What companies teach us about

conformity assessment procedures (CAP) Insights from ITC Business Survey on Non-Tariff Measures

Mathieu Loridan TBT Committee, Thematic session on CAP 28 March 2017

Quiz question:

What is the most problematic

CAP for businesses?

Go to www.menti.com and

use the code 29 54 75

2

CAP are here to stay

Source: Overview of the TBT committee's

work on conformity assessment procedures, Note by the Secretariat, 22 March 2017

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www.menti.com

29 54 75

Beyond the numbers, how CAP affect trade?

ITC’s Programme on Non-tariff Measures

Pillar 1

NTM Data

Collection

• Transparency pillar:

making regulations

publicly available

• Searchable by HS

code, country, NTM

• Dissemination

through Market

Access Map

www.macmap.org

Pillar 2

Business

Surveys

• Giving SMEs a voice:

identifying trade

obstacles

• Surveys of exporters

and importers on their

experiences with

government

regulations

www.ntmsurvey.org

Pillar 3

Follow Up

Actions

• Overcoming trade

obstacles: designing

technical assistance

to overcome trade

obstacles

• E.g.: Trade Obstacles

Alert mechanism

www.tradeobstacles.org

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NTM Survey: Two-step interview process

• 300 – 1100 samples per country

• 6-8 min per interview

• Identify products exported by the

company and partner countries

• Identify if the company face problems

with burdensome regulations

• Companies facing problems with NTMs as

identified in PS interviewed

• 120-600 face-to-face interviews per

country

• 40-60 min per interview

• All details of the problem faced by the

company recorded

Step 1

Phone Screens (PS) Step 2

Face-to-Face interviews (FTF)

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What we have learned from

businesses in 37 countries:

53% of companies face burdensome NTMs

Exporters are more affected than importers

Exporters of agricultural products report more

problems than those in manufacturing

Small firms report more frequently problems

related to burdensome NTMs

Three-quarters of burdensome NTMs are applied

by partner countries

Source: ITC Businesses Survey on NTMs in 37 countries, www.ntmsurvey.org

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41% of burdensome NTMs applied by partner

countries relate to CAP

69% 68%

67% 62%

60% 60%

59% 57%

53% 50%

47% 46%

44% 44%

43% 43% 42%

39% 37%

35% 34% 34%

34% 33% 33%

32% 32%

31% 31%

29% 28%

28% 26%

24% 24%

23% 23%

19%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

KyrgyzstanBurkina Faso

NeplaSeychelles

EcuadorMalawi

RwandaEthiopiaSenegal

BangladeshTunisia

PhilippinesMauritius

MaliParaguay

KenyaComoros

EUGuinea

Sri LankaDominican Republic

UruguayMorocco

PeruTrinidad and

ThailandBenin

ColombiaUganda

Tanzania, UnitedCôte d'Ivoire

EgyptPalestine, State of

IndonesiaJamaica

KazakhstanMadagascar

Cambodia

Source: ITC Businesses Survey on NTMs in 37 countries + EU, www.ntmsurvey.org

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CAP is the first burdensome NTMs faced by

both agri-food and manufacturing exporters

10%

31%

48%

34%

28%

13%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Agriculture Manufacturing

Technical requirements

Conformity assessment

Pre-shipment inspection

Trade remedies

Quantity control measures

Charges, taxes and price control measures

Finance Measures

Anti-competitive measures

Distribution restrictions

Restriction of post-sales services

Subsidies

Government procurement restrictions

Intellectual property

Rules of origin

Source: ITC Businesses Survey on NTMs in 37 countries, www.ntmsurvey.org

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Product certification and testing gather 80%

of CAP obstacles

7% 11%

59% 47%

24%

28%

2% 7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Agriculture Manufacturing

Product registration

Testing

Product certification

Inspection requirement

Origin of materials and parts

Processing history

Products distribution/location after delivery

Other traceability requirements

Quarantine

Other conformity assessment

Source: ITC Businesses Survey on NTMs in 37 countries, www.ntmsurvey.org

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It is rather the how (procedure) than the why

(regulation) that creates CAP obstacles

Source: ITC Businesses Survey on NTMs in 37 countries, www.ntmsurvey.org

12%

19%

69%

Regulatory obstacles

Combination of regulatoryand procedural obstacles

Procedural obstacles

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Most obstacles occur at home and concern

delays, high fees and lack of facilities

Source: ITC Businesses Survey on NTMs in 37 countries, www.ntmsurvey.org

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Other

Disciminatory behavior of officials

Information / transparency issues

Administrative burdens

Lack of recognition / accreditation

Lack of sector-specific facilities

Informal or unusually high payment

Time constraints

In the partner country At home

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Lengthy procedures

Frequent renewal

Excessive paperwork and numerous

administrative windows

Inaccessible or absent infrastructure

The problem? It’s the

quantity of papers to

submit! There are

too many documents

needed to prepare

the dossier. More

than 20 different

documents are

required for the

conformity

assessment process. The testing process takes 1 - 2 months

while the validity of the product itself is

just a year. Another issue is that it is

very expensive to undertake this test

which hinders us from exporting.

Inefficient testing and certification procedures

Source: ITC Businesses Survey on NTMs in 37 countries, www.ntmsurvey.org

Take-aways from ITC’s NTM Surveys

Market access begins at home

The ‘advantage’ of home-based problems is that you can solve them

There is a great need to tackle before-the-border problems that

businesses experience with behind-the-border measures

Trade facilitation: make trade agreements work

Having policies, laws and agreements is one thing – effectively

implementing them another

Transparency is key

Processes may be complicated and lengthy for good reasons. But there is

no good reason for them to be unclear or non-transparent.

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Don’t forget the quiz question:

What is the most problematic

CAP for businesses?

Go to www.menti.com and

use the code 29 54 75

14

ITC’s NTM Surveys in numbers

Representative for exporters

and importers in 39

developing countries

+ 28 EU countries

Over 8,150 face-to-

face interviews

…concerning trade with

185 partner countries

A MILLION DATA POINTS TO EXPLOIT FOR

HIGHER TRTA IMPACT

..with companies

employing more than

4 million people

Nearly 30,000

reported trade obstacles…

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ITC Survey results 16

• NTM Survey website:

www.ntmsurvey.org

• ITC publication series on NTMs

www.ntmsurvey.org/publication

o Country reports (24 reports + 13

ongoing)

o Cross-country reports (Arab States,

ECOWAS, Invisible barriers)

Arab States: Regional

integration project for increased transparency of regulations, customs procedures and harmonization efforts (ROO)

Jamaica: Request to

ITC for assistance in addressing capacity building needs of SMEs as well as customs officials to increase compliance with NTMs and reduce procedural obstacles

Côte d’Ivoire: Continued

public-private interaction through the creation of an online trade obstacles alert mechanism

Mauritius: Elimination of 27

import permits resulting in reduced time for importing

Sri Lanka: Successful application to WTO STDF

and implementation of a project aimed at improving

safety and quality of fruits and vegetables

And then…? Examples of initiatives to address identified problems

Reduction of

NTM-related

trade

barriers

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What is the most problematic

CAP for businesses?

Participants’ answers

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Thank you!

For any question:

loridan@intracen.org

Or learn more on:

www.ntmsurvey.org