Overview
This volume aims to assist policy makers in reviewing and improving "non-tariff measures" (NTMs), that is, policies other than tariffs that affect international trade. Traditionally, NTMs have been perceived and defined solely as non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that governments needed to remove in order to facilitate trade. This toolkit provides a new, practical approach to designing NTMs that carefully balances the reduction of trade costs against the preservation of public objectives. It is also intended to encourage governments to address the NTM agenda from domestic competitiveness and poverty perspectives, rather than from a mercantilist standpoint of concessions to trading partners. The basic question to be addressed is neatly summarized by the World Trade Organization (WTO), with regard to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures:
How do you ensure that your country's consumers are being supplied with food that is safe to eat-"safe" by the standards you consider appropriate? And at the same time, how can you ensure that strict health and safety regulations are not being used as an excuse for protecting domestic producers? (WTO 2012).