WEDF 2012: Parallel Session I-2

Non-tariff measures are of particular concern to exporters and importers in developing countries, for whom they can represent a major impediment to international trade and market access. Exporting companies seeking access to foreign markets and companies importing products need to comply with a wide range of requirements, including technical regulations, product standards and customs procedures. Many of these are not intended to be trade barriers; in fact some are often imposed by the exporting country.

The main conclusions of the session were:

• Small businesses can face a variety of barriers related to NTMs ranging from labelling requirements to safety and sanitary measures, as well as problems with changing rules and regulations and time-consuming inspections.
• The private sector itself can mitigate the effects of NTMs by actions such as timely preparation of documents and providing detailed product descriptions to avoid confusion at customs.
• Buyers, suppliers and policymakers have a shared responsibility to address NTMs.
• Public-private dialogue can help enterprises to deal with NTMs and policymakers to support them.

Mr Stefan Bederski, Director and General Manager of AgroexportTopara, Peru, told the session that exporting his firm’s products to the USA and Germany involves extensive paperwork and a time-consuming, bureaucratic process. He said it is particularly challenging for small Peruvian companies such as his to comply with the new US food safety laws. His response to the NTM problem is to focus on capacity building for his staff, and maintain close contact with the trade promotion agency Promperu and his trading partners. He said he believes there is a need for collaboration between the public and private sectors, that guidelines, protocols and standards for exporters should be provided online, and that exporters need government support in addressing NTMs.

Mr Lucas Murenzi, Commercial Attaché at the Rwandan High Commission in Singapore, said his government had realized there was a gap between public and private sector perceptions regarding NTMs. To address this, a public-private dialogue was established to involve the private sector in policy formulation. The government accepted that the private sector needed to be supported in complying with NTMs, through capacity building and information provision.

Mr Pan Sorasek, Secretary of State at Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce, told the meeting that Cambodia, as a major agricultural food exporter, needs to comply with measures applied by importing countries in order to compete internationally. Describing the challenges his country faces, he said it is only at the beginning of the process of introducing sanitary and phyto-sanitar measures (SPS) and technical barriers to trade (TBT) measures. He emphasized the importance of awareness building among would-be exporters, adding that the cost of compliance with importers’ requirements is often prohibitively high for enterprises. Looking ahead, he said Cambodia is seeking technical assistance to put in place domestic infrastructure that allows easier compliance with international SPS and TBT regulations, and has established private sector forums and working groups to discuss business needs.

Mr Mondher Mimouni, Chief of ITC’s Market Analysis and Research Section, briefed the audience on ITC’s ongoing initiative to conduct surveys among businesses in more than 20 countries on NTMs. The survey covers both exporting and importing companies identifying and analysing the issues they face. In the 18 countries where the surveyed have been concluded to date, it appeared that more than half of the issues identified were domestic in nature, imposed by the government of the exporting companies.