Innovative approaches to regulatory cooperation

Policymakers, practitioners and researchers gathered at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva for non-tariff measures week 2018 - Shaping Sustainable Trade amid Protectionism, to discuss issues surrounding the impact of non-tariff measures (NTMs).

NTMs are policy measures - other than ordinary customs tariffs - that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods, changing quantities traded, or prices or both. Examples include Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; Technical Barriers to Trade and Contingent Trade-protective Measures.

Sessions in Geneva included the role of trade regulations, current work on non-tariff measures and voluntary sustainability standards, as well as national perspectives from countries including Brazil, Malyasia and Rwanda.

Following participation in a panel discussion on how regional and multilateral cooperation can lower trade costs while maintaining regulatory benefits, such as the protection of health and the environment, Codex Senior Food Standards Officer Hilde Kruse said, “the meeting provided an opportunity to showcase that participating in Codex work and implementing Codex Standards is a way of regulatory cooperation that will support market access and sustainable food trade, while at the same time protecting consumers.” This approach will also support efforts to achieve several of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Read more on the UNCTAD website