What Is a Nontariff Barrier?

Non-Tariff Barriers (Non-Tariff Barriers NTB) refers to all measures except tariffs that a country or region takes to restrict imports. It is relative to tariffs. Such measures can be implemented in the form of national laws, decrees, and various administrative measures. ^[1]

Non-tariff barriers

Non-Tariff Barriers (Non-Tariff Barriers NTB) refers to all measures except tariffs that a country or region takes to restrict imports. It is relative to tariffs. Such measures can be implemented in the form of national laws, decrees, and various administrative measures. ^[1]

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Since the 1990s, with the tireless efforts of WTO organizations and various countries through bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, traditional non-tariff barriers such as quotas and import licenses have been greatly reduced. New development trends, which stand out in:

(I) Anti-dumping measures are continuously strengthened

The original purpose of anti-dumping was to resist unfair practices in international trade and eliminate price discrimination. However, some countries have used it as a means of strategic competition to combat competitors and prevent the use of powerful weapons from opponents, thus giving them a strong color of trade protection. Judging from its development trend, it will become the dominant of international trade barriers in the 21st century. As far as the implementation of anti-dumping is concerned, China is still the biggest victimized country. According to statistics, 30 of the 101 new anti-dumping cases filed from January to June 2004 were directed at Chinese products, an increase of 18 from the same period in 2003.

(2) Rapid Development of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)

As the WTO agreement on technical barriers does not deny the rationality and necessity of the existence of TBT, allowing countries to formulate different technical standards based on their own characteristics, which has led developed countries to use this legal basis to formulate a variety of technical regulations and technologies Standards, quality certification and other means to restrict imports from other countries. With the advancement of science and the deepening of technological innovation, new technical standards will continue to emerge and be continuously incorporated into new technical regulations. Technological innovation has made testing equipment, methods, and methods more advanced. Some developed WTO member countries have gradually improved the level of TBT use. The standards for imported products have become more detailed and the requirements have become higher. For example: Japan s pesticide residue on Chinese rice has increased from the original 65 detection indicators to 104; in addition, from the perspective of the involved fields, TBT has gradually expanded from the production field to the trade field, from tangible commodities to finance and information. Services, as well as investment and intellectual property.

(3) Frequent implementation of quantitative guarantees

Quantitative safeguard measures take the form of import quotas, voluntary export quotas, and import bans. The quantitative guarantee measures have direct and rapid effects on export restrictions. As a result, many western countries have targeted the characteristics of the rapid development of foreign trade in developing countries as a means of attacking the "surge in volume" of exports from other countries. Among them, the most threatening is the "special protection clause" specially formulated for China. For example, on June 23, 2005, the Brazilian government will take special safeguard measures for products originating in China, thereby temporarily protecting Brazilian domestic industry. These two laws one implements quotas and surcharges on Chinese textiles and apparel, and the other For other specific products in China. In addition, the main exporting countries of China, such as the European Union and the United States, have also shown a trend that when they cannot find appropriate reasons to implement technical trade barriers and anti-dumping measures, they will turn to special protection clauses.

(IV) The surge in the names of green barriers

Trade and environment issues are increasingly receiving the attention of the international community, governments and peoples, and have become one of the focal issues in the international political and economic fields. Therefore, the western developed countries take advantage of the trend of green waves sweeping the world and the rise of the green economy, and under the banner of protecting natural resources, protecting the environment and human health, formulate a series of complex and harsh environmental protection systems and standards. Products and services. For example, the "white swan system" in the four Nordic countries, the "EU system" in the European Union, and the "eco-labeling system" in Japan.

(E) Use of gray area measures

Gray measures such as preferential rules of origin and government procurement policies are still outside the WTO's multilateral restraint rules, and are therefore widely used by most member countries as a means of trade protection. Because of the huge economic benefits hidden behind the rules of origin and government procurement policies, governments of various countries have adopted various laws and regulations to restrict the import of products from other countries in order to protect the interests of manufacturers in that country.

