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Forest certification plays an important role in the global trade of legal, sustainably harvested timber. There is no accurate definition of how international forest certification systems impact international trade from a global perspective. This paper is intended to evaluate the influence of forest certification on international trade, so that it can provide a scientific basis for the improvement of the international forest certification systems and for the development of relevant forestry industries in different countries. First, the influence of forest certification on international trade of forest products is explained in the economic model; hence, four hypotheses are put forward. Second, to test these hypotheses, we verify the panel data of bilateral trade and forest certification of all forest products among 67 economies from 2009 to 2018 by incorporating forest certifications into the gravity model. Finally, tests by country groups and product groups were further analyzed, respectively. The results show that: (1) The extended Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood (PPML) estimation solves the problem of the heteroscedasticity and zero trade value problems of the gravity model well in the forest industry. (2) Forest certification has an export competitive effect, a trade barrier effect, as well as common language effect. (3) Forest certification has asymmetric trade effects. The export competitive effect of forest certification in developing countries is greater than that in developed countries. Forest certification has become a trade barrier for developing countries, especially in the process of trade with developed countries. The common language effect is higher during the trade between developed and developing countries. The export competitive effect of wood products is higher than that of furniture products. Forest certification has trade barrier effect on wood products in developing countries, while it has trade barrier effect on furniture products in developed countries.

This study focuses on how technical barriers to trade (TBT) are addressed in recent EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). We analyze the pre- and post-EPA trade policies and the contested issues in Japan from the viewpoint of European businesses. An eclectic theoretical approach is adopted to study the economic, political and social aspects of trade barriers. Whereas formal trade barriers, such as tariffs and codified non-tariff barriers are easily discernible, the subtler informal trade barriers derive from social norms that guide administrative practices and are hard to measure, and largely neglected in recent research. Based on expert interviews, policy documents, and European business surveys, we observe that the enforcement of EPA in Japan lags behind concerning certain TBTs such as standards, approvals and testing. The findings suggest that informal trade barriers, often linked with investment barriers, have a bearing in the theorization on trade policies and free trade agreements.

According to World Trade Organization rules, countries may adopt regulations under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). We analyze the structure of these measures in agricultural trade. The inventory approach suggests that European countries have among the lowest coverage ratios of all OECD countries. Using a gravity equation, we also estimate their stringency. Our results suggest that they significantly reduce developing countries' exports to OECD countries, but do not affect trade between OECD members. Furthermore, European imports are more negatively influenced by SPS and TBTs than imports of other OECD countries.

The past three decades have seen the entry and increased influence of radical right parties into the European party landscape. These parties harness disaffection with the status quo by appealing to nativist or authoritarian tendencies in the electorate. Their policies often center around the protection of the “common man” from foreign or elite forces (particularly, cultural and economic globalization) and their emergence has been linked to decreasing support for globalization—the so-called “globalization backlash.” Several authors note that although radical right parties advocate economic protectionism to attract voters, who are disaffected by globalization, they say little about how this is manifested in advocacy of concrete policy measures. This speaks to the need for more systematic study of the trade policies of radical right parties. This article studies the Swedish radical right party, the Sweden Democrats (ostensibly free traders), to advance an argument based on the core ideology of radical right parties, nativism, and populism. In doing so, the article contributes to the literature that stresses cultural rather than economic foundations for opposition to globalization. Moreover, this article widens the definition of protectionism from that germane to the literature on radical right parties to include non-tariff barriers to trade (in addition to tariffs and quotas), providing a more up-to-date and multifaceted account of the range of trade policy instruments that radical right parties may advocate. I find that populism inspires advocacy of liberal trade policies, while nativism inspires protectionist trade policies. Protectionism almost exclusively consists of non-tariff barriers.

ABSTRACT This study conducted a survival analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model based on the most disaggregated trade data for footwear products exported from Taiwan to 122 countries in 1999–2019. Footwear products can be classified into parts and final products. The empirical results indicated that exporting footwear parts had a lower hazard rate (16.4%) than exporting final products. The effect is stronger when trading with ASEAN + 3 countries, where the hazard rate is reduced by 14.1%. These findings suggest that patents and technical barriers to trade have a significantly positive effect on the duration of exports, indicating that sustainable retention of position in the production chain of the footwear industry and the production of footwear parts is essential.

We derive a method to econometrically estimate the tariff equivalent and forgone trade effects of a prohibitive technical barrier to trade (TBT) based on Wales and Woodland’s Kuhn–Tucker approach to corner solutions in consumer choice. The method overcomes the lack of observed data on bilateral trade flows and accounts for differentiated goods by place of origin. We apply the derived random utility model to international trade in apples to identify the tariff equivalent of prohibitive phytosanitary barriers imposed by Australia on potential imports of New Zealand apples. We estimate the forgone apple trade between the two countries, the implied trade injury imposed by Australia on New Zealand, and the welfare loss to Australia. The removal of the Australian policy would induce net welfare gains around US$50 million annually for Australia.

Technical standards are increasingly determining the development, production, trade in and marketing of goods and services. In order to ensure that technical regulations and product standards which vary from country to country do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade was adopted during the Uruguay Round. It is paralleled by the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures which sets out the basic rules on how governments can apply food safety as well as animal and plant health measures without, however, using them as an excuse for protecting domestic producers. Prominent decisions under the WTO Dispute Settlement have interpreted those provisions. This volume gives a detailed account of the necessary parameters for technical standards and measures seeking to protect health and environment. Included are commentaries on Articles III, XI and XX of GATT 1994 which are equally relevant in this context. The article by article commentaries draw from a considerable body of case law, the work by the TBT and SPS Committee and the relevant legal literature. Attention is given to substantive requirements as well as the necessary standard setting procedures. Apart from a thorough analysis of the relevant and most recent jurisprudence including the Biotech Panel Report the commentary seeks to give answers to newly emerging issues, such as special needs of developing countries. It is an indispensable tool for practitioners and academics working in this field of WTO law.

As tariffs have declined to a low level, the trade literature has paid increasing attention to the impact of non-tariff measures. Unlike tariffs, non-tariff measures could act as both a barrier to trade and a catalyst for quality upgrading. This study examines the effect of technical barriers to trade (TBTs) on trade margins and quality upgrading at the firm level. To do so, we utilise rich Chinese Customs data recording the universe of export transactions from 2000 to 2012, matched with the Annual Survey of Industrial Firms and the World Trade Organization’s Specific Trade Concerns database. We find that TBTs imposition results in higher probability of exit. Surviving exporters enjoy larger sales and charge higher export prices. We also find robust evidence for the quality upgrading effects of TBTs. Firms upgrade their product quality by expanding their research and development and importing more intermediate inputs and capital goods. The positive impact of TBTs on quality upgrading offsets that on price increases, resulting in lower quality-adjusted export prices. This suggests the net welfare-enhancing effect of TBTs for the consumers of imported products. The results hold after controlling for potential endogeneity and across various specifications.

This book examines the international regulation of crisis bailouts and buy national policies from a competition perspective. It undertakes this research with specific reference to the crisis years 2008–2012. The book includes a comparative analysis of the regulation of public procurement and subsidies aid at both multilateral and regional levels, identifying the strengths and weakness in the WTO legal framework and selected regional trade agreements (RTAs). Ultimately, the aim of this work is to provide options for improving the consistency of these laws and the regulation of these markets. This is of immediate relevance for good economic governance, as well as for managing future systemic financial crises in the interests of citizens: as tax payers and consumers. Volume 17 in the series Hart Studies in Competition Law