Tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in Hungary: The impact of the Uruguay Round and EU accession

Abstract

International trade has featured prominently in Hungary’s rapid transition to a market economy. This paper reports some relatively simple summary and complementary indicators for tariffs and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade, which are designed to reflect the level and structure of tariffs and the scope of NTBs in Hungary. The existence of tariff ‘spikes’ and highly pervasive NTBs in certain sectors constitutes prima facie evidence that the domestic dead-weight efficiency and net welfare losses caused by tariff and non-tariff protection as well as the costs to consumers could be high. The indicators are used to highlight several key developments associated with Hungary’s transition to a market economy, implementation of the Uruguay Round (UR) agreements and possible accession to the EU.