WTO TBT Agreement - overview - Wijkström...WTO TBT Overview Slides Geneva, 6 February 2019 [email protected] 10 Trade Rounds Year Place / name Subjects covered # 1947 Geneva

WTO TBT Overview Slides Geneva, 6 February 2019

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Standards, regulations- intro to WTO TBT Agreement -

Are standards good or bad for international trade?


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(different standards / not really)

technology / network effects / price / inter-connectivity


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only poultry that has not been frozen can be labelled “fresh”

(regulation / perhaps)


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information / minimum safety


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or a “formidable barrier”?

So, a good basis for government policy

Standards are one tool.


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WTO rules (here SPS and TBT) are essentially about promoting good practices in regulation.

What are these “good practices”?


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GRP

Application!

(These principles in the TBT Agreement colour what went before.)

Good regulatory practice is about the practical implementation of the TBT Agreement. As the

Agreement does not contain specific provisions on good regulatory practice, the emphasis of the Committee's discussions has been on how best to

implement the provisions of the Agreement to achieve a particular policy objective. Effective

implementation through best practices is seen as an important means of avoiding unnecessary

obstacles to trade


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Why is this important today?

Tariffs have gone down


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Trade RoundsYear Place / name Subjects covered #

1947 Geneva Tariffs 23

1949 Annecy Tariffs 13

1951 Torquay Tariffs 38

1956 Geneva Tariffs 26

1960-1961 Geneva (Dillon Round)

Tariffs 26

1964-1967 Geneva (Kennedy Round)

Tariffs and anti-dumping measures

62

1973-1979 Geneva (Tokyo Round)

Tariffs, NTBs, “framework agreements”

102

1986-1994 Geneva (Uruguay Round)

Tariffs, NTBs, rules, services, IP, DSU, textiles, agriculture, creation of WTO, etc.

123

2001 - Geneva (DDA) (the above) + environment, + ? 164Source: WTO



Country / company: A, B, ……..to market

WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement(agreed in Bali 2013). Report just

out.-Multilateral cooperation

-Standard-setting / harmonization-Trade costs high in d-ing countries

…



This trend is evident in regional trade agreements (RTAs):

Source: WTO

… an UNCTAD report from December 2017 reinforces this

message:



“Technical Barriers to Trade are the most frequent form of NTMs, affecting 35 per cent of product lines and about 65 per cent of world trade, followed by export measures and sanitary and phytosanitary measures.”



Activity in the TBT Committee may also be indicative:

TBT NOTIFICATIONS (1995 – 2018)

364 460795 650 670 608 541 586

795 637 765 870 10281248

148714121216

155215991528142116451774

2080

1935

3827 12 12 5 12

4955

107127

172

219

365 396469

577 469 622480

583725

850

35

94 12 13 22 26

5129

2330

18

43

34 4273

48 4356

46

70

53

84

21

53

6

23

25

11

13

7 1915

19 2934

30

34

28

51

388501

847681 697 633 574 624

897724

8971032

1229

1523

189318691773

219621402240

1977

2332

2580

3065

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

Num

ber o

f not

ifica

tions

New notifications Addenda Corrigenda Revisions



STCs raised: 1995-2018

4 6 11 13 5 13 15 20 15 14 1224 27 32

4629

43 35 42 4737 31 27 224

612

12

32 20

34

2235

20

4151

74

85

88

107 124

88

101 124 142 152 162

410

1725

17

4535

54

37

49

32

65

78

106

131

117

150159

130

148

161173

179184

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200Nu

mbe

r of S

TCs

New STCs Previously raised STCs

NEW NOTIFICATIONS BY DEVELOPMENT STATUS, 1995-2018

30

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018Developed Members Developing Members Least-developed Members



Trade policy is increasingly looking “behind the border”:

So, how how can WTO rules address the “bad” part?



What do the rules say?



WTO rules in this area are intended to be trade facilitating, reduce trade costs.

(But it is difficult to quantify effect of benefit!)



Legitimate objective1

Non-discrimination2

Avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade3

Use of international standards4

Transparency5

= ≈



- for training purposes only -

for training purposes only

US – Tuna II





Sardina Pilchardus Sardinops Sagax

WTO Slide 44

Sardina pilchardusEC:

Sardinops sagaxPeru:

… only Sardina pilchardus may be marketed as preserved sardines in EC (Article 2)



Legitimate objective1

Non-discrimination2

Avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade3

Use of international standards4

Transparency5

= ≈

To be more specific, what kind of measures are we

talking about?

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“Non-tariff measures” (NTMs)

TBT and SPS

other

Difficult to quantify!

There is a problem with transparency Trade effects are complex, ambiguous (impact? Compliance? Time? ==

uncertainty)

“Measures”TBT measures

SPS measures

1) Standards

2) Technical regulations

3) Conformity assessment Procedures



Technical Regulations

document which lays down

product characteristicsor

their related processes and production methods

with which compliance is mandatory

(TBT Agreement, Annex 1, para 1)

Standards

recognized bodythat provides, for common and repeated

userules, guidelines or characteristics

for products or related processes and production methods

with which compliance is not mandatory


Voluntary Mandatory

Market

Conformity assessment procedure

Any procedure used, directly or indirectly, to determine that relevant requirements in technical regulations or standards are fulfilled


TBTSPS

TFA

+



How does it work?

6

At WTO?



Negotiations

Disputes Implementation

TBTSPS



Request clarification from Enquiry Point

Bilateral consultations

Raised in the Committee

Dispute(s)

(not raised formally)

540 “STCs”

≈ 30,000TBT notifications

(Dec17)

5 Disputes (with Panel and AB reports)+ 3 on-going

TBT SPS

≈ 22,000SPS notifications

427 “STCs”

Good Offices of the Chair

14 Disputes (with Panel reports)

+ 2 on-going

Implementation & monitoring role of the SPS and TBT Committees

Documents

WTO TBT Agreement - overview - Wijkström...WTO TBT Overview Slides Geneva, 6 February 2019 [email protected] 10 Trade Rounds Year Place / name Subjects covered # 1947 Geneva