Meeting Standards, Winning Markets.

International trade relations are increasingly driven by technical regulations and trade-related standards. The “Meeting Standards, Winning Markets – Trade Standards Compliance 2010” Report (TSCR) presents new approaches to the analysis of developing countries’ capacity to comply with such standards, the challenges they confront, and the implications of their failure to comply. It analyzes border rejection data of the EU and US, highlights the root causes of such rejections with reference to non-compliance with different standards, estimates resulting export losses of developing countries in these markets, and advocates for a more informed policy decision making in development efforts and related technical assistance to enhance the compliance capacity of developing countries. These empirical analyses would not have been possible without the unprecedented access granted by EU and US authorities to their databases on border rejections. The key findings of the report can be summarized as follows:

• Border rejections provide a good indicator of key trade standards compliance challenges

• The estimated value of border rejections is lower than expected but constitutes only the tip of the iceberg

• Systematic tools for standards compliance capacity assessment and benchmarking are needed and the newly proposed Standards Compliance Capacity Index (SCCI) represents a first step in this direction

• Overcoming standards compliance challenges requires innovative technical assistance with the value chain approach providing valuable guidance

• There is a need to devise a cost-benefit model that offers guidance to development partners on where investment in trade capacity-building is most rewarding, thereby allowing for better accountability and effectiveness of technical assistance

• The trade standards compliance challenges faced by developing countries will continue to change over time

As such, the TSCR provides a unique policy decision tool for donors, and governments and private sector producers in developing countries as well as innovative analytical devices for researchers. It is the product of a project funded by our long-standing partner, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), and results from a strong partnership with the Institute of Development Studies, Brighton (UK). The report also greatly benefited from contributions by a number of international institutions such as FAO, ILO, IPPC, ISO, UNEP, and WTO as well as by other high-level experts.

The TSCR is part of UNIDO’s advocacy work and is to become a periodic publication. A second edition is already under preparation. To download the 2010 report in English (pdf) click the downloads in the right hand box.

In addition, UNIDO has established Trade Standards Compliance Footprints (TSCFs) for a number of selected countries. These TSCFs represent country fact sheets that provide a snapshot on selected countries’ challenges to comply with export market requirements in agri-food trade and can be downloaded here.

If you would like to receive further information or provide comments and feedback, kindly contact us at tradestandardscompliance@unido.org