Streamlining non-tariff measures
Subtitle: a toolkit for policymakers
By: Olivier Cadot, Mariem Malouche, and Sebastian Saez
Contributors: Malouche, Mariem, 1973-; Sáez, Sebastián; World Bank
Publisher: World Bank
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Washington DC
Language: eng
Number of pages: 188
ISBN-13: 9780821395103; 9780821395110
Subjects: Commercial policy; Foreign trade regulation; Non-tariff trade barriers
Description: "This toolkit provides a novel approach and a set of tools that allow policymakers and analysts to identify non-tariff measures (NTMs), assess their trade restrictiveness and impact on prices and welfare, and to strengthen the institutional coordination mechanism, transparency, and regulatory governance on NTMs. It also aims at encouraging economies to increasingly address the NTM agenda from a domestic competitiveness and/or poverty perspective rather than from a mercantilist standpoint of concessions to trading partners.

NTMs are policy measures, other than ordinary customs tariffs, that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods, changing quantities traded, or prices or both. While most NTMs are already subject to WTO disciplines, the main challenge is to allow governments to address public policy concerns without unnecessarily hurting trade competitiveness and while preventing disguised protectionism.

The toolkit is organized as follows. Chapter 1 discusses the newly revamped NTM classification and pervasiveness of NTM. Chapter 2 elaborates on the analytics of an NTM review, walking the reader step by step through the key questions. Chapter 3 focuses on the institutional set up and key principles to successfully pursue the streamlining of regulations. Finally, chapters 4 and 5 provide some practical cases of streamlining both at the country and regional levels, and for product specific examples."--pub. desc.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.