One of the five components of the project on “EU4Business support to CEFTA for Non-Tariff Measures monitoring and reporting and support to the implementation of the CEFTA Dispute Settlement Mechanism” focuses on comprehensive regulatory mapping that registers in a systematic database all identified regulations that affect imports and exports. A standardized methodology for data collection and classification developed by UNCTAD helps comparability across other countries/economies. UNCTAD presently holds a database that includes about 150 economies around the world publicly available for use for the benefit of companies, SMEs, policy makers, researchers and other actors at the link following link: https://trainsonline.unctad.org/.
However, CEFTA economies have not been covered so far, and this project financed by the EU and implemented by UNCTAD ensures to cover this gap.
The workshop is organized jointly by the World Bank and UNCTAD in the context of the Albania Trade Competitiveness Diagnostic (TCD).
The workshop consists of two sessions:
- Session 1 -- Impacts of NTMs in Albania (World Bank). Drawing on analysis of the incidence of NTMs across products, sectors, and firms, as well as indicative cost implications for Serbian exporters and importers.
- Session 2 -- Data collection and good regulatory practices (UNCTAD). Sharing experience on NTM data systems, updating mechanisms, and approaches to improving transparency and regulatory quality across the CEFTA economies, including Albania
Given the cross-cutting nature of NTMs, representatives from relevant ministries and agencies involved in import and export regulations were invited.
The objective of the workshop is to provide a better understanding of the methodology, how and from which sources the data is being collected as well as the benefits and utilization of data; a need and ways of ensuring sustainability/updating the data
