Non-Tariff Measures Week Mandatory Trade Regulations and Voluntary Sustainability Standards

​Key Issue

Regulations and standards are a main hurdle to trade. Business surveys as well as quantitative assessments show that with falling tariffs, Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) have become the more important impediment to trade. Challenges include costs of compliance and in particular the lack of transparency. At the same time, many regulations and standards provide benefits for consumer protection and other sustainable development objectives. 

The Non-Tariff Measures Week sheds light on the importance of NTMs on international trade and development, and shows successful global and regional approaches to tackle the challenges including transparency initiatives and regulatory cooperation. 

NTMs include a broad basket of policies that can potentially affect trade. On the one hand, traditional trade policy instruments, such as quotas or price controls (often termed non-tariff barriers), still persist in some sectors. On the other hand, a wide array of regulatory measures address, inter alia, health and environmental protection (Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures and Technical Barriers to Trade), post-sales services, rules of origin, government procurement and intellectual property. In the 21st century, such regulatory measures are a central focus in trade agreements and have a bigger impact on trade than traditional barriers. They are however also more complex and the line between legitimate public policy objectives and protectionism is blurred. 

The Multi-Agency Support Team (MAST) developed a taxonomy for the International Classification of NTMs, which became a common language for the international trade community, including for researchers, regional and international organizations as well as governments. This was the first step towards enhancing transparency and understanding of NTMs. Significant effort has also been made in the subsequent global and comprehensive mapping of NTMs by UNCTAD and its partners. The current NTMs database covers more than 80 per cent of world trade. 

The Meeting follows up on the September 2015 and October 2016 Expert Meetings on NTMs Classification to take stock of the policy agenda and the further development and revision of the NTMs taxonomy. The meeting aims at a revised version of the International Classification on Non-Tariff Measures. The focus of the first two days is on mandatory NTMs, followed by one day on Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS). All interested participants are welcome to the NTMs week.