Technical barriers to trade
Technical regulations and product standards may vary greatly in different countries. The presence of a large number of different regulations and standards makes life difficult for manufacturers and exporters. If regulations are established without sufficient grounds, they can be used as an excuse for protectionism.
The requirements contained in technical regulations and standards are instruments of technical policy. They should facilitate international trade. Their use is caused by the objective requirements of mass industrial production, safety, health, environmental protection and other similar reasons.
However, in many cases, these norms are formulated and applied in such a way that they are filled with protectionist content and turn into a non-tariff barrier.
At the present stage, when the level of customs duties has become low and when they cease to be a significant barrier in international trade, countries are in search of other instruments to influence imports. And technical barriers can become one of such tools. Non-tariff restrictions may create tougher conditions for goods of foreign origin compared to goods of national production, that is, their purpose is to reduce competition from a foreign manufacturer.
Formally, technical barriers are motivated and justified by the task of protecting consumers from low-quality goods that threaten, among other things, the life and health of people, animals and flora, and the environment as a whole. However, in practice, technical barriers are a convenient means of protecting their own production, especially in the field of production of machinery, equipment, vehicles, food products, as well as chemical, including pharmaceutical, products and similar high-tech goods. Accordingly, such technical barriers are used primarily by industrially developed countries competing with each other in the production of goods.
The protectionist effect of such norms in this case is that they force the producer of goods or the exporter to take additional actions that ultimately increase the export price of the goods and reduce its competitiveness.
WTO rules prohibit such use of technical barriers to trade. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade attempts to ensure that regulations, standards, tests and certification procedures do not create unnecessary barriers, while at the same time providing WTO members with the right to apply measures to achieve legitimate regulatory objectives, such as protecting human health and safety or the environment.
The key provision of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (Article 2.2) states that WTO members must ensure that technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment rules are not formulated and used in such a way as to create obstacles in international trade exceeding those that may arise during their normal application for the purposes for which they were created.
At the same time, the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade recognizes the right of countries to take measures necessary to ensure the quality of their exports, or to protect the life and health of people, animals or plants, and environmental protection, and at the level that it considers appropriate, provided that such measures are not applied in a way that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustified discrimination between countries in which the same conditions prevail, or a means of covert restriction of international trade.
The requirements contained in technical regulations and standards are instruments of technical policy. They should facilitate international trade. Their use is caused by the objective requirements of mass industrial production, safety, health, environmental protection and other similar reasons.
However, in many cases, these norms are formulated and applied in such a way that they are filled with protectionist content and turn into a non-tariff barrier.
At the present stage, when the level of customs duties has become low and when they cease to be a significant barrier in international trade, countries are in search of other instruments to influence imports. And technical barriers can become one of such tools. Non-tariff restrictions may create tougher conditions for goods of foreign origin compared to goods of national production, that is, their purpose is to reduce competition from a foreign manufacturer.
Formally, technical barriers are motivated and justified by the task of protecting consumers from low-quality goods that threaten, among other things, the life and health of people, animals and flora, and the environment as a whole. However, in practice, technical barriers are a convenient means of protecting their own production, especially in the field of production of machinery, equipment, vehicles, food products, as well as chemical, including pharmaceutical, products and similar high-tech goods. Accordingly, such technical barriers are used primarily by industrially developed countries competing with each other in the production of goods.
The protectionist effect of such norms in this case is that they force the producer of goods or the exporter to take additional actions that ultimately increase the export price of the goods and reduce its competitiveness.
WTO rules prohibit such use of technical barriers to trade. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade attempts to ensure that regulations, standards, tests and certification procedures do not create unnecessary barriers, while at the same time providing WTO members with the right to apply measures to achieve legitimate regulatory objectives, such as protecting human health and safety or the environment.
The key provision of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (Article 2.2) states that WTO members must ensure that technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment rules are not formulated and used in such a way as to create obstacles in international trade exceeding those that may arise during their normal application for the purposes for which they were created.
At the same time, the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade recognizes the right of countries to take measures necessary to ensure the quality of their exports, or to protect the life and health of people, animals or plants, and environmental protection, and at the level that it considers appropriate, provided that such measures are not applied in a way that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustified discrimination between countries in which the same conditions prevail, or a means of covert restriction of international trade.