Tariff line
Also called: Tariff lines, tariff lines · Topic: International Trade Policy, WTO and Intellectual Property · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A tariff line is the smallest product category in a country's customs tariff schedule, the official list of import duties. Each line has its own numeric code and its own duty rate. A country's WTO commitments, such as its bound tariff rate (the highest duty it promises never to exceed), are also listed line by line. Trade deals are often judged by the share of tariff lines that get duty cuts. A second measure is the share of actual trade value those lines cover.
Example
Under the India–EFTA TEPA (signed 2024, in force from 1 October 2025), EFTA cut duties on 92.2% of its tariff lines. These lines cover 99.6% of India's exports to EFTA. India cut duties on 82.7% of its tariff lines, covering 95.3% of EFTA's exports. In an older case, India kept about 2,700 tariff lines under quantitative restrictions (direct limits on import quantity) and removed them by 1 April 2001.
Don't confuse with
- Share of trade covered: tariff lines count product categories, while trade coverage counts the money value of goods actually traded. One line can carry most of the trade. For example, over 80% of India's imports from EFTA are gold, and India left the effective duty on gold unchanged. So a high share of lines with duty cuts can still mean a small cut in money terms.