UNCTAD update to the TBT Committee

Information provided by the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

This document contains information provided by UNCTAD at the TBT Committee meeting of 5‑8 November 2024 under Agenda Item 6 (Update by Observers).

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1  UN Trade and Development activities related to Technical Barriers to Trade

1.1  TBT are included in the International Classification of Non-Tariff Measures

1.1.  In 2006, in collaboration with the Multi-Agency Support Team, UN Trade and Development initiated the development of a definition and common classification of NTMs. The common classification was aimed at facilitating data collection, quantification, analysis and increased transparency with regard to NTMs. The Multi-Agency Support Team is comprised of UN Trade and Development and the following: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; International Trade Centre; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; United Nations Industrial Development Organization; World Bank; and World Trade Organization (WTO).

1.2.  Since then, the classification has been revised to accommodate the changing realities of international trade and data collection needs. The latest revision by the Team took place in 2016‑2019 and resulted in the latest edition of the International Classification of Non-Tariff Measures (UNCTAD, 2019). The United Nations Statistical Commission has approved this classification.

Figure 1: International classification of non-tariff measures

1.3.  Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) are a central element of the classification in "Chapter B" (see Figure 1). Each chapter is further broken down into more specific types of measures. For TBT, there are 24 detailed sub-codes to distinguish, for example: certification, tolerance limits for residues, labelling, transport conditions, traceability requirements. Additionally, export-related TBT are captured under "Chapter P".

1.2  Programme on non-tariff measures (NTMs): TBT a major component

1.4.  Based on the classification, UN Trade and Development implements an extensive programme on NTMs that comprises data collection, data dissemination, analysis and technical cooperation (see Figure 2). TBT are a central component in each step of this "value chain".

Figure 2: Non-tariff measures programme overview

1.3  Data collection

1.5.  For decades, UN Trade and Development has been leading international efforts to collect data on NTMs. The same data collection and classification methodology is used for all countries, in line with the International Classification of NTMs and the Guidelines for the Collection of Data on Official Non-Tariff Measures (UNCTAD, 2023).

1.6.  Globally, data collectors have reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of regulatory documents. The database now covers over 120 economies, over 20,000 different regulations and 100,000 distinct measures.

1.7.  To collect data, UN Trade and Development works intensively with regulators in each country: workshops bring together the relevant regulatory ministries and agencies responsible for trade, investment, environment, agriculture, health, customs, standards/metrology, finance, and others. The regulations obtained through the regulators are assessed by UN Trade and Development for comprehensiveness and classified according to the International Classification of NTMs.

1.8.  The UN Trade and Development data collection creates a full snapshot of all currently applied measures. This contrasts with the WTO notification system which focuses on new regulations.

1.4  Data dissemination

1.9.  All data collected by UN Trade and Development and its many partners is gathered in the TRAINS database. Through the database, users can freely search and access data by applying filters such as affected economies, product HS 6-digit codes and type of measure. Full text regulations are also accessible through TRAINS.

1.10.  To inform policymakers and help traders move goods across borders, UN Trade and Development has developed a dissemination portal for data on NTMs and worked with partners on other portals. The three main portals are as follows:

·_              TRAINS dissemination portal at https://trainsonline.unctad.org – for policy makers

·_              World Integrated Trade Solution at https://wits.worldbank.org – for researchers

·_              Global Trade Help Desk https://globaltradehelpdesk.org – for the private sector

1.11.  All three portals draw information on NTMs from the same database, TRAINS. However, their user interfaces are aimed at different clients.

1.5  TBT are the most frequently used and costly NTMs

1.12.  With over 70 per cent of global trade being regulated by TBT (coverage ratio, Figure 3, left side), they are the most widely used NTM type. On global average and across all sectors, they are also estimated to be the costliest measures (Figure 3, right side).

Figure 3: Prevalence and ad-valorem equivalents of different types of NTMs

Source: UNCTAD, 2018 and UNCTAD, 2015

1.6  TBT are critical for sustainable trade and production

1.13.  While TBT inevitably introduce certain trade costs, their contribution to sustainable development is critical. TBT are applied to protect the environment by regulating or prohibiting the trade of hazardous metals, wastes, radioactive materials, car emissions, ozone-depleting substances and other pollutants; and also endangered species. UN Trade and Development has worked with UN ESCAP to map the objectives of NTMs in the TRAINS database to the Sustainable Development Goals.

