The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade : is it working for business?

Abstract

International differences in technical requirements, product standards and conformity assessment procedures create major barriers to international trade. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade is intended to reduce the impact of these differences on trade. The major emphasis has been on promoting the convergence of national requirements through mutual notifications. This has not been an especially effective approach since governments and businesses often have major commitments to existing requirements and procedures. A more effective approach would be to promote international acceptance of a rebuttable presumption that the various sets of national product requirements, although different, provide equivalent levels of protection. (original abstract)