STANDARDS AND TRADE. Eileen Hill Team Leader for Standards International Trade Administration U.S. Department of Commerce

Transcription

1 STANDARDS AND TRADE Eileen Hill Team Leader for Standards International Trade Administration U.S. Department of Commerce September 16,

2 Standards Related Trade Challenges and Tools Standards-related trade issues are the number one trade barrier facing U.S. exporters Tools to address them include: WTO TBT and SPS Agreements Free Trade Agreements; Ongoing negotiations/t-tip U.S. Commercial Dialogues Brazil, China, India, Canada, Mexico, North American Leaders Summit Regional Groups (APEC, ASEAN) Capacity Building (TEEs, Standards Alliance) Monitoring Standards Development in ISO 2

3 Standards Trade Barriers Overly prescriptive or unique standards Duplicative or burdensome testing or inspection procedures Difficulty in knowing how to comply with mandatory requirements Labeling requirements that are not meaningful or are misleading Concerns about release of proprietary information during testing Product bans (not justified by science; may be discriminatory) 3

4 WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade Concluded in 1994; all 161 WTO Members are TBT Agreement Members Aims to ensure that technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures do not constitute unnecessary barriers to international trade Recognizes the right of Members to take regulatory measures to achieve legitimate objectives Doesn t cover services (only covers products); sanitary or phytosanitary measures (food safety, etc.); or purchasing specifications prepared by governments 4

5 WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade TBT Agreement Principles: Avoid unnecessary obstacles to trade National Treatment/Non-Discrimination Transparency/National Inquiry Point Equivalence of Technical Regulations/Mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures Harmonization/reliance on international standards 5

6 WTO COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE: DECISION OF THE COMMITTEE ON PRINCIPLES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS, GUIDES AND RECOMMENDATIONS (2002) Transparency Openness Impartiality and Consensus Effectiveness and Relevance Coherence Development Dimension

7 WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Covers WTO Member s adoption of rules and regulations that govern food safety and animal and plant health; measures adopted by Members must be science-based Encourages Governments to use international standards and to recognize other countries' compliance procedures as equivalent if they achieve the same level of SPS protection (to encourage harmonization) Addresses unjustifiable discrimination, disguised restrictions to trade, transparency Recognizes three international standards setting organizations 7

8 WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures The three recognized international standard-setting bodies in the SPS Agreement are the: Joint Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) for food safety; FAO International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) for plant health; and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for animal health and zoonoses 8

9 Standards in U.S. Free Trade Agreements 14 FTAs covering 20 countries (Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordon, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore) Only Israel FTA is lacking TBT obligations Each agreement is unique, but they share provisions relating to standards-related measures 9

10 TBT Provisions in U.S. Free Trade Agreements Affirmation of the TBT Agreement International standards Conformity assessment procedures Transparency Cooperation Information Exchange Administration/FTA Subcommittees on Standards 10

11 TBT Provisions in U.S. Free Trade Agreements U.S. FTA approach is TBT plus Plus elements: transparency, mechanisms for more in depth consultation on specific trade concerns, and facilitating cooperation and coordination on systemic issues Trans Pacific Partnership also includes a chapter on regulatory coherence and has annexes addressing specific sectoral issues T-TIP also will address regulatory coherence and seek to address sector-specific regulatory cooperation 11

12 Standards in U.S. Commercial Dialogues U.S. Commercial Dialogues Brazil, China, India, Canada, Mexico, North American Leaders Summit Activities in each vary; depends on mutual interests Brazil/June 2015 Memorandum of Intent China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade/JCCT India Strategic Commercial Dialogue/S&CD Canada/Regulatory Cooperation Council Mexico/ High-Level Regulatory Cooperation Council North American Leaders Summit Trilateral Regulatory Cooperation 12

13 Regional Groups: APEC Founded in member economies, including the United States, China, Russia, and Australia Accounts for 55 percent of global GDP, purchases 58 percent of U.S. goods exports, and comprises a market of 2.7 billion customers 13

14 Regional Groups: APEC Work on standards related measures takes place in the APEC Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance/APEC SCSC U.S. plays a leadership role; U.S. private sector is a strong partner in this work Focus is on good regulatory practice in specific areas and initiating early regional engagement in emerging technology areas Areas covered include food, green building, wine, electric vehicles, ICT energy efficiency, toys, and solar 14

15 Regional Groups: ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations founded in 1967 ASEAN Members: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam 15

16 Regional Groups: ASEAN U.S. DOC carries out standards cooperative work under the ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality Priority sectors: medical devices, building products, dietary supplements, food safety, green chemistry, electrical and electronic goods, and information and communications technology (ICT) products This work helps ensure that U.S. products have access to the ASEAN regional market 16

17 Capacity Building: Standards Alliance, USTDA The Standards Alliance supports implementation of WTO TBT commitments in ten partner countries/regions: Public-private partnership between ANSI, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); announced in 2012 The U.S. Trade and Development Agency provides funding for private sector projects in developing and middle income countries that promote U.S. exports:

18 Capacity Building: ITA s Total Economic Engagement, MDCP ITA s Total Economic Engagement/TEE program funding important to address standards issues; launched in 2008 Market Development Cooperator Program/MDCP awards support private sector projects addressing U.S. competitiveness; have been used to tackle standards issues; launched in

19 Standards Alert New ITA Service to alert stakeholders to new ISO standards development work so they can protect their equities; working with ANSI Goal: To head off trade barriers by increasing U.S. company in developing new international standards

20 Standards In ITA: Office of Standards and Investment Policy Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade (ITAC 16) Lead on standards development in ISO, including cross-cutting policy standards Liaison to private sector (ANSI, U.S. SDOs) and other agencies on standards issues Lead on ITA International Standards Team I&A/Office of Standards and Investment Policy: Standards in bilateral commercial dialogues Principal ITA Advisor on Standards Issues T-TIP Coordinator for Sectorial Regulatory Cooperation 20

21 ITA Office of Standards and Investment Policy Chris Rosettie; Director, Office of Standards and Investment Policy Eileen Hill; Standards Team Lead, Office of Standards and Investment Policy Renee Hancher; Lead, Trade Policy and Negotiations, Office of Standards and Investment Policy Michael Boyles; Manager, Emerging Issues, Office of Standards and Investment Policy Standards Attachés Marianne Drain; U.S. Mission to the European Union; Brussels, Belgium Cathy Feig; Beijing, China Everett Wakai; Sao Paulo, Brazil Sarah Cook; Mexico City, Mexico 21

22 Standards in ITA Industry & Analysis/Industry Offices Lead on sector and industry specific standards issues and initiatives Enforcement & Compliance/Trade Agreement Negotiation and Compliance TBT, SPS in the WTO and FTAs, including TPP and T-TIP Global Markets/Commercial Service Manage bilateral commercial dialogues; Commercial Service network, including Standards Attachés 22

23 Standards and Trade: Other DOC Partners: NIST NIST is a technical advisor to trade agencies on standards issues and is participating in standardsrelated trade negotiations like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations with the EU NIST administers the U.S. Enquiry Point under the WTO TBT Agreement/NotifyUS NIST also operates the Standards Information Center 23

24 Standards and Trade: Other Agency Partners/USTR ITA is part of an interagency community the Trade Policy Staff Committee that addresses trade issues, including those related to standards USTR chairs the TPSC Subcommittee on Technical Barriers to Trade/leads on standards issues related to trade agreements negotiation of current and compliance with existing agreements Regulatory agencies (FDA, EPA, NHTSA, CPSC) also are very active in trade-related standards issues 24

25 QUESTIONS????????????? 25