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Non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs; also called non-tariff measures, NTMs) are trade barriers that restrict imports or exports of goods or services through mechanisms other than the simple imposition of tariffs. Such barriers are subject to controversy and debate, as they may comply with international rules on trade yet serve protectionist ...
Technical barriers to trade (TBTs), a category of nontariff barriers to trade, are the widely divergent measures that countries use to regulate markets, protect their consumers, or preserve their natural resources (among other objectives), but they also can be used (or perceived by foreign countries) to discriminate against imports in order to protect domestic industries.
Barriers take the form of tariffs (which impose a financial burden on imports) and non-tariff barriers to trade (which uses other overt and covert means to restrict imports and occasionally exports). In theory, free trade involves the removal of all such barriers, except perhaps those considered necessary for health or national security.
Non-Tariff Barriers. Nowadays, for many products and many countries, non-tariff barriers to trade, such as technical regulations and standards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs formalities and government procurement practices are becoming more important than customs duties or quantitative restrictions. [6]
As one of the non-tariff measures, automatic export restrictions have seriously hindered the development of international trade. In September 1986, the Uruguay Round of negotiations began to include automatic export restrictions as one of the important elements of the negotiations to reduce and abolish non-tariff barriers.
The database, visible via the online tool Market Access Map, includes information on tariff and non-tariff barriers in all active trade agreements, not limited to those officially notified to the WTO. It also documents data on non-preferential trade agreements (for instance, Generalized System of Preferences schemes).
Monitoring by international agencies may be needed to detect non-tariff barriers, which are disguised attempts at creating trade barriers. [1] Trade pacts are frequently politically contentious, as they might pit the winners and losers of an agreement against each other.
Today, as the role of traditional trade barriers gradually vanishes, the focus of trade policy has shifted to the remaining non-tariff barriers to trade, including trade facilitation. Trade facilitation involves a wide range of activities centered on lowering trade transaction costs for firms in global commerce. These costs include the price of ...