WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/COMTD/SE/M/23 
14 September 2012  
 
(12-4937) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Twenty-Third Dedicated Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 6 JULY 2012 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Dr. Anthony Mothae Maruping (Lesotho) 
  
A. 
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  ......................................................................................................... 1  
B.  FOLLOW -UP TO THE MINISTERIAL DECISION ON SMALL ECONOMIES TAKEN AT THE 
WTO'S EIGHTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE (WT/L/844) ............................................................... 1  
-  STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN  .................................................................................................. 1  
-  PRESENTATION BY UNCTAD ON NON-TARIFF MEASURES (NTMS ) AND SMALL , 
VULNERABLE ECONOMIES (SVES ) ............................................................................................... 1  
-  PRESENTATION BY THE INTERNATIONAL TR ADE CENTRE ON RECE NT RESEARCH ON 
NTMS AND SVES  ........................................................................................................................... 1  
C.  OTHER BUSINESS  ......................................................................................................................... 7  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The draft agenda for the meeting was cont ained in Airgram WTO/AIR/3966, issued on 
20 June 2012.  The agenda was adopted.  
B. FOLLOW -UP TO THE MINISTERIAL DECISION ON SMALL ECONOMIES TAKEN AT THE WTO 'S 
EIGHTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE (WT/L/844) 
- STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN  
- PRESENTATION BY UNCTAD ON NON-TARIFF MEASURES (NTMS ) AND SMALL , 
VULNERABLE ECONOMIES (SVES )  
- PRESENTATION BY THE INTERNATIONAL TR ADE CENTRE ON RECE NT RESEARCH ON 
NTMS AND SVES   
2. The Chairman recalled the decision taken by Ministers at the WTO's Eighth Ministerial 
Conference (MC8) concerning the Work Program me on Small Economies and which had been 
circulated in WT/L/844.  The decision instructed th e WTO Secretariat to provide relevant information 
and factual analysis for discussion among Members in the CTD's Dedicated Session in the areas identified under item "k" of paragraph 2 of the Work Programme.  He said that in their decision last 
December, Ministers also asked the Secretariat to identify non-tariff measures (NTMs) and their 
effects on small economies.  In this  regard, the Secretariat had prepared a background paper circulated 
as WT/COMTD/SE/W/26 for the information of Members. 
3. The Chairman explained that although the current meeting focused mainly on NTMs and 
small vulnerable economies (SVEs), this did not preclude discussion of other subjects which the WT/COMTD/SE/M/23 
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  Dedicated Session was also to examine under item "k" of the Work Programme.  These subjects 
included work on the impact of WTO rules on sm all economies, the constraints faced by small 
economies in their administrative and institutional ca pacities and the effects of trade liberalization on 
small economies. 
4. The representative of Barbados said that she hoped that the Committee would be able to 
collectively make progress in all the areas cove red in the Work Programme, including on the 
identification and effects of NTMs on SVEs.  She said also that she hoped that SVEs would be able to 
provide a progress report to the Ninth Ministeria l Conference (MC9).  She added that document 
WT/COMTD/SE/22/Rev.6 served as a useful refere nce document as it provided a comprehensive 
overview which reflected the work that has b een done under the SVE Work Programme to date. 
5. The representative of El Salvador reiterated th e importance of making substantial progress on 
the Work Programme on Small Economies.  In view  of the development needs of these economies, 
the Work Programme was intended to provide respon ses to questions concerning trade with a view to 
ensuring the greater integration of small, vulnera ble economies into the multilateral trading system.  
He said one of the tasks of the Committee on Tr ade and Development (CTD) was to monitor the 
proposals made on SVE issues in the negotiating and other WTO bodies and that this work should 
continue on the basis of the compilation document that had been prepared by the Secretariat.  He also 
believed that the CTD Dedicated Session should c ontinue to meet in order to conclude the 
examination of all issues indicated in item "k" of paragraph 2 of the Work Programme on Small 
Economies before MC9.  He provided an assessment of the work that had been done under the MC8 
mandate and requested that more research and analys is be undertaken in four main areas:  the impact 
of WTO rules on small economies;  the constraints faced by SVEs as well as their shortfalls in 
institutional and administrative capacities, including the area of human resources;  the effects of trade 
liberalization on small economies, and the identi fication and effects of NTMs affecting small 
economies.  He indicated that this was to enable  the Committee to provide a progress report to the 
MC9 indicating how SVEs could best take advantag e of the multilateral trading system.  This would 
send an important message to the international comm unity as to the WTO's abil ity to build consensus 
and make a contribution in favour of developing countries like the SVEs. 
