Transparency in Trade. A joint effort by the AfDB/ITC/UNCTAD/World Bank.

Transcription

1 Transparency in Trade A joint effort by the AfDB/ITC/UNCTAD/World Bank

2 What is the TNT initiative? OBJECTIVE Provide free access to the trade and trade policy data Increase transparency Facilitate research and analysis Improve awareness HOW? Short term strategy Consolidate all existing data Collect data Make data comparable Long term strategy Improve notification mechanisms Incentivize self sustaining data reporting

3 TNT is more than NTM TNT aims to facilitate collection of tariffs and non-tariff measures (NTM) and other trade related data, and provide free and open access the data collected. DATA: Tariffs NTM Trade Remedies (Antidumping - Safeguards) TRQ Barriers to trade in services DISSEMINATION PORTALS WITS (Policy / Research) MAcMap (Export Promotion) ANALYTICAL TOOLS

4 TNT NTM component NTMs What kind of NTM are collected? Types of NTMs What information on NTMs are collected? What is in the database What kind of coverage? Countries Time Products

5 Export measures What kind of NTM are collected? Short answer: these in the MAST classification, but not all MAST Members: FAO IMF ITC OECD UNCTAD UNIDO World Bank WTO Import measures Technical Measures Non- Technical Measures A SPS B TBT C Pre-shipment clearance and other formalities D Price control E Licenses, quotas, prohibition & other quantity control m. F Charges, taxes and other para-tariff measures G Finance H Anti-competitive I Trade-related Investment J Distribution Restrictions K Post-Sales Services L Subsidies Suited for: TRANSPARENCY ANALYSIS COLLECTION M Government Procurement N Intellectual Property O Rules Of Origin P Export-related Measures The classification goes in great details: e.g. Under A > labeling requirements, E > Seasonal Quotas, D > Price Undertaking, E > Special Import permits

6 What kind of NTM are collected? YES (RULES AND REGULATIONS) Import prohibitions / bans General or product-specific quotas Quality conditions, and proofs Sanitary and phyto-sanitary conditions Determination of eligibility (geographical) Documentation: Certificate of Origin, etc Import licenses Export subsidies Fixation of a minimum import price Voluntary Export Restraints Foreign exchange market controls Export restrictions Para-tariffs and others NOT Overvalued currency Inadequate infrastructure Corrupt and/or lengthy customs procedures Employment law Occupational safety and health regulation Private Standards Not Exhaustively Rules of Origin Subsidies Procurement Intellectual property laws

7 What type of information on NTMs? Trade off: comprehensive vs detailed database Collecting more details implies more work in harmonizing exhaustiveness validation higher costs.. and may results in poor comparability across countries The database should : provide cross-country comparable data be exhaustive as possible. be cost effective to collect and update

8 What type of information on NTMs? Most cases: Yes/No variable on the presence of the given type of NTM Year of the implementation Source of the information to allow for more detail Partial coverage all or subset of HS code

9 Target: What Countries/Years/Products are covered? At least 100 countries Products covered: HS 6 digit classification Updated twice during the 4 year length of the project (at least for the major markets) What happens after 4 years? Build capacity (transfer knowledge) to continue updating the database with minimal cost.

10 Who needs this data? Different Researchers - Different Data Needs Model Economist does not care much about the data. Produces neat models, which cannot be tested for NTMs. Chef Economist takes the data and cooks it. Does something with whatever data is available but takes assumptions and calculates standard errors Undercover Economist doesn t trust other data but his. Painstakingly observes and collects, but can investigate only one little thing in detail. His results cannot be easily generalized. Lack of data results in, crippled research, often inconclusive or not convincing, and specific results cannot be easily generalized. Since collecting data is so problematic research is largely driven by the data available.

11 The TNT database on NTM is Useful for Chefs Builds indicators Investigate discriminatory effects Trade Effects - Gravity / CGE Large datasets for cross country analysis Time series information Data disaggregated by different types of NTMs Helpful for Undercover Partial equilibrium / Price differences Link to detailed data on given products and country. Detailed data on one type of NTM (AD, SPS) Still, a lot of work to be done

12 Thank you