Barbara Fliess

CSR and Trade: Informing Consumers about Social and Environmental Conditions of Globalised Production

Focusing on consumer demands in OECD markets and voluntary initiatives taken in the private sector, this study investigates how consumers are informed about the social and environmental conditions under which products have been produced. Consumers of OECD increasingly attach importance to how companies they buy from conduct their business, and the voluntary adoption of CSR policies is spreading in the private sector. But how do consumers know...

The Role of Trade Barriers in SME Internationalisation

This paper discusses trade barriers that SMEs are likely to encounter in export markets and available policy tools aimed at their reduction or elimination. Drawing on recent work in the Trade Directorate and elsewhere, key types of barriers are identified based on a review of business surveys and other studies recently undertaken. The paper also explores how governments deal with trade barriers and how SME participation in the trade policy process...

Technical Barriers to Trade

Since the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) came into force, Members have invested considerable efforts in adopting and promoting the use of measures intended to reduce conformity assessment (CA) related barriers to trade. Our knowledge of the impact of specific trade facilitating programmes in the CA field is limited so far, making empirical studies of their trade impact desirable. This study investigates the impact of Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity (SDOC) on trade flows. As under SDOC regimes suppliers themselves provide written assurance of conformity to applicable technical regulations of a market, the costs of compliance are assumed to be smaller than for CA regimes requiring certification by third parties. The study focuses on three cases of SDOC introduction in the European Union covering eligible products from the medical devices, telecommunications equipment and machinery sectors. The paper explains the rationale for using SDOC, expected benefits and design characteristics of SDOC regimes. The quantitative analysis uses a gravity model and finds compelling evidence that the introduction of SDOC in the EU was a factor that influenced the evolution of import flows into EU markets positively. Intra-EU trade flows and imports from extra-EU OECD countries increased for SDOC-eligible radio and telecommunications equipment and low-risk medical devices, whereas the results for machinery are ambiguous. The most striking increases, visible in all three sectors, are found for exports to EU markets from non-OECD (developing) countries included in the sample. Analysis of the effect of SDOC for selected individual EU members furthermore suggest that the magnitude of effect depends on the nature of the CA regime that SDOC replaced.

Trends in Conformity Assessment Practices and Barriers to Trade

This analytical report presents findings from a survey conducted in 2005/2006 of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) and exporting companies from the OECD region. The survey was conceived to gather primary data from key players in the field on perceptions of conformity assessment (CA) barriers: what they are, where they are, and how important they are. A second goal was to identify trends in CA practices, including in the use of tools aimed at removing barriers and facilitating international trade. Drawing on the survey, some follow-up research and expert discussions, the report identifies what appears to be major CA problems or issues and consequently...

Obstacles non tarifaires touchant les pays en développement

Ce chapitre identifie les obstacles non tarifaires (ONT) auxquels les pays en developpement sont confrontes dans leurs echanges avec les pays developpes et dans leurs echanges sud-sud. L’objectif est de faire mieux prendre conscience des obstacles qui entravent l’expansion des echanges des pays en developpement. Les donnees collectees et analysees sont tirees d’etudes universitaires,Ce chapitre identifie les obstacles non tarifaires (ONT) auxquels les pays en developpement sont confrontes dans leurs echanges avec les pays developpes et dans leurs echanges sud-sud. L’objectif est de faire mieux prendre conscience des obstacles qui entravent l’expansion des echanges des pays en developpement. Les donnees collectees et analysees sont tirees d’etudes universitaires, des notifications adressees par les pays en developpement au Groupe de negociation sur l’acces aux marches pour les produits non agricoles (NAMA) du Programme de Doha pour le developpement, d’enquetes aupres des entreprises et de registres des affaires soumises a l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) et aux mecanismes regionaux de reglement des differends.