6. The Chairman explained that two organizations , the UNCTAD and the ITC, had been invited 
to the current meeting of the Dedicated Session to present to Members their recent research on the 
effects of NTMs on SVEs. 
7. The representative of UNCTAD informed the De dicated Session that the agreed working 
definition for NTMs included "all policy measures th at could potentially have an economic effect on 
international trade in goods".  He highlighted that  there were other issues such as overvalued 
currencies that could potentially affect trade but that  these were not considered to be NTMs.  He noted 
that the main challenge of dealing with NTMs was ensuring that multilateral trade rules did not 
constrain the ability of countries to achieve their regulatory objectives.  Another challenge was to 
separate what was legitimate regulation from protectioni st abuse.  He explained that the focus of his 
presentation was on the implication of NTMs on SVEs.  He provided examples that highlighted some 
of the high costs and lengthy approval times associ ated with introducing ne w products into developed 
country markets.  He noted that many NTMs actual ly have a larger impact on SVEs since most SVE 
exports were agricultural products which usually  faced higher SPS and TBT requirements.  These 
requirements represented additional fixed costs which were more difficult for SVE exporters to meet.  
Additionally, SVEs had a more difficult time when introducing NTMs to protect their consumers and, 
therefore, called for S&D treatment flexibilities.  He also discussed UNCTAD's "trade restrictiveness" 
index and explained that some NTMs are now subs tantially more burdensome for some products than 
tariffs.  He noted that SVEs had begun to argue for special and diffe rential treatment to help them 
meet the increasingly complex standards.  He explai ned that there were a number of options to deal  WT/COMTD/SE/M/23 
 Page 3 
 
 
  with NTMs.  These included a harmonization of st andards, mutual recognition practices, technical 
assistance and private sector involvement.  
8. The second representative of UNCTAD presented UNCTAD's Transparency in Trade (TNT) 
initiative, a joint programme of the African De velopment Bank, the ITC, UNCTAD and the World 
Bank.  He said the objective of the initiative was to provide trade and trade policy information in an 
effort to increase transparency, facilitate analysis and research and improve awareness about the 
importance of addressing NTMs.  The short-term strategy was to obtain as much data as possible and consolidate it into a single repository database.  He said the long-term strategy was to build capacity 
to improve notification mechanisms.  This was esp ecially important due to the growing significance 
of NTMs in the private sector, in trade negotiations  and in regard to trade and development concerns 
overall.  He said there was a greater need to shif t the focus from tariff measures to NTMs.  He noted 
that although many NTMs were legitimate and appl ied to both imports and domestic products alike, 
they nevertheless could constitute unintended discrim ination against foreign producers.  He explained 
that the TNT initiative also included work on tariffs  relating to preferential access, trade remedies, 
tariff-rate quotas and barriers to trade in services.  It involved the development of a dissemination 
portal and tools to better analyse data.  The main aim of the project, which was to include at least 
100 countries, was to create a system of classifi cation which would identify each measure according 
to a common denominator.  It had become evident in the last ten years that older types of NTMs, such 
as price and quantity controls, were  declining in use while almost 50 per cent of trade today was 
regulated by technical measures such as SPS and TB T requirements.  Other components linked to the 
TNT project involved producing publications, conducting work on integrating NTMs into a 
dissemination portal, organizing awareness raising seminars for exporters and scheduling training 
seminars for data collectors.  The representative of UNCTAD noted that the project was very much 
underfunded and that it was currently operating only with internal resources. 
9. In her presentation, the representative of ITC not ed that more information was needed on the 
effects of NTMs on both importers and exporters.  Sh e explained that there had been an increase in 
demand for more information on NTMs and that the ITC was currently assessing NTM issues across 
all sectors.  One of the projects that the ITC w as currently involved w ith focused on increasing 
transparency about NTMs by collecting, classifyi ng and disseminating relevant information on NTMs.  
This joint effort of the ITC, UNCTAD and the World Bank had resulted in an online analysis tool included in the ITC's Market Access Map (www.m acmap.org).  The tool featured the official 
regulations of NTMs as reported by selected countries. 
