UNCTAD will provide NTMs on-line training to Government officials from 12 country members of the Tripartite (COMESA, EAC and SADC) region: Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  Another technical course on NTMs and Data Collection will be open to government officials, researchers, and representatives of the private sector worldwide.
Non-tariff measures (NTMs) represent a major challenge for exporters, importers and policymakers. Compliance with those regulations and norms decide the ability to gain and benefit from market access opportunities.
Worldwide, NTMs become increasingly important as tariffs have been reduced significantly in trade agreements as well as unilaterally. Indeed, UNCTAD and other research shows that NTMs have become more restrictive than existing tariffs. Though many NTMs aim primarily at protecting public health or the environment, they also affect trade through information, compliance and procedural costs. NTMs include a broad range of policy measures: "Policy measures, other than ordinary customs tariffs, that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods".
Understanding the uses and implications of NTMs is essential for the formulation and implementation of effective development strategies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, and to use NTMs in a way that carefully balances the reduction in trade costs against the preservation of public objectives.
UNCTAD will provide NTMs on-line training to Government officials from 12 country members of the Tripartite (COMESA, EAC and SADC) region: Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
UNCTAD is currently assisting the Tripartite RECs to streamline non-tariff measures (NTMs) in the region by enhancing transparency and availability of information on NTMs. Data feeds into a Tripartite database on NTMs and this training aims at building capacity to sustain the updating of the database. The course, available at https://elearningtrade.unctad.org/course/index.php?categoryid=4, will run from 14 May to 01 July.
Another course will be offered to government officials, researchers, and representatives of the private sector to provide them with the knowledge and tools needed to identify, classify and collect information about national NTMs, as part of the international effort to improve access and increase transparency with regard to these measures. The course therefore constitutes a useful base of technical knowledge and skills for policymakers, researchers and trade practitioners working with NTMs and collecting data of NTMs.
This course - Non-Tariff Measures and Data Collection - will also run from 14 May to 01 July, and will be open for application until 6 May 2018.
UNCTAD also currently works on a shorter executive NTMs course, which is more suitable for participants who want to study the basis of NTMs and how to use the knowledge of NTMs in policy making, trade negotiations, etc.
UNCTAD's courses on NTMs have been jointly produced with the UNCTAD Virtual Institute (vi.unctad.org). An online course on the Economic Analysis of Non-Tariff Measures is opened later this year by the Virtual Institute for applications.
