**
 * [[file:NAMA_Argentina_simulations_final.doc]]

Assistant, ICFTU-Geneva Office Avenue Blanc 46 1202 Geneva
 * Esther Busser

www.icftu.org**

325 words