1.14.  More here: https://unctad.org/topic/trade-analysis/non-tariff-measures/NTMs-and-SDGs

1.7  Publication highlights

Trade regulations for climate action? New insights from the global non-tariff measures database (2024)

1.15.  UN Trade and Development and UN ESCAP developed a methodology that identified 2366 climate change-related NTMs in TRAINS database. While this only represents 2.6 per cent of the measures in the database, they are concentrated in world's largest traded and most CO2 intensive sectors. Consequently, 26.4 per cent of world trade is regulated, representing trade worth US$ 6.5 trillion.

1.16.  TBT account for more than 61 per cent of all identified climate change-related NTMs. Other common NTMs are quantitative restrictions and export-related measures. While broader types of relevant NTMs are similar across countries, there is significant divergence in the details and specific requirements that hints at lacking international coordination and causes unnecessary trade costs. More international cooperation and coordination could reduce trade costs as well as reduce regulatory efforts through sharing of best practices.

Publication series on deep regional integration and regulatory convergence

1.17.  Addressing Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) is fundamental for all regional trade agreements (RTAs). However, while non-tariff "barriers" with economic and protectionist objectives may be eliminated, SPS measures and TBT need to be addressed through regulatory cooperation.

1.18.  Responding to these challenges, UN Trade and Development has developed methodologies to analyse comprehensive NTM data to assess the potential and benefits for "deep" NTM-related regional integration. This methodology includes the assessment of regulatory similarity/dissimilarity of TBT with the 'regulatory distance' indicator. The reports also estimate the potential and economic benefits of regulatory convergence with econometric methods and computable general equilibrium models. Across regions, results show that SPS- and TBT-related costs can be reduce by 15-30 per cent through regulatory convergence.

1.19.  The report series, so far, covers the following regions:

·_              NEW: African Continental Free Trade Area (2024)

·_              Association of Southeast Asian Nations (2019)

·_              Economic Community of West African States (2018)

·_              Southern Common Market / MERCOSUR (2017)

·_              Southern African Development Community (2015)

1.20.  The full catalogue of publications related to NTMs and TBT is available here: https://unctad.org/publications-search?f[0]=sitemap%3A811

1.8  Highlights of technical assistance and capacity building

1.8.1  Improving Pacific Islands Customs and Trade (IMPACT) project

1.21.  Building on NTM data, UN Trade and Development has provided capacity building assistance on TBT notifications in the Pacific. Thorough regulatory review during the NTM data collection allows to identify national regulations containing TBT measures and related information that are necessary to fill in the TBT notification (such as affected products). UN Trade and Development uses these findings and supports countries in preparing TBT notifications, albeit late notification. Since 2023, workshops have taken place in six Pacific countries (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga and Vanuatu) with hands-on trainings, leading to actual submission of several TBT notifications. In October 2024, a hybrid workshop took place jointly with the WTO in Papua New Guinea, covering the whole cycle of preparing the notification about their own regulation to submitting it through ePing. Although TBT measures should be notified to the WTO before being implemented, late notifications still contribute to improving transparency and accumulated experience of preparing notifications would strengthen the countries' capacity to notify draft TBT measures in the future. The project is undertaken with financial support from the European Union.

1.8.2  Support programme to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on non‑tariff barriers and regulatory transparency

1.22.  UN Trade and Development worked with African Union Member States to develop the AfCFTA's official Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB) reporting, monitoring and elimination tool (available at https://tradebarriers.africa). The online mechanism was launched by the African Heads of State at the AU Summit on 7 July 2019 in Niamey, Niger. The NTB mechanism is already active and has succeeded in eliminating NTBs. The private sector, including MSMEs, informal traders, women and youth entrepreneurs, can complain online about barriers they face in intra-African trade. Complaints are addressed by the concerned Member States through National Focal Points. Notably, the mechanism also allows reporting, monitoring and eliminating of trade obstacles related to TBT. Furthermore, UN Trade and Development works with African countries to enhance regulatory transparency to avoid the occurrence of NTBs in the medium term.

Website: unctad.org/NTM

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