10. The ITC representative also discussed recent work  on company surveys that her organization 
had been conducting in close collaboration with local partners in various least-developed and 
developing countries.  The three year programme was launched in 2010 and was mainly financed by 
the United Kingdom's Department for International De velopment (DFID).  She explained that existing 
studies on the impact of NTMs made use mostly of official government data but that such data does 
not always accurately reflect the procedural obstacles  faced by exporters.  She added that the surveys 
that are being conducted by the ITC consider all ot her, non-official obstacles linked to NTMs such as 
delays for processing and clearing goods and administrati on costs.  Since one of the main aims of the 
survey was to build local capacity in LDCs and developing countries, the ITC worked with local 
survey companies to carry out the necessary research.  The data received was compiled to produce a 
report with the help of local economists and r esearchers and was then validated by the local 
authorities.  These reports were then published and re leased on ITC's website.  It was noted that most 
of the NTMs faced by the survey ed countries were technical meas ures such as SPS and TBT.  It was 
also highlighted that even when countries were part of a regional grouping or regional free trade 
agreement, exporters still encounter ed numerous NTMs.  The general results indicated that the major 
problems faced by businesses were the procedural obstacles faced in obtaining the relevant 
certificates.  Looking forward, the ITC hoped to obtain wider country coverage with a focus on 
regions as well as more cross-country analyses and comparisons.  The ITC hoped to implement the WT/COMTD/SE/M/23 
Page 4  
 
  web-based NTM monitoring platforms and enlarge the pr oject to also take into account of the services 
sector.  The ITC representative concluded her statem ent by saying that the published reports for a 
number of completed surveys were available on the ITC's website.  
11. The representative of Cuba noted that the pr esentations made by the ITC and UNCTAD did 
not cover a number of NTMs that Cuban exporters f ace.  He requested clarification on the difference 
between an NTM and a non-tariff barrier (NTB), and which of them caused more trade distortions.  
He noted that the Doha Mandate as given at UNCTAD's 13th Session in April 2012 referred to NTBs 
and their effects on developing countries in paragr aphs 25 and 26.  He further noted that in 
paragraph 31(f) of the mandate, UNCTAD was urged to  undertake an analysis of these consequences 
on trade and development.  In light of this ma ndate he requested information on how UNCTAD was 
complying with this mandate.  He inquired about the possibility of participating in ITC's survey 
studies. 
12. The representative of Barbados said that it had b ecome evident that in regard to measures 
affecting SVE exports, there had been a shift from ta riffs to NTMs.  She said this trend showed that 
there was now a need for monitoring this activity more closely.  She was pleased that the ITC and 
UNCTAD were moving in that direction and suggested  that perhaps this was an area that the WTO as 
well could address.  She stated that the quantification of NTMs was difficult since many of the measures were varied and had diffe rent impacts across countries.  Sh e added that in spite of this 
difficulty it was important to translate qualitative in formation into quantifiable information perhaps by 
using a rating approach.  This w ould help understand the extent of the impact of these NTMs on the 
exports of SVEs.  She emphasised the need for coordination between the WTO, ITC and UNCTAD in 
order to formulate a method that is comparable across products and countries. She emphasised that 
small countries do not have a s ubstantial domestic market.  Th erefore, NTBs could have a 
disproportionate effect on their economies.  She concluded that the purpose of these discussions was 
to arrive at a policy approach that would outline a method to deal with the issues raised by NTMs.  
This would include an analysis of how the incide nce of NTMs increases in times of economic crisis 
and at what point some of these NTMs should be reve rsed in order not to cause further disruption to 
trade.  She noted that only an organization like WT O was in a position to carry out these discussions.   
13. The representative of El Salvador said that NTMs at times had a greater impact on exports 
from small economies than tariff measures.  She highli ghted that it was important to begin an analysis 
of the effects of SPS and TBT measures and othe r NTMs on the exports of small economies.  She 
suggested that it might also be beneficial to have an evaluation of the level of participation of small 
economies in the SPS and TBT Committees, including how many specific trade concerns had been 
raised by SVEs.  On the basis of the Ministeria l Mandate, she reiterated that further analysis was 
required on the effects of NTMs on small economies .  This was important so that Members could 
more easily meet the requirements set by their trad ing partners.  She requested clarification on why 
private standards did not fall within the scope of UNCTAD's research. 
