| The World Bank Takes a Look at Standards
THE WORLD BANK, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is now actively studying standards. The “World Bank Research Program on Trade Facilitation, Regulatory Reform, and Standards,” established in 1999, will provide all-important empirical research and policy analysis of issues in regulation, standards, and international trade. World Bank Principle Economist John Wilson heads the program, which is supported in part by a grant from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.
According to the program’s Web site, “The work seeks to generate information on both trade policy aspects of regulatory reform and standards, as well as the quantitative significance of standards/regulations as barriers to trade. The research program will also identify policy and institutional options available for developing countries to minimize the trade-distorting effects of technical barriers and standards. Provision of technical assistance to developing countries in the area of standards and development of teaching tools and educational material is also planned.” As part of its work, the Bank will: The World Trade Organization Statistics Division compiles statistics required by the Secretariat for the regular analysis of world trade in merchandise and commercial services, and for special studies on particular aspects of international trade. You can access this information on the WTO Web site. The WTO site also has a Trade Topics page, with information on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in goods and services, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, dispute settlement, and more. // With the world’s largest trading relationship ($524 billion) and its largest investment relationship ($890 billion in cross-investment), the U.S. and the European Union’s economic relations are key to global economic health. TABD (the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue) is an informal process whereby European and American companies and business associations develop joint EU-U.S. trade policy recommendations, working together with the European Commission and U.S. Administration. The Dialogue was formed in 1995 at a conference in Seville, Spain, which was attended by CEOs from over 100 U.S. and EU companies and top government representatives. // ENTERWeb, the Enterprise Development Web site, lists and rates electronic resources related to export development, global markets, and international trade. Sites are reviewed individually and rated mostly according to content depth and value added, while also considering design, ease of navigation and speed of loading. Over 50 sites are listed and rated in export, marketing, and trade alone. Many more sites are rated in segments on entrepreneurship, finance, business law, management, and many others. The service is free. //
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The bottom-line impact of standards on a single business, let
alone international trade, is an under-researched area. With the
increasing role standards play as non-tarriff barriers to or enablers
of trade, institutions like The World Bank would be remiss if
they did not undertake research on the trade effect of standards
and government technical regulations. Wilson’s program hopes to
fill this gap and provide real data so that standards can be utilized
to their full potential to facilitate international trade.
Copyright © ASTM, 2001