Group to provide guidance on identifying and responding to mounting NTB obstacles to developing-country exports
UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi announced today the establishment of a Group of Eminent Persons on Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) drawn from Governments, international organizations, academia and civil society. The Group, which will work through 2007, will address key technical and developmental issues arising from NTBs, which are a growing obstacle to international trade.
Seven personalities internationally renowned for their expertise on trade issues have accepted the Secretary-General´s invitation to participate in their personal capacities in the group:
- Marcelo de Paiva Abreu, Professor of Economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro;
- Alan V. Deardorff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan;
- Anne O. Kruger, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund;
- Alan Kyerematen, Minister of Trade and Industry of Ghana;
- Amit Mitra, Secretary-General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry;
- L. Alan Winters, Director of Development Research Group at the World Bank; and
- Rufus H. Yerxa, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization.
Dr. Supachai indicated his intention to establish this group at the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Expert Meeting on "Methodologies, Classifications, Quantifications and Development Impacts of Non-Tariff Barriers" in September 2005(1).
NTBs, which include such things as customs and administrative procedures and expanded technical requirements that act as barriers to trade, are increasingly becoming market-access concerns for developing countries. As tariff rates have declined as a result of eight rounds of multilateral trade negotiations, NTBs have increased; for example, according to available information, over the last ten years there has been a seven-fold increase in government mandated testing and certification requirements. Such regulations apply to numerous imports.
NTBs affect directly and indirectly export supply capacity building, competitiveness, and market access and entry, especially for products from developing countries. More stringent environmental and technical standards are typical NTBs erected by industrialized nations, while in trade between developing nations ("South-South" trade) the main NTBs are customs and administrative procedures and charges on imports.
NTBs affect a number of key exports from developing countries to both Northern and Southern markets, including live animals, machinery and electronics, chemicals and allied industrial products, and textiles and textile articles.
Defining and classifying NTBs is difficult, and there is still a lack of a commonly agreed definition and classifications. Data on NTBs are also in short supply, and making more statistics available is a key aspect of the work of the Group of Eminent Persons. In that context, the Group will also focus on strengthening UNCTAD´s TRAINS database, which is the most comprehensive publicly available database on NTBs in the world.
The UNCTAD secretariat will service the activities of the Group of Eminent Persons, with Lakshmi Puri, Director of the Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, acting as Member Secretary. The group will also be supported by a team of resource persons drawn from relevant international organizations.
The group has the following terms of reference:
- To make recommendations on the definition, classification and quantification of NTBs;
- To define elements of, and draw up a substantive work programme relating to the collection and dissemination of NTB data, with a special focus on issues and problems faced by developing countries;
- To provide guidance on the further strengthening of UNCTAD´s TRAINS database;
- To review and make recommendations on capacity-building and technical cooperation activities in favour of developing countries in the area of NTBs;
- To provide policy advice on inter-agency collaboration and coordination on activities relating to NTBs;
- To promote cooperation with the donor community; and
- To prepare comprehensive recommendations on follow-up to its work.
