Non-Tariff Measures and the World Trading System
With the success of the World Trade Organization and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in reducing conventional tariff barriers, much of the recent focus of regional and multilateral trade agreements has switched to non-t...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/05/26345621/non-tariff-measures-world-trading-system http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24499 |
| Summary: | With the success of the World Trade
Organization and its predecessor, the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade, in reducing conventional tariff barriers,
much of the recent focus of regional and multilateral trade
agreements has switched to non-tariff measures, both border
and behind-the-border policies. This paper considers the
recent empirical and theoretical literature on non-tariff
measures in the world trading system. It provides a set of
stylized facts based on available data on non-tariff
measures and reviews the key methods used to estimate their
trade impact. It considers the theoretical treatment of
these measures in the trade literature with a focus on the
rules and institutions that govern non-tariff measures in
the world trading system. It discusses some of the major
issues regarding international cooperation in these policy
areas, in particular whether such cooperation should entail
deep integration (involving precise legally binding
obligations) or shallow integration (which allows countries
greater discretion in the setting of non-tariff measures).
Finally, this paper reviews some of the specific features
the World Trade Organization uses in dealing with non-tariff
measures such as national treatment rules and non-violation
complaints, and considers policy options beyond the WTO such
as harmonization and mutual recognition of standards. |
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