Non-tariff barriers to trade

[1] The Southern African Development Community (SADC) defines a non-tariff barrier as "any obstacle to international trade that is not an import or export duty.

They may take the form of import quotas, subsidies, customs delays, technical barriers, or other systems preventing or impeding trade".

The third reason for the popularity of NTBs is the ability of interest groups to influence the process in the absence of opportunities to obtain government support for the tariffs.

Most of the NTB can be defined as protectionist measures, unless they are related to difficulties in the market, such as externalities and information asymmetries between consumers and producers of goods.

Professor Alan Deardorff characterises[5] NTB policies under three headings: Purposes, Examples, and Consequences There are several different variants of the division or classification of non-tariff barriers.

Some scholars divide them between internal taxes, administrative barriers, health and sanitary regulations and government procurement policies.

[6] Testifying before the United States Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness on "censorship as a non-tariff barrier" in 2020, Richard Gere stated that economic interest compel studios to avoid social and political issues Hollywood once addressed, "Imagine Marty Scorsese's Kundun, about the life of the Dalai Lama, or my own film Red Corner, which is highly critical of the Chinese legal system.

[citation needed] At the national level, administrative regulation of capital movements between states is carried out mainly within a framework of bilateral agreements, which include a clear definition of the legal regime, the procedure for the admission of investments and investors.

[citation needed] The use of licensing systems as an instrument for foreign trade regulation is based on a number of international level standards agreements.

[citation needed] Standards which are ostensibly enacted for health and safety reasons can be used by states for trade protectionist and political purposes.

Licenses and quotas limit the independence of enterprises with a regard to entering foreign markets, narrowing the range of countries in which firms can conduct trade for certain commodities.

[clarification needed] This can be explained by the fact that licensing and quota systems are an important instrument of trade regulation of the vast majority of the world.

[citation needed] This type of trade barrier normally leads to increased costs and limited selection of goods for consumers and higher import prices for companies.

These reasons include guaranteeing of the supply of the products that are in shortage in the domestic market, manipulation of the prices on the international level, and the control of goods strategically important for the country.

In the case of reduction of export prices below the minimum level, the importing country imposes anti-dumping duty, which could lead to withdrawal from the market.

“Voluntary" export agreements affect trade in textiles, footwear, dairy products, consumer electronics, cars, machine tools, etc.

Quotas on imports are used as leverage when negotiating the sales of Japanese exports, as well as avoiding excessive dependence on any other country with respect to necessary food; the supplies of which could decrease in case of bad weather or political conditions.

As a result, the International Trade Centre conducted national surveys and began publishing a series of technical papers on non-tariff barriers faced in developing countries.