The Commission was established in December 1903 by Joseph Chamberlain, a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament who had recently resigned as Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The unofficial body was set up under the auspices of the Tariff Reform League.
William Hewins, the economist and first director of the London School of Economics from 1895 to 1903, was Secretary and Sir Robert Herbert, the first Premier of Queensland, Australia, was Chairman.
[1] The aims of the Commission were to examine and report on Chamberlain's proposals for tariff reform, and to work out what import duties should be recommended.
They intended to publish reports on every industry that they investigated, and bring these together into a final report that would lay out a full tariff scheme.