The handbook condenses up to 10,000 tariff line duties for countries and customs territories in one single document, helping to make the process more transparent for managers in charge of exporting foods and drinks to other countries.
Up to now, access to tarriff data was cumbersome in spite of the many ways in which this information can often be obtained and viewed in electronic form, the WTO stated this week.
Now the WTO's free "World Tariff Profiles" provides detailed data on bound and applied tariffs round the world, allowing managers to more easily make cross-border comparisions.
"It is designed to allow a cross-country comparison as well as a comparison of the levels of bound and applied duties," the WTO stated.
The first part shows summary tables for all WTO members and other countries and customs territories for all products.
The tarrifs are broken down by agricultural products and non-agricultural products.
It contains standard indicators like tariff averages, maxima, percentage of duty-free tariff lines, peaks and non-ad valorem duties.
The handbook also contains indicators of how tarriffs are allocated, such as through a number of distinct duties.
The second part contains information covering the domestic market access protection and the protection faced in the six major export markets.
Information on bound and applied duties is presented by duty ranges and by sectors.
In addition, there are indicators on the occurrence of special safeguards and on tariff quotas.
The WTO has also put together information on bound and applied duties and imports for ten agricultural and twelve non-agricultural sectors.
In related news the European Council of EU ministers this week approved a new market access strategy for the bloc in a bid to reduce tariff barriers to exports in other countries.
The goal is to provide exporting companies from the EU with information on the conditions for market access in third countries.
"It is the multitude of different and continually new non-tariff trade barriers that make life hard for our export sector," said Germany's economics and technology minister Michael Glos.
"With the new market access strategy, we can effectively deal with these trade barriers."
Glos added that more tariff transparency and simpler procedures will be a particular help for export businesses, especially for small and midsize firms.