14. The representative of Nicaragua reiterated that NTMs can have a negative impact on the trade 
of small economies and stated that she hoped that this and other areas of the Work Programme would 
be reflected in the Committee report to MC9. 
15. The representative of Mexico highlighted that i ndeed NTMs were more significant than tariff 
measures and enquired as to whether the methodology used by UNCTAD to carry out its calculations 
was publically available.  He recalled that the ITC' s Joint Advisory Group (JAG) noted in its latest 
report the need for developing countries to diversif y their exports towards non-traditional sectors such 
as services.  He therefore requested clarification as to whether the research that had been conducted 
by the ITC and UNCTAD included information on trade barriers faced by developing countries 
relating to services.   WT/COMTD/SE/M/23 
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  16. The representative of the Philippines commende d the coordinated efforts of UNCTAD and 
the ITC on NTMs given that UNCTAD was focusing its work on the policy aspects of NTMs and ITC 
was concerned with the stakeholders.  She encouraged  the ITC to continue doing work in this area to 
raise awareness amongst exporters on the topic of NT Ms.  She noted that until the policy-makers are 
aware of the problems facing stakeholders, policy w ill be formulated in a vacuum.  They would not 
know what was happening on the ground.   
17. The representative of St Lucia expressed his s upport for further advancing work in the Small 
Economies Work Programme, particul arly regarding the MC8 mandate. 
18. The representative of Jamaica supported the st atement made by Barbados concerning the 
disproportionate effects of NTMs on small economies , given their small share of trade, economies of 
scale and other factors.  She said measures could have a negative impact on the ability of small 
economies to participate effectively in the multilatera l trading system.  The effects could also end up 
impeding market access thereby restricting internal e fforts to diversify products and markets.  They 
could restrict the ability of SVEs to move into higher, value-added production and they placed heavy 
demands on institutional and human resources as SVEs  sought to comply with both existing and new 
requirements especially in the areas of SPS and TB T.  One area of increasing concern that would 
merit more analysis was the proliferation of private standards which were having a serious impact on the ability of small economies to access markets.  Both the Secretariat document (WT/COMTD/SE/W/26) and the presentations made  by the ITC and UNCTAD could provide a good 
basis for beginning the discussion in the CTD on NTMs, their effect on SVE trade and on how concerns in this area could be addressed in the context of the Work Programme.  
19. The representative of the Dominican Republic no ted that indeed private regulations could 
have an effect on the diversification of SVE exports , particularly relating to agricultural products.  
20. The representative of the United States noted  that the presentation made by the ITC 
highlighted that procedural obstacles are the main hurdles faced by exporters given that it is not the 
certificate but the means of getting certification that is the major problem.  She requested clarification 
regarding whether exporters had access to regulati ons before they were made to provide comments 
and feedback.  She noted that if exporters were given an opportunity to provide information whilst 
regulations were being made, this  would provide company-level insight into the process and prevent 
stakeholders from always having to be reactive in dealing with compliance and procedural obstacles. 
21. The representative of the Pacific Islands Foru m stated that Pacific Island economies are 
among the smallest in the world and they face subs tantial challenges relating to NTMs.  Complying 
with NTMs had become a major hurdle to their trad e growth given the increased use and complexity 
of NTMs as well as the Pacific Islands' narrow range  of exports, concentrat ed in agriculture and 
fisheries products.  The Pacific Islands Forum welcom ed the contributions of the initiatives of the ITC 
and UNCTAD in addressing the key issues relating to NT Ms and encouraged them to consider further 
work focussing on the particular NTM cha llenges of the Pacific Islands region.  
22. The representative of the European Union sai d the presentations by the ITC and UNCTAD 
helped to show the concepts behind NTMs and thei r linkages to the exports of SVEs.  He requested 
further clarification from UNCTAD regarding the use of the term "unintended discrimination" given 
that the amount of information required from bot h local producers and foreign exporters was the 
same.  
