Tariffs on some critical products remain very high, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat said in a recent statement. report on trade in medical products essential for the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The respirators or ventilators, which are in short supply during the current health crisis, the global average tariff is 3.3%, but some WTO members apply higher rates.
Among Latin American countries, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela apply a 14% import tariff. Among Asian economies, India's duty on respirators is 10%, while for China, the rate is 4%.
Sixty-seven members provide duty-free treatment for respirators or ventilators, including the European Union, the United States, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland.
However, the World Health Organization recommends washing hands regularly with soap and water or using hand sanitizers to disinfect and stop the spread of the virus.
What happens with prevention supplies?
Prevention supplies such as hand soap and disinfectant, hand gloves and face masks have an average applied tariff of 11.5%, more than five times higher than that of medicines, according to the WTO.
There is wide variation among Members in the tariffs they apply to personal protection products.
There are 29 Members that apply an average duty of 5% or less, but there are 47 Members that apply an average tariff of at least 15% on personal protection products.
The average global applied tariff on hand soap is 17%. Seventy-two Members apply duties above 15%. Some tariffs could be as high as 50% (Dominican Republic) or 56.7% (Egypt).
The disinfectants Hand sanitizers have an average tariff of 5%. Four members apply a tariff above 10%, namely Djibouti, Bangladesh, Tonga and Mauritania. One third of all WTO members apply tariffs on hand sanitizers in the range of 2.5% to 5% – significantly lower than for soap.
The face masks are another critical personal protection product, which are subject to a 9,1% Least Favored Nation (MFN) applied tariff on average.
Five Latin American countries (Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina) have the highest tariffs on face masks. The average tariff for Ecuador is 19%, with some product lines applied at 55%. Bolivia and Venezuela have an average applied tariff of 20%, while Brazil and Argentina have average tariffs of 17%. Fifteen Members maintain applied MFN duties of more than 15%. Nearly one-third of all WTO Members apply tariffs between 10% and 15%.
Finally, for protective glasses and visors Many members (29) have tariffs above 15%. Ecuador and Jordan have the highest tariffs applied for protective eyewear at 30%. For almost half of the members, this product is subject to tax, but the duty is less than/or equal to 7.5%.
As COVID-19 continues to spread globally, trade in medical products is gaining considerable attention, specifically trade in products for prevention, testing and treatment. “Governments are understandably taking protective measures to stem the spread of the virus. Some of these measures may inadvertently impact the flow of critical medical goods,” the WTO said.
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