Technical Barriers to Trade TBT refers to a country adopting some mandatory measures on the grounds of safeguarding national security, ensuring human health and safety, protecting the ecological environment, preventing fraud, and ensuring product quality. or non-mandatory technical measures that act as obstacles to the free entry of goods and services from other countries into the country's market. The numerous and increasing number of TBTs are having an increasing impact on international trade.
1. Technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures
1. Technical regulations
Refers to relevant product characteristics or related processes and production that must be compulsorily implemented Methods, including: laws and regulations; orders, decisions, regulations issued by government departments; technical specifications, guidelines, guidelines, instructions; technical terms, symbols, packaging, marking or labeling requirements. Many mandatory standards are also part of technical regulations. Technical regulations generally involve national security, product safety, environmental protection, labor protection, energy conservation, etc. There are also some requirements for review procedures. For example, a research report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development pointed out that the cost of customs procedures and related activities accounts for 7% to 10% of total trade. Coordinating and simplifying these costs can reduce these costs. 25%, equivalent to 1.75% to 2.50% of total trade. Because PVC plasticizers have side effects on the kidneys and liver and can damage cardiovascular systems, the European Union's 1999/815/EC Directive began on March 8, 2000 to ban the sale of plastic products containing six types of phthalates that are put into the mouth for children under 3 years old. One or more polyvinyl chloride soft plastic (PVC) toys and children's products among the formate plasticizers. By the end of 1999, nine countries had legislated to ban the sale of the above-mentioned toys and other children's products. The ban sets a phthalate limit of 0.1%.
2. Technical standards
Technical standards refer to rules and guidelines for products or related processes and production methods that are approved by recognized institutions, are not mandatory, and are for general or repeated use. or feature files. Relevant terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labeling requirements are also part of the standard. There are currently a large number of technical standards, including industry standards, national standards, and many international standards. These standards have a significant impact on international trade. Even U.S. export manufacturers are encountering increasing demands from importers to implement international standards. About 1/5 of the U.S. export products are closely related to standards. At the same time, problems with standards have caused export obstacles of US$4 billion. Of course, the exports of developing countries will be more affected by this.
3. Conformity assessment procedure
Any procedure used directly or indirectly to determine whether the relevant requirements of technical regulations or standards are met. In particular, this includes sampling, inspection and inspection; evaluation, verification and assurance of conformity; registration, accreditation and approval and combinations of these. Conformity assessment procedures generally consist of certification, accreditation and mutual recognition, with third-party certification having a greater impact.
Certification refers to a certificate issued by an authorized agency. It is generally a certificate given by a third party on the nature or characteristics of a certain thing, behavior or activity after reviewing the documents or physical objects submitted by the party. This is usually It's called "third-party certification." Certification can be divided into product certification and system certification. Product certification mainly refers to the product's compliance with technical regulations or standards. Because the safety of products is directly related to the lives and health of consumers, product safety certification is compulsory certification. There are currently three main safety systems: the European safety system is based on IEC and EN - European standards, and is promulgated by the European Electrical Technology Standards Committee - CNELEC. The EU implements safety certification for more than 20 categories of products, including toys, boilers, construction supplies, and communication equipment, and requires the affixing of CE safety certification marks, otherwise they will not be sold in the EU market. North American safety systems mainly include American UL certification-CSA-Canadian Standards Association certification. The Japanese safety system consists of the mandatory (Electrical Class A products) T mark and the recommended (Electrical Class B products) S mark. Japan's JIS certification involves dozens of industries such as civil construction, machinery, electrical appliances, automobiles, railways, ships, steel, chemicals, textiles, mining, and medical equipment. There is also certification of product qualification, especially quality, and this certification is on a voluntary basis. System certification refers to confirming that the production or management system complies with the corresponding regulations.
Currently, the most popular international system certifications include ISO9000 quality management system certification and ISO14000 environmental management system certification; industry system certifications include QS9000 automotive industry quality management system certification, TL9000 telecommunications product quality system certification; and OHSAS18001 occupational safety and health management system certification. The United States is currently implementing the "Social Responsibility Management System" (SA8000) certification to combine human rights standards with import trade. Some countries also implement embassy authentication, in which diplomats and their authorized agencies confirm the seal of their country's notary office or some special agency or the signature of the person in charge of the agency on foreign-related documents. The certified certificate has extraterritorial legal effect and can be recognized by relevant authorities in the country where the document is used. Due to the long time required (20 days in Argentina, 25 days in Saudi Arabia, etc.) and the high cost, coupled with the lack of supervision of corresponding international agreements, embassy certification has become TBT and is widely used in international trade, except for some countries in the Middle East, South America, Africa and other regions. In addition, some European and American countries are also joining this ranks.
