Workshop on the identification of barriers to the trade of biodiversity based and BioTrade products from Viet Nam

Objective
The aim of the event is to increase understanding and raise awareness of Vietnamese policy makers and private stakeholders on the main non-tariff measures (NTMs) identified when exporting products from the personal care, food and phyto-pharma sectors to China, European Union, Japan, Switzerland and USA.  The event will include the presentations of the NTMs database and the companies' survey that has been carried out on this topic, as well as a NTMs training.

Background
Many developing countries are taking advantage of the positive market trends for environmentally and socially friendly products in developed country markets.  Compliance of exporters with requirements from key markets, such as sanitary requirements and good standards, is essential for accessing these markets.

Increasingly, barriers to trade come not from tariffs but from non-tariff measures (NTMs). For instance, certain biodiversity-based and traditional food products have not been able to enter the European Union (EU) market due to highly restrictive novel food regulations and burdensome safety and sanitary reviews that cannot be easily fulfilled by small producers or for small export volumes. In general, the identification, awareness and understanding the impacts of NTMs is challenging, and even more when dealing with biodiversity and BioTrade products.

Currently there is no comprehensive and updated mapping of NTMs applicable, especially after certain bilateral trade agreements were agreed. Furthermore, there is no mapping of the type of NTMs affecting BioTrade exports from Vietnam. Therefore, identifying and mapping relevant NTMs that hinder the export of BioTrade products as well as biodiversity-based ones, will allow different actors to focus their efforts in addressing more harmful NTMs.

UNCTAD, with the support of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) under the BioTrade Facilitation Programme - Phase III, is addressing this need.  Particularly, it is identifying non-tariff measures (NTMs) that are harmful to the trade of BioTrade and biodiversity-based products from selected countries (Colombia, Peru and Viet Nam) in the food, personal care and phyto-pharma sectors, when exported to China, European Union, Japan, Switzerland and USA.  During the national workshop the result to the barriers to the trade of biodiversity-based and BioTrade products from Viet Nam will be presented to Vietnamese stakeholders. 

The workshop is also organized in collaboration with BioTrade partners in Vietnam, hence the BioTrade Implementation Group (BIG) and Helvetas Vietnam.

BIG Vietnam news item:
http://biotradevietnam.org/en/news/news/37-unctad-host-international-workshops-hanoi-june.html