The Hindu : `Non-tariff Barriers affecting exports'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 10, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`Non-tariff Barriers affecting exports'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE JAN. 9. The Economic Adviser to the Union Ministry of Commerce, H.A.C. Prasad, today stressed the need for negotiating protectionist Non-tariff Barriers (NTBs), adopted by advanced countries, at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) level.

Speaking on "NTBs and other market access obstacles faced by India and policy options," here, Dr. Prasad distinguished between genuine NTBs and protectionist NTBs, and said genuine NTBs might have to be accepted by all WTO members on the grounds of environment and public health.

But, most developed nations were increasingly adopting protectionist NTBs to deny market access for items from developing countries, he said.

The Union Commerce Ministry had undertaken an exhaustive study and released a list of NTBs, commodity-wise and country-wise that affected India's exports. The ministry would finalise the report on NTBs by January 31, he said.

The list would be submitted to the WTO.

Exporters were facing difficulties in operations with advanced countries such as the U.S. and the members of the European Union (EU). Market access obstacles included custom duties, NTBs, quotas, tariff quotas, seasonal tariff low rates, seasonal tariff high rates, import monitoring, etc.

The WTO guidelines were part and parcel of the world economy.

The country should make an effort to adopt WTO rules to the maximum extent to expand its export basket, Dr. Prasad said.

NTBs had become a major challenge for developing countries and they might check exports. Forty-four per cent of items exported by India faced one or the other NTBs in the U.S.

The U.S. customs officials sought details about the product such as labelling, weight, percentage value, issues related to intellectual property rights, technical barriers, and anti-dumping, he said.

To export washing machines and dish washers to the EU, exporters had to produce environmental labelling, while in Mexico each tyre is inspected.

He said that some barriers could be eliminated by holding bilateral talks.

The U.S., which was dictating terms at the WTO, was safeguarding its domestic economy by giving subsidies to farm, fishing, and shipping sectors.

The U.S. and Canada had formed the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) where there were no NTBs. Sweden and Japan had been practising "hidden" NTBs, he said. To eliminate distortions in trade practices, Mr. Prasad said the WTO should come out with a list of NTBs to be followed worldwide. Adoption of varying NTBs by different trading blocks such as EU, NAFTA, and SAFTA would curb the country's potential to export more.

The country had not been able to increase its exports of items such as herbal medicines, gherkins, basmati rice, jewellery and fish due to the different set of NTBs followed by different countries, Dr. Prasad said.

Commending the work done by Japan, the U.S., and the EU in NTBs, he said the Ministry of Commerce had been interacting with export agencies and trade bodies to finalise its report.

T.R. Venkataraman, Adviser, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), welcomed the gathering. The programme was organised by FIEO.

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