(6) The Rise of Labor Standards and Animal Welfare

Although these two measures, labor standards and animal welfare, have not yet been incorporated into the international trade system, developed countries have been trying to make it a formal WTO system in order to weaken the comparative advantages of labor and raw materials in developing countries, and they have gradually begun to use the Measures to limit exports from developing countries. In terms of animal welfare, for example, in 2002, a group of pigs in Ukraine had arrived in France after a long journey of more than 60 hours but were rejected by the French authorities. The reason was that the welfare of the pigs was not taken into account during the transportation process, and the rest was not taken at the prescribed time. In terms of labor standards, according to a survey organized by the American Chamber of Commerce, currently 50% of multinational companies and foreign trade companies have indicated that if the SA8000 standard is implemented, they will re-sign new procurement contracts with Chinese enterprises. And because China's product structure is mostly labor-intensive, and SA8000 is mainly aimed at labor-intensive products, this will undoubtedly have a huge impact on China's foreign trade development.

There is no doubt that non-tariff barriers will play an increasingly important role in international trade, and new non-tariff barriers will continue to appear. In order to deal with the impact of foreign non-tariff barriers, the author believes that the following countermeasures should be taken.

(1) Technological innovation to improve product quality

Enterprises should take the opportunity to deal with non-tariff barriers, rely on scientific and technological progress to adjust the structure of export commodities, promote industrial upgrading, and increase the technological content and processing level of Chinese export commodities. First, strengthen technological research and development, especially research and development of key technologies, continuously develop new materials, new energy, new processes, new formulations, new methods, and launch new products, so as to increase the technological content of products and promote the product structure to high-tech products and high The transformation of value-added products; the second is to improve the degree of deep processing of products and produce intermediates into finished products, which can not only improve the profits of enterprises, but also avoid various forms of trade barriers.

(2) Give full play to the role of industry associations

In the competition of the market economy, the single-handed marketing method is not suitable for the needs of participating in the international product market competition after joining the WTO. It can help producers coordinate export prices through the association between the government and enterprises through industry associations, which can reduce the price competition and cannibalism of Chinese products. It can also provide services in external publicity, negotiation, and sales to undertake large-scale production. Pre and postpartum work. In addition, by tracking changes in foreign non-tariff barrier measures, companies can keep abreast of information on trade barriers in foreign markets.

(3) Speed up the formulation and improvement of technical labeling and regulations

To cope with technical barriers, China should urgently improve its technical standards and technical regulations. First, it is necessary to gradually establish technical regulations and standard certification systems that are in line with international standards. In accordance with relevant WTO agreements, vigorously promote the certification system of origin marks, actively implement the certification of ISO19000, ISO14000 mark and SA8000 standards, and accelerate the integration of international environmental standards. The second is to increase the awareness of enterprises on technology and standardization and to adapt to the special requirements of international trade on technical standards. By actively adopting international standards, timely grasping international production information and production technology levels, absorbing advanced results, organizing forces to carry out technical research, improve product quality and grade, and enhance the competitiveness of Chinese products.

(4) Formulate and implement market diversification strategies

The market diversification strategy is to make our products more evenly distributed in the market, and not to swarm into a certain market. Therefore, from the government to the enterprise, we must strive to adjust our own export market strategy. The specific implementation should be based on the principle of consolidating the old market, opening up new markets, and diversifying the export share too centrally so that our products can be exported to more countries and regions. This can not only prevent the export of certain products from being overly concentrated, but also easily give people control, thereby restricting China's exports. In the event of a trade war, China can minimize losses through trade transfers.

(5) Establishment of non-tariff barrier early warning system

1. The government should urge foreign trade enterprises to systematically collect laws, regulations and industry standards related to imports, foreign investment and other foreign trade and economic relations from various countries (regions), establish corresponding databases, and keep abreast of the measures and policies adopted by certain markets for certain commodities, Various local standards and problems encountered in their implementation.

2. Choose reliable foreign product agency companies. They not only have a thorough knowledge of the local market, they must also fully grasp the latest developments in their industry and the latest consumer needs.

3 Information should be disseminated to government departments, industries and enterprises in a timely manner, so as to ensure that before each non-tariff barrier case occurs, information can be obtained in advance, in order to adjust export strategies in a timely manner, reduce the probability of being affected by non-tariff barriers, and quickly organize Enterprises should create important conditions for response.

In short, from the current point of view, it is impossible to completely eliminate non-tariff barriers between countries, and non-tariff barriers will exist for a long time. In order to protect the country's economic and technological security, protect human health, protect the environment, and reasonably and effectively protect China's leading industries and naive industries, we should carefully study the relevant provisions of the WTO, learn from the practical experience of other countries, flexibly make use of international practices, International rules and WTO rules, and reference to international norms to establish their own non-tariff barrier protection system, thereby improving the competitiveness of enterprises in international economic and trade.