Expert Meeting on Non-tariff Measures (NTMs) and Productivity, Non-Tariff Measures and Openness (PRONTO) Meeting

The Expert Meeting on Non-tariff Measures (NTMs) will discuss the importance of NTMs in international trade, the international taxonomy of NTMs - progress made and challenges ahead, and the case of transparency gap in the area of NTMs data.

The NTMs database covering 80 per cent of the world trade will be launched during the meeting: i-tip.unctad.org

Today, the ability to gain and to benefit from market access depends increasingly on compliance with trade regulatory measures such as sanitary requirements and goods standards. These non-tariff measures as well as traditional trade policies such as quotas and subsidies represent a growing challenge for exporters, importers and policy makers.

In this regard, the Multi-Agency Support Team (MAST)* developed taxonomy of NTMs, the International Classification of NTMs, that became a common language for the international trade community, including researchers, regional and international organizations as well as governments.

Many NTMs such as SPS and TBT measures are also directly linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.

MAST group members are involved in both development and revision of the NTMs taxonomy and NTMs data collection that is coordinated by UNCTAD.

The expert meeting follows up on the September 2015 Expert Meeting on NTMs Classification to take stock of the work that has been conducted on the further development and revision of the NTMs taxonomy.

Six expert groups have been working on specific areas to revise and further develop the International Classification on Non-Tariff Measures.

The event is combined with a PRONTO meeting on NTMs. The PRONTO project is a collaborative research project on regulatory barriers to trade, supported by the European Commission.

The expert meeting will bring together senior trade and development experts, policymakers, trade negotiators, academia and other stakeholders to examine the challenges and progress made in the common understanding of NTMs and transparency.

*Multi-Agency Support Team (MAST) group members: