Technical Regulations and Standards

Technical regulations and technical standards acting as non-tariff trade barriers are increasing dangers that developing countries must take seriously, because they can ..... on economic efficiency and considerably restrain trade growth.

There is an increasing awareness of the potential ..... to trade presented by differences in national technical regulations and standards, and a lack of awareness of the effect that choice of standards might have.

As to most of the regulations and standards which are not yet in accord internationally, the optimal choice for developing countries is to adopt those already used by their major trading partners instead of elaborating their own ..... standards.

Developing countries should act more forcefully in this arena: a more active and ..... participation in the international standardizing bodies would ensure that new adoptions more closely reflect their needs.

If private sector firms participated more actively in the standardization process in the case of voluntary or non-mandatory standards, it would probably ensure that this happens de ......

Compliance with a requirement to create a national viewpoint would encourage officials of developing countries to put into ..... a system of national standards information gathering which would benefit both local and foreign producers and exporters.

Collecting and systematizing this information would also ..... countries to become more aware of the choices regarding standards development which they make and impose on their private sector.

In terms of trade facilitation and liberalization, developing countries should ..... actively for more liberalization in the two major regional integration initiatives, the FTAA and APEC.

This is because two major experiments in regional integration, NAFTA and the EU, have shown results that go much further in requiring ..... or harmonization of national standards and technical regulations.

In general, regional approaches to removing technical trade barriers have contributed to liberalization within the region and also ..... third countries.