The invisible barriers to trade

The invisible barriers to tradeHow businesses experience non-tariff measures

Mohammad Saeed

Trade Facilitation Implementation and Performance Monitoring WorkshopWuhan, China, 22 October 2015

ITC’s Programme on Non-tariff measures

Pillar 1

NTM Data Collection

• Transparency pillar: making regulations publicly available

• Searchable by HS code, country, NTM

• Dissemination through Market Access Mapwww.macmap.org

Pillar 2

Business Surveys

• Giving SMEs a voice: identifying trade obstacles

• Surveys of exporters and importers on their experiences with government regulationswww.ntmsurvey.org

Pillar 3

Follow Up Actions

• Overcoming trade obstacles: designing technical assistance to overcome trade obstacles

• E.g.: Trade Obstacles Alert mechanism

www.tradeobstacles.org

Transparency of NTMs: Information for businessesITC’s NTM database: www.macmap.org

- Data collected in collaboration with UNCTAD, African Development Bank and World Bank

- Data availability: more than 70 countries

- Upcoming in 2015 (among others):

- India- Jamaica- Pakistan- Suriname- Trinidad and Tobago- Turkey


Pillar 1

NTM Data Collection




Pillar 2

Business Surveys



Pillar 3

Follow Up Actions




ITC NTM Business surveys: Coverage

NTM survey ongoing / finalized

Under discussion / planned

More than 20,000phone interviews

From over 30developing countries + 28 EU countries

Over 5,500 face-to-face interviews

Selected questions we are able to answer6

WHO is affected and how much?

Sectors, products, types of companies (women/men-owned, size, region), trade flows with which partner countries, type of trade flow (export/import), etc.

WHY are NTMs perceived as burdensome?

Strict regulations, procedural obstacles, both

WHICH NTMs are perceived as burdensome?

Technical regulations, conformity assessment, rules of origin, inspections, etc.

WHAT procedural obstacles do exporters/importers encounter?

Delays, high fees and charges, large number of documents, limited testing facilities, problems with recognition of certificates, etc.

WHERE does the problem occur?

At home, in the partner country, institution(s) involved, …

How do exporters and importers perceive non-tariff measures?

8

Who is affected? Who applies the burdensome NTMs?ITC’s NTM Survey results: www.ntmsurvey.org

The share of companies affected by burdensome NTMs varies across sectors and trade direction- Exporters of agricultural products report more problems than those in manufacturing- Exporters are more affected than importers

Small firms report more frequently problems related to burdensome NTMs- 57% of firms with 1-4 employees face burdensome NTMs compared to about 43% of firms

with more than 250 employees

Trade-hampering measures lie much closer to home than one might expect- About 25% of obstacles reported by exporters concern measures applied by the home

country on exports- Another 20% (agriculture) to 30% (manufacturing) are NTMs applied by regional trading

partners (members of regional trade agreements)

Despite existing agreements, regional market access is disproportionately difficult, especially for manufactured products

Source: ITC (2015);The Invisible Barriers to Trade – How Businesses Experience Non-Tariff Measures; www.intracen.org/publications/ntm

Most regulations pose a problem because of procedural obstacles


Share of NTM cases, by type of difficulty

The majority of procedural obstacles are encountered at home (in the exporting country)

Share of procedural obstacles*, by location

*Note: Only cases reported by exporters; only cases of NTMs applied by partner countries.Source: ITC business surveys on NTMs in 25 countries, 2010-2014

60% 40%

In the home country In the partner country

Where should we look to find the solutions?


Distribution of procedural obstacles, by agencyType of

procedural obstacles

Location of the procedural obstacles

Tim

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Lack

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ies

Dis

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spar

ency

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Customs authorityMinistry in charge of international tradeMinistry in charge of agricultureMinistry in charge of public healthPublic/private organization for standard and qualityChamber of commerce and trade support institutionPublic/private organizations for certificationMinistry in charge of environmental affairsPublic/private organizations for inspectionProducts testing and analysis laboratoryPort authorityAirportMinistry in charge of financeOther ministries/agenciesOther private companies/banksNot specified

Take-aways from ITC’s NTM Surveys

Market access begins at homeThe ‘advantage’ of home-based problems is that you can solve them There is a great need to tackle before-the-border problems that businesses experience with behind-the-border measures

Trade facilitation: make trade agreements work Having policies, laws and agreements is one thing – effectivelyimplementing them another

Transparency is keyProcesses may be complicated and lengthy for good reasons. But there is no good reason for them to be unclear or non-transparent.


Pillar 1

NTM Data Collection




Pillar 2

Business Surveys



Pillar 3

Follow Up Actions




1Trader

creates an alert

2National

focal point validates

and publish the alert

National monitoring committeeEnsures the transparency and

reactivity of the mechanism

3Relevant authority

answers to the alert

4National

focal point publishes

the answer

email

email + websiteemail

email + website

TOA Platform

Alerts the public authorities of the trade obstacles they face

Takes action in order to solve the obstacles and reports back to the trade operators

Ensures the transparency of the information exchanged by trade operators and public authorities, and promotes the platform

Monitors the mechanism; includes representatives of the different public authoritiesand private sector in Mauritius.

Example: Trade obstacles alert & resolution mechanism: www.tradeobstacles.org

ITC’s trade obstalces alert mechanismFirst results

• To date, the trade obstacles alert and resolution mechanism waslaunched in Côte d’Ivoire (2014) and Mauritius (Sep 2015)

• Resolved cases include examples of• Streamlined procedures,• Reduced time to obtain certifications and other documents

necessary for exporting and importing and• Better dissemination of information on regulations and related

procedures.

ITC Survey results online: http://ntmsurvey.intracen.org

ITC publication series on NTMs

Making Regional Integration Work –Company perspectives on Non-Tariff Measures in Arab States (Oct 2015)

The Invisible Barriers to Trade –How Businesses Experience Non-Tariff Measures (2015)

Country reports

Burkina Faso (French, 2011) Morocco (French, 2012)Cambodia (English, 2014) Paraguay (Spanish, 2013)Côte d’Ivoire (French, 2014) Peru (English, 2012; Spanish, 2013)Guinea (French, 2015) Rwanda (English, 2014)Jamaica (English, 2013) Senegal (French, 2014)Kazakhstan (English, Russian, 2014) Sri Lanka (English, 2011)Kenya (English, 2014) State of Palestine (English, 2015)Madagascar (French, 2013) Trinidad and Tobago (English, 2013) Malawi (English, 2013) Tunisia (French, 2014)Mauritius (English, 2014) Uruguay (Spanish, 2013)

Available from: www.ntmsurvey.org/publication

For more information:

Thank you!

For further information:http://ntmsurvey.intracen.org

ITCmarketanalysistools @ITC_MktAnalysis

The invisible barriers to trade

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