23. The representative of Trinidad and Tobago reite rated the previous statements regarding 
private standards and suggested that going forwar d the Committee could perhaps look into doing 
more work on private standards as SVEs do not really  participate in the international standardisation 
processes. WT/COMTD/SE/M/23 
Page 6  
 
  24. In response to questions raised by Members,  the representative of UNCTAD explained that 
NTBs were considered to fall under a much narrowe r definition than NTMs.  He noted that SPS and 
TBT requirements are considered NTBs.  An export s ubsidy, however, would not be a barrier because 
it actually encouraged trade, but it would fall unde r the broader concept of NTMs.  UNCTAD had a 
mandate to work on NTBs but it was increasingly focusing on NTMs as well.  UNCTAD was also 
helping to build greater technical capacity in Africa es pecially in the area of helping farmers to obtain 
organic producer certifications.  He said that wh ile the quantification of NTMs did present some 
difficulties, there was indeed a ne ed to quantify NTMs in order to look at their growing importance 
vis-à-vis tariff measures.  There were different approaches to quantifying NTMs such as comparing 
the domestic price to the world price of goods and then attributing the difference in price that cannot 
be explained by tariffs to  NTMs.  Regarding private standards, he said that these fell outside the scope 
of national legislation and were therefore not co nsidered as NTMs.  He explained that UNCTAD, 
however, had a program in place to support devel oping countries to meet these standards.  He 
clarified that NTMs were not only a developing country problem as many exporters in developed 
countries also encountered the same difficulties.  He highlighted that indeed it was important for 
exporters to be involved in the early stages of the development of export regulations.  He noted that 
UNCTAD had an accession programme for countries th at were seeking to accede to the WTO in 
which countries were encouraged to involve all national stakeholders as well as representatives from 
their key export markets.  
25. The second representative of UNCTAD clarified that at times it was easier for domestic 
producers to meet certain requirements and that this  could result in unintended discrimination.  While 
the measure itself may not be discriminatory, the cost of compliance could be.  He said that costs 
varied and that this was important for small count ries as most of these expenses were fixed costs.  
Small producers in small countries which did not have the infrastructure or the technical capacity to comply with these regulations were, therefore, ne gatively affected by these compliance issues.  The 
representative said the methodology used by UNCT AD in quantifying this research was publicly 
available.  However, he noted that while quantifi cation of NTMs was beneficial in providing a broad 
idea of the impact of NTMs in specific sectors or countries, it was more advantageous to carry out 
cost-benefit analyses of NTMs as many NTMs have costs but they also carry many advantages.  He 
highlighted that many of the public standards were  also private standards.  However, access to 
information on private standards was difficult because every single global production chain had different standards for the purposes of segmenting the market.  Private standards, however also 
presented opportunities for companies that were able  to fulfil the standards of a global production 
network as they could benefit from a segmented market.  In response to a previous query, he noted that most exporters from developing countries were not  involved in the drafting of standards and that 
generally developing countries reacted to increased standards of the developed countries by raising 
their standards, e.g. standards harmonization.  This could later lead to mutual recognition of standards, 
although this tended to happen more with countries of  similar levels of development.  Finally, there 
were also standards set by of international standa rd setting bodies, but these were rarely applied by 
developed countries which had higher standards. 
26. In response to questions related to the ITC's presentation, the ITC representative said there 
was a high degree of interest in participating in the ITC surveys.  She explained that any country that 
would like to benefit from the ITC programme woul d need to write an official letter to the ITC 
Executive requesting that the ITC survey be conducte d in their country.  The ITC would then consider 
the requests and make decisions subject to the availa bility of funds.  She highlighted that an NTM was 
not always an NTB as an NTM had a legitimate function behind it.  However, in the ITC survey 
NTMs become NTBs if the perception of the expor ter was that the regulation was too difficult to 
comply with.  She noted that th e survey took private standards into consideration as this topic 
sometimes arose in discussions concerning the difficu lties of complying with standards overall.  She 
added that at the end of the survey, the ITC hol ds a national stakeholder meeting where government  WT/COMTD/SE/M/23 
 Page 7 
 
 
  officials arrived at concrete recommendations toge ther with the ITC and a number of economists.  
These recommendations and other polic y options were then published. 
27. The representative of the Dominican Republic in formed delegates that on 5 July at UNCTAD 
there had been an information meeting on the launc hing of the UN Forum on private standards.  This 
forum included the FAO, UNEP, UNCTAD and other agen cies.  She said that in light of the interest 
that several Members had shown in this topi c, it would be good to follow the Forum's work, 
especially as it related to illustrating the relati onship between private standards and sustainable 
development strategies. 
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
28. Since no item was raised under "Other Busin ess", the Chairman adjourned the meeting. 
 
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