No such assessment has been made. However, although the system of diagonal culmination between the Western Balkans and Turkey is a recent development, European Commission officials are understood to be content with the ability of the countries concerned to effectively control the culmination arrangements.
Information on punitive tariffs levied against the EU since 1997 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Nor is there any accepted definition of the term “punitive” in the context of tariffs. However, the World Trade Organisation publishes statistics on the number of Trade Defence measures (anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures) imposed by its members. Measures against the EU as a whole or some of its member states over 1997 to 2008 were as follows:
Against the EU as a whole Against the UK individually Against other individual member states2 Anti-dumping 47 18 164 Countervailing Duties 6 1 16 Safeguards 85 0 0 1 Usually in the form of tariffs, but are sometimes in the form of quotas or other non-tariff restrictions. 2 These numbers overstate the number of measures, as in some cases the same anti-dumping or countervailing measure is levied against a number of member states simultaneously, so there is some double-counting. For example, an anti-dumping measure levied against the EU as a whole would be recorded once, but a measure against France, Germany and the UK only would be recorded as three separate measures in the table. Source: World Trade Organisation.