Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

Customs Law Research Guide

This guide details sources for researching international customs law, including sources from international organizations and major trade agreements.

Statistics

The inter-governmental organizations listed below provide free access to customs data and other trade-related statistics on their websites.

  • UN Comtrade Database
    The UN's repository for official trade-related data collected by UN member states includes annual trade statistics from 1962-present and monthly trade statistics since 2010. Excellent data visualization tools.
     
  • World Customs Organization -- Annual Reports
    The WCO's annual reports include a wide range of customs and trade-related data for WCO member states, including the percentage of revenues collected from customs duties.
     
  • World Trade Organization Statistics -- Tariff & Trade Data
    The WTO provides the following tools for analyzing the customs and trade-related data that it collects:
     
    • Tariff Download Facility
      Access data on applied, bound, and preferential tariffs for all WTO members.  Products may be selected at up to six levels of disaggregation under the Harmonized System of classification.  A User Guide is available for download in PDF format.
       
    • Tariff Analysis Facility
      This advanced research tool combines content from two WTO databases and allows you to generate product-specific and market-specific reports at the tariff line level under the Harmonized System of classification.  Note:  Individual users must register with the WTO to access this combined database.  A User Guide is available for download in PDF format.
       
    • Trade and Market Access Data
      Interactive data visualization tool allows you to generate maps and charts of tariff rates, trade flows, and trade trends.