In international trade, some countries rely on technical standards and technical regulations to easily make the TBT they implement nominally reasonable, ingenious in formulation, legal in form, and legal in means. Concealment, which makes exporting countries sigh, is reflected in the following: numerous technical standards and regulations make it difficult for international exporters to guard against; strict technical standards make it difficult for developing countries to meet them; some standards have been carefully designed and researched, and can Specifically used to form technical barriers to products from certain countries. For example, in order to prevent Mexican potatoes from being imported into the United States, the United States' standards for potatoes include indicators such as maturity, size, etc. This makes it difficult for potatoes grown in Mexico to be sold in the United States, because in order to be sold to the United States, they must not be harvested if they are too ripe. Otherwise, it will rot easily and it will be difficult to meet the requirements of maturity. Take advantage of the inconsistencies in standards across countries and flexibly choose standards that are beneficial to you. Technical standards and regulations can not only restrict the sales of foreign products in terms of provisions, but also set up numerous obstacles to the sales of foreign products during the implementation process. For example, the British regulations stipulate that Japanese cars sold to the UK can be inspected by British personnel in Japan. If they are found to be incompatible with British technical safety, they can be repaired or have parts replaced in Japan. However, Japanese regulations require that British cars sold to Japan must be inspected by Japanese people after they are shipped to Japan. If they do not meet the regulations, the British must hire Japanese employees to perform maintenance. This approach is time-consuming and labor-intensive, coupled with Japan's slow announcement of relevant technical standards, which objectively greatly hinders British cars from entering the Japanese market.
According to the 1998 report of the U.S. Department of Commerce and EU research, the value of export products affected by technical regulations accounts for about 25%, and exports are reduced by 15% to 25% as a result. Exports reduced by standards and certification Equivalent to 3.75% to 6.25% of total exports.
2. Product quarantine, inspection systems and measures
Animal and plant quarantine measures refer to animal health and plant health measures taken to protect the life or health of humans, animals and plants. These measures include: measures to protect human life from the introduction of additives, pollutants, toxins in food and beverages, and the introduction of exotic animal and plant diseases and pests; measures to protect animal life from the introduction of additives, pollutants, toxins in feed, and the introduction of exotic animal and plant diseases and pests Measures to harm; measures to protect plant life from the harm caused by the introduction of alien pests and diseases; measures to prevent the harm caused by the introduction of alien pests and diseases; laws, regulations, requirements, standards and procedures related to the above measures.
The inspected commodities are divided into statutory inspection commodities and temporary inspection commodities. Products affected by this are food and pharmaceuticals. In terms of food, there are mainly regulations on pesticide and veterinary drug residues; regulations on additives during processing; regulations on animal and plant diseases and insect pests; regulations on other pollutants; regulations on production and processing hygiene and safety, etc.
In recent years, food crises have occurred one after another in the EU. "Mad cow disease", "dioxin contamination", "Coca-Cola contamination", "listeria contamination", "foot-and-mouth disease", etc. shocked the world. Food safety issues have caused strong dissatisfaction among consumers, and have also caused the EU to attach great importance to solving food safety issues. On January 12, 2000, the European Commission published the "White Paper on Food Safety", launched a plan to ensure food safety containing more than 80 specific measures, and decided to strive to establish a "European Food Authority" in 2002 to unify the management of food safety in the EU. All matters related to food safety.
As the EU further strengthens food safety protection, it becomes increasingly difficult for developing countries to export food to it. Starting from July 1, 2000, the EU has implemented new pesticide residue standards for imported tea. The allowable residual amount of pesticide residues in some products is only 1/100 to 1/200 of the original amount. Test results of tea imported from China by the European Union show that pesticide residues exceeding the standard are increasing year by year. For example, the exceeding rates of fenvalerate were 16.4% for black tea and 27.5% for green tea in 1997, and in 1998 they were 42.7% and 37.9% respectively. If proactive measures are not taken, Chinese tea will be forced to withdraw from the EU market. Only by reaching Grade A green food standards can it enter the EU's "green threshold".
The U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in accordance with the "Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act", "Public Health Services Act", "Baby Food Act", "Tea Import Act", "Infant "Drug Law" and other regulations have made detailed provisions on the certification, packaging, labeling, testing and inspection methods of various imported items. Up to 3,500 batches of imported goods are detained by the FDA every month. In accordance with the Food Hygiene Law, the Plant Epidemic Prevention Law, and the Domestic Animal Infectious Disease Prevention Law, Japan implements a nearly stringent quarantine and epidemic prevention system for agricultural products, livestock products, and food entering the country.
Some not only have regulations on processing technology and processing equipment, but also regulations on environmental conditions surrounding processing. For example, the United States requires the introduction of "Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points" (HACCP) management in food processing. system to strengthen the supervision of food export manufacturers. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia and South Korea all adopt the HACCP system.