DICTIONARY OF TRADE TERMS

The intent of this dictionary was to produce a broad listing of terms, which are commonly used in trade negotiations and especially within the context of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) with a view to providing an information tool for the public at large. The dictionary is presented in the four official languages of the FTAA: English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

The compilation does not attempt to present the entire universe of terms used nor does it seek to prejudge or to affect in any way definitions or approaches currently proposed by any country in any trade negotiation. In fact, many of the definitions included in the publicly-available Draft FTAA Agreement which are still the subject of difficult debates have been excluded from this dictionary. The definitions are based on widely available source material including other trade agreements.

An alphabetical listing of the terms is included to facilitate the use of the dictionary. The terms and their definitions are presented by general negotiating theme found in the FTAA and in other trade negotiations.

An electronic version of this document can be found on the following websites: IADB, OAS,  and ECLAC.

IADB

OAS

ECLAC

TERM	DEFINITION
Accumulation	Provision that allows, when determining the origin of a good, for the consideration of imported inputs as originating provided that they come from another country that participates in the free trade zone. See Subsidies, Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties, page 40, where this text may have a slightly different meaning.
Change of Tariff Classification	Criteria used in the determination of origin that stipulates the change in the tariff nomenclature that an imported input must undergo when incorporated into a final good so that the final good may acquire originating status. The change in tariff classification can be at Chapter level (first two digits of the tariff nomenclature), Heading level (first four digits of the tariff nomenclature), or Sub-heading level (first six digits of the tariff nomenclature).
Containers and packing materials for shipment	Goods that are used to protect other goods during transport, different from packaging materials for retail sale.
Fungible goods	Goods that are interchangeable for trading purposes, whose properties are essentially identical and for which it is not practical to differentiate one from another by simple visual examination.
Indirect material	A good used in the production, verification or inspection of a good, but not physically incorporated in the good; or a good that is used in the maintenance of buildings or in the operation of equipment related to the production of a good.
Non-originating good or non-originating material	A good or material that does not qualify as originating according to the established Origin Regime.
Origin certificate	A document issued especially to certify that a good is originating in a country participating in a free trade area.
Origin regime	The full set of criteria that defines the requirements that goods must fulfill in order to be considered originating, also including the processes agreed among the participating countries of a free trade area for the administration and verification of origin.
Originating good	A good that, by virtue of fulfilling the requirements of the Origin Regime is considered originating in the country in which its production process has been carried out, regardless of whether imported inputs were used in its production.
Regional value content	A specific type of value test. It is a share of the value of a good accounted for by national inputs and any other cost component that is derived from the country in which production of the good takes place.
Rule of origin	Specific requirements that must be fulfilled by a good produced in a free trade zone for it to be considered as originating and thereby benefit from the preferential tariff treatment.
Shipping and repacking costs	Costs incurred in the transport and repacking of a good outside the territory in which the producer or exporter of the good is located.
Tariff item	Maximum level of opening in the national tariff nomenclature; generally eight or ten digits.
Value test	Criteria used in the determination of origin of a good. It establishes the requirements to measure the national or imported contributions that a good contains for the purpose of determining whether the good, despite having imported inputs, complies with the requirements established in order to be considered originating.
Wholly obtained	A good that contains no imported inputs and that has been wholly produced or obtained within a country participating in a free trade area.