You must be reading this book because you want to understand WTO Schedules. But your reasons for wanting to understand them will affect the way you approach the task. An exporter or importer will have different needs from a business advisor or trade association executive. A trade analyst or an official with an incidental interest in the WTO Schedules – perhaps from a ministry other than Commerce – will have objectives that are different again from those with a commercial objective. In order to offer practical advice, we consider three typical cases.

THREE CASES

(A) Business interest You work in a business that imports or exports, or competes with firms that import products into your market. You want to know what the actual terms of access are for your products and, possibly, for complementary or substitute products in export markets and in your own market. In total we are talking about a small number of products in various configurations, and only a handful of markets. In the case of export markets you might also want to know if there is a significant difference between the access terms – tariffs or, if it is a service you are selling, the regulations on foreign suppliers – for your third-country competitors and for you. You might also need to know if access terms are different in your home market from how they are in export markets.