Domestic Regulation, international standards, and technical barriers to trade

View/ Open
Author(s)
McDonald, Janet
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2005
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
There is growing concern over the use of domestic product regulations as technical barriers to trade on the one hand, and the WTO's incursion into domestic regulatory autonomy on the other. The TBTA seeks to balance competing interests - acknowledging but disciplining Members' regulatory control over traded goods. The effectiveness of these disciplines is limited by the exclusion of many modern domestic regulations from the scope of the TBTA; the surest way to prevent abuse of process-based product specifications is to subject them to the TBTA's disciplines. The WTO dispute settlement tribunals have affirmed the importance ...
View more >There is growing concern over the use of domestic product regulations as technical barriers to trade on the one hand, and the WTO's incursion into domestic regulatory autonomy on the other. The TBTA seeks to balance competing interests - acknowledging but disciplining Members' regulatory control over traded goods. The effectiveness of these disciplines is limited by the exclusion of many modern domestic regulations from the scope of the TBTA; the surest way to prevent abuse of process-based product specifications is to subject them to the TBTA's disciplines. The WTO dispute settlement tribunals have affirmed the importance of the use or adoption of international standards. While Members are still entitled to introduce their own measures in some circumstances, the emphasis on international standards raises the status of standard-setting bodies. Despite their important new role, the composition, accountability, and decision-making procedures have so far escaped the kind of civil society scrutiny to which WTO deliberations are now subject. To achieve the TBTA's harmonization objectives, the development, and use of international standards and their legal recognition within the WTO regime should be revised to safeguard legitimate non-trade regulatory objectives.
View less >
View more >There is growing concern over the use of domestic product regulations as technical barriers to trade on the one hand, and the WTO's incursion into domestic regulatory autonomy on the other. The TBTA seeks to balance competing interests - acknowledging but disciplining Members' regulatory control over traded goods. The effectiveness of these disciplines is limited by the exclusion of many modern domestic regulations from the scope of the TBTA; the surest way to prevent abuse of process-based product specifications is to subject them to the TBTA's disciplines. The WTO dispute settlement tribunals have affirmed the importance of the use or adoption of international standards. While Members are still entitled to introduce their own measures in some circumstances, the emphasis on international standards raises the status of standard-setting bodies. Despite their important new role, the composition, accountability, and decision-making procedures have so far escaped the kind of civil society scrutiny to which WTO deliberations are now subject. To achieve the TBTA's harmonization objectives, the development, and use of international standards and their legal recognition within the WTO regime should be revised to safeguard legitimate non-trade regulatory objectives.
View less >
Journal Title
World Trade Review
Volume
4
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2005 Cambridge University Press : Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher : This journal is available online - use hypertext links.
Subject
Applied Economics
Law