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“This new report makes clear that the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ has plenty of unfinished business,” said Director-General Mike Moore. “The best way we can tackle the many remaining trade barriers that are preventing people and countries from realizing their full potential is in a wider set of negotiations.”

The new °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat study profiles post-Uruguay Round market access conditions in three areas — industrial tariffs, agriculture and services — the latter two of which are already the subject of ongoing negotiations. The detailed study is intended as a comprehensive resource for negotiators and the interested public. A from the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ online bookshop.

Some of the findings presented in the new °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Secretariat study are:

• Among the 42 developed and developing countries surveyed the average level of bound tariffs for industrial products ranges from 1.8% to 59%.
  

• Numerous countries have bound their industrial tariffs at levels significantly above the levels actually applied, with differences between the average bound and average applied rates reaching more than 30% in some countries. In such cases, bindings contribute little to the stability of the applied tariffs.
  

• Forty-seven °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Members and five Observers participate in the Information Technology Agreement which provides for the elimination of tariffs on IT products. These countries currently account for 93% of world trade in IT products.
  

• Among the Asian countries in the sample, the share of agricultural tariff lines with bound duties above 100% ranges from zero to 69%, while among European countries the figure ranges from 1% to 45%.
  

• Of the 160 possible services subsectors on which Members can choose to schedule specific commitments, the “typical” °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ Member has undertaken commitments on 25 subsectors.
  

• The nine countries that joined the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø×ÊÁÏ between January 1995 and July 2000 have assumed higher levels of commitments, in terms of services sectors included, than incumbent Members at comparable levels of development.
  

• In services the two most important modes of supply are mode 1 (cross-border supply) and mode 3 (supply through commercial presence). So far members appear to have concentrated much of negotiating effort on mode 3. There may, however, be a greater focus on mode 1 commitments in the current negotiations as a result of the growth of e-commerce.

The main conclusions of Market Access: Unfinished Business are the following:

• The Uruguay Round has significantly contributed to the liberalization of international trade but the post-Uruguay Round situation still has many distortions;
  

• While there is scope for mutually beneficial agreements in the mandated negotiations on agriculture and services, this scope can be broadened significantly if industrial tariffs are drawn into the picture;
  

• Access to other developing countries' markets is becoming increasingly important to developing-country exporters;
  

• The products of greatest interest to the least-developed countries — many agricultural products together with clothing and other labor-intensive manufactures — are among the most heavily protected in the markets of their current and potential trading partners, both developed and developing.