Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80082 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
WTO Staff Working Paper No. ERSD-2013-06
Publisher: 
World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva
Abstract: 
The WTO TBT Agreement obliges governments to use international standards as a basis for regulation, yet leaves a degree of flexibility with respect to the choice of standard, and the manner of its use. This interplay between obligation and flexibility has given rise to tension in various fora of the WTO, including in committee work, negotiations and dispute settlement. This paper brings together these three distinct strands of WTO work to illustrate core aspects of the international standards debate at the WTO. In our analysis we first briefly outline the nature of the discipline in the TBT Agreement itself; next, we describe where and how the discussion arises in the WTO; and, finally, explore some implications of governance of international standard setting. We propose that greater regulatory alignment could be achieved through a renewed focus on the procedures of setting international standards (the how), and greater emphasis on robust technical/scientific underpinnings of such standards (the what).
Subjects: 
international trade
international standards
international cooperation
coherence
non-tariff barriers
technical barriers to trade
regulation
JEL: 
F13
F53
F55
K33
L15
L51
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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