Common use of Reduction or Elimination of Customs Duties Clause in Contracts

Reduction or Elimination of Customs Duties. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, neither Party may increase any existing customs duty, or adopt any new customs duty, on an originating good. 2. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, each Party shall reduce or eliminate its customs duties on originating goods in accordance with its Schedule to Annex 2-B. 3. If at any moment a Party reduces its applied most-favored-nation (hereinafter referred to as “MFN”) customs duty rate after the entry into force of this Agreement, that duty rate shall apply as regards trade covered by this Agreement if and for as long as it is lower than the customs duty rate calculated in accordance with its Schedule included in Annex 2-B. 4. On the request of either Party, the Parties shall consult to consider accelerating the reduction or elimination of customs duties set out in their Schedules to Annex 2-B. Following such consultations, a decision by the Joint Committee on the acceleration of the reduction or elimination of a customs duty on a good shall supersede any duty rate or staging category determined pursuant to the respective Party’s Schedule included in Annex 2-B for that good, in accordance with Article 19.1.3(f). 5. For greater certainty, a Party may: (a) raise a customs duty to the level established in its Schedule to Annex 2-B following a unilateral reduction; or (b) maintain or increase a customs duty as authorized by the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO.