WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/W/11/Add.7 
27 April 2006 
 (06-1983) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS  
 
Negotiating Proposal on Non Tariff Barriers
 
in the Textiles/Clothing and Footwear sector  
 
Communication from the European Communities 
 
Addendum  
  The following communication, dated 20 April 2006,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the European Communities. 
_______________ 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION 
In line with paragraph 16 of the Work Pr ogramme adopted at the WTO Ministerial 
Conference in Doha in November 2001, and paragr aph 22 of the decision at the WTO Ministerial 
Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005, the Eu ropean Communities (hereafter “the EC”) hereby 
submit their specific negotiating proposal on Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs) in textiles/clothing and footwear sectors.  
This EC negotiating proposal on NTBs builds upon and furthers the objectives set out in 
earlier EC communications to the Negotiating Gr oup on Market Access (NGMA). Already in its 
second submission on 31 October 2003 (TN/MA/W/11), th e EC proposed that Members agree, in line 
with the Doha mandate, to: (1) deeper tariff cuts fo r textiles, clothing and footwear with a view to 
bringing these tariffs within a narrow common range as close to zero as possible; and (2) substantial 
reductions of non-tariff barriers. These EC proposals have  to be put in the context of the recent end of 
the textile and footwear quota regimes which were major steps towards overall trade liberalisation for 
these sectors. But the task of dismantling barriers to international trade in textiles/clothing and 
footwear is still far from complete.   
Greater market access, as well as more equitable distribution of the benefits from open global 
trade, would only be possible if convergence in ta riff protection and the elimination of NTBs are 
achieved. In the case of NTBs, these barriers curren tly distort international trade in at least three 
ways:  
 
• by hindering access to markets which are of criti cal importance for a wide range of countries 
and not least developing and least developed countries;  
• by having the effect of raising the transaction costs related to the import of textiles/clothing 
and footwear products; and 
• by creating unfair advantages to domestic industries at the expense of other WTO members’ 
producers.  
 TN/MA/W/11/Add.7 
Page 2  
 
  It should be stressed that the continued prevalen ce of NTBs in the areas of textiles/clothing and 
footwear constitutes a particularly significant disi ncentive for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) 
to participate in international trade – sometimes to  the extent that smaller companies refrain from 
exporting altogether. Thereby, NTBs can severely alte r the international compet itive environment of a 
sector where developing countries are main traders and the vast majority of enterprises are SMEs, 
especially – but not exclusively – in developing countries. 
 
The Textile and clothing (T&C) sector is indeed particularly important fo r developing countries, 
and for many of them it is the most important indus trial sector, in terms of exports (and therefore as 
source of foreign income) as well as in many instan ces also in terms of employment and value added. 
In the case of quite a number of developing count ries - and especially some least developed countries 
and small developing countries – textiles is a core  sector. T&C represents up to 90 percent of total 
industrial exports and up to over 50 percent of industrial employment for some of them.  
Globally, T&C trade represent 5.7 percent of worl d exports. In four decades, world textile and 
clothing trade increased by more than 60 times (total  goods trade grew by 48 times), from less than $ 
6 billion in 1962 to $ 342 billion in 2001 (in nomi nal terms). The growth in developing countries’ 
share of global T&C trade has been equally re markable. In the mid-1960s, developing countries 
accounted for nearly 15 percent of world textile expor ts and less than 25 percent of world clothing 
exports. In the late 1980s, developing countries ove rtook industrialised countries in their share of 
T&C exports. In 2000, these shares are more th an 50 percent and 70 percent, respectively.
 1 
 
The specific negotiating proposal for NTBs, out lined below, aims to address various key 
distortions to international trade caused by rema ining NTBs. The list of ba rriers hereby provided 
contains only those NTBs that clearly are covere d by the scope of the negotiations on market access 
for non-agricultural products (NAMA). It must be  borne in mind, however, that a number of 
important NTBs are also expected to be addr essed in regular WTO bodies and other Negotiating 
Groups, such as Trade Facilitation in the case of inter alia  unclear procedures and requirements, 
burdensome documentation and data requirements, excessive fees and long and uncertain delays in 
clearances.   
II. MAIN BARRIERS FOR THE NTB NEGOTIATIONS IN NAMA 
Based on both a market access analysis carri ed out for the EC textile sector and on 
notification of NTB by WTO members to the NGMA, a number of main barriers have been identified 
of relevance for the NTB negotiations in NAMA.  
1. Multiple and/or excessive labelling requirements:  
Whilst labelling has an important function to  inform the consumer of certain essential 
characteristics of textiles and footwear, labelling requirements may sometimes be excessive.  This issue has been raised by the US in its submi ssion of 5 December 2005 (TN/MA/W/18/Add.12). It 
mainly refers to heterogeneous labelling requests, unrelated to internationally agreed standards, 
among WTO members that may increase processing time and costs for manufactures that supply multiple markets. It also concerns burdensome re quirements that may affect business flexibility and 
increase costs.  
 
                                                     
 
1 Source: International Food Policy Research Institute ( IFPRI ), 2001  TN/MA/W/11/Add.7 
 Page 3 
 
 
  2. Multiple and/or burdensome certification requirements and conformity assessment 
procedures:  
Certification and conformity assessment procedures have an important role to play, for 
instance to ensure that products present no risk to human health. However, certification requirements 
have been proliferating. In various countries, c ontrary to the treatment of domestic products, imported 
goods must be tested at the point of entry in order to certify their compliance with a variety of 
domestic standards or to attest to the absence of certa in substances. Trade barriers relate to: (i) use of 
standards not recognized internationally; (ii) non r ecognition of third party certification and testing; 
(iii) costs and delays of testing performed by customs; (iv) excessive lo sses of samples due to 
overzealous sampling; and (v) unnecessary testing an d certification processes. In particular, controls 
at the border are often disproportionate as regards the risks related to the consumption of most 
textile/clothing and footwear produc ts and, hence, constitute signifi cant “red tape” with particular 
strong impact on market access for SMEs.  
3. Importer’s registration:  
This refers to demand that importers of tex tile, apparel and footwear apply for a special 
importer identity card (special importer’s identifica tion code number). This number is issued only to 
registered importers. Such practices can hinder market access and may affect fair competition.  
4. Tariff quotas:  
Tariff quota systems in the footwear sector are cons idered as one of the most significant trade 
barriers for exporters; it unduly restricts exports into key markets. The trade obstacle refers to both the 
levels of duties for out of quota exports and the un-t ransparent and costly system of quota allocation. 
5. Export restrictions:  
High applied export duties, taxes and other charges will be addressed in another EC 
submission “EC proposal on export taxes” and may not n eed to be raised here. An additional textile 
specific export restriction is, however, the compul sory quality control on raw materials (e.g. silk) 
which unduly raises the purchase cost of the latter.  
III. PARAMETERS FOR DISMANTLING NTB IN THE TEXTILE/CLOTHING AND 
FOOTWEAR SECTORS 
The EC proposes to significantly reduce or as appropriate eliminate non tariff barriers for the 
textile/clothing and footwear sector following the ver tical approach recognized in paragraph 22 of the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Decision.
2  
 
1. Labelling 
1.1 Agreement on uniform covera ge for labelling requirements.  
 
The EC considers that compulsory requireme nts should be kept to a minimum. Members 
should agree on the maximum coverage3 of compulsory labelling requireme nts. In addition, as regards 
                                                      
2 These proposals are without prejudice of the EC existing rights under the WTO Agreement. 
3 The coverage  refers to what  information is required for example, (a) fibre content contents, (b) care, 
(c) size (d) importers' (or national producers or trade mark) data, (e) origin. TN/MA/W/11/Add.7 
Page 4  
 
  the content
4 of respective requirements, members s hould commit to start negotiations in the 
appropriate international forum in order to define and to use international standards. 
 1.2 Relaxing labelling customs control
 
 
In view of the low risk related to incorrect labelling, members should agree to gradually phase 
out ex-ante customs based control/testing as regards product conformity with  labelling requirements. 
Assessment of compliance should be based on mark et surveillance mechanisms identical to those 
applied to local producers.  2. Multiple and/or burdensome certification requirements and conformity assessment 
procedures 
 Members should commit to: 
 
• Agree on nature of risks for which systematic conformity assessment is justified and those for 
which supplier declaration may be considered as sufficient.  
• Phase out conformity assessment procedures for those products presenting no serious risk to 
human health. 
• Replace custom based conformity assessment by ma rket surveillance mech anisms identical to 
those applied to local producers. 
• Use internationally recognized test methods for conformity assessment. 
• Facilitate the recognition of test results by third parties.  
• Phase out all re-certification and re-declarati on of a product which has not substantially 
changed. 
• Develop and agree in the appropriate international body on commonly accepted 
textile/clothing and footw ear related standards. 
 
3. Importer’s registration   
Members should commit to phase out importer registration systems. 
 
4. Tariff quotas 
Members should commit to phase out all tariff quota systems.  
 
5. Export restrictions 
Members should commit to phase out all comp ulsory export quality controls related to 
textile/clothing and footwear  products including for the related raw material.   
 
__________ 
 
 
   
 
 
                                                     
 
4  The content   refers to the how the information is indicated on the label for instance the names given 
to the fibres, the form of care instructions i.e. pictogra ms versus written indication or the standards used (such as 
ISO)