Customs duties and their impact on national protectionism -   Comparative Legal Study

Abstract Custom tariff is a table containing customs imposed by the state on the goods after tabulation and detailing them when imported or exported. The categories of fees are different from one country to another according to difference in the motive of imposing them which may be financial purpose legislature aims to get financial resources to the state treasury. That purpose may be represented in protecting local industry by imposing high customs on foreign industrial products, and thus there is obvious contrast between the nature of the goals and objectives for each of these category fees. Therefore, the custom tariff is the framework that represents the State's need and interest together, and custom tariff characterized that it has a dual function; the first one is revenue function, which means that it is the source of fixed revenue. The second function is protectionism in order to protect domestic production from the risk of foreign competition and to promote new established industries or those which are not strong enough to withstand in front of similar industries. One of the main conclusions of this research is that the legal base of custom tariff is that it is a legal obligation imposed by the constitution, and based on the basis of state sovereignty, and aims to achieve the public interest. So, legislatures in many countries regulated custom tariff and even many countries have concluded special treaties among them in order to standardize the custom tariff system as is the case for example in countries of (the European Union) and (GATT) of 1994. This study recommended that it is necessary to achieve a balance between the application of custom tariff law as a mean to protect local products, and alsotheneedofIraqinthisstage for reconstruction of infrastructure and the need of national industry for raw materials and the need of the domestic market for imported goods. As well as that, this research recommended to work on the harmonization of Iraqi laws with international standards in order to fulfill the obligations and conditions contained in the (WTO) agreements and the Convention on the rules of origin and custom valuation.