This paper reviews empirical studies that have investigated how international standards impact trade. It looks at different kinds of studies, from econometric studies to studies based on surveys of exporting firms. It concludes that the available literature does not provide a single answer to the qu...

This paper provides empirical support for the view that international harmonization can reduce possible negative impacts of product standards on developing country exporters. It focuses on the extensive margin of trade (new products), asking whether harmonization can promote an increase in export va...

This study presents a theoretical foundation to support the "dual face of standards", a term referencing the heterogeneous impact of standards on international trade. It also provides new empirical data on the impact of food standardization for Norwegian seafood export, with as main result that whi...

This paper reviews empirical studies that have investigated how SPS/TBT measures impact trade in the food and agricultural sector. The author concludes that research supports the existence of a 'dual effect' of SPS-TBT measures on international trade of food and agricultural products, wit...

Compliance with public and private food safety standards has been the subject of increasing attention. Much of the literature on impacts of food safety regulation in developed countries focuses on public health. In poorer countries, the emphasis is on economic development. How standards shape access...

This trade brief discusses the significance of technical requirements as barriers to trade taking a development perspective. It provides an overview of the situation and why it is difficult for developing countries to implement SPS/TBT measures. The author suggest that the costs of risks assessme...

The relationship between standards and trade is a topic of great interest in the standardization community. In this synthesis review, a selection of emblematic studies draws together findings on the impacts of standards on trade across multiple contexts. With this, we can draw some conclusions ab...

This paper analyses the impacts of food safety standards on processed food exports in developing countries using a cross-sectional econometric analysis. The empirical analysis shows that strict food safety standards in importing developed countries tend to be trade reducing for developing countries ...

This paper examines the importance of standards in influencing whether firms in developing countries export opportunities agricultural and food products. Overall, the authors demonstrate that more stringent SPS standards in importing markets have a negative effect on developing country firm expor...

This study looks at the impacts of EU standards on African Exports of textiles, clothing and footwear, focusing on voluntary technical regulations. The key issue the authors are trying to address is how to limit the costs and negative spillovers that product standards can bring. They contend that...

This paper is based on the systematic literature review method and investigates the impacts of the EMS and ISO 14001 Standards towards corporate performance. Two units are considered through the methodology of research; firm size and market orientation. The evidence comes from the analysed dataset o...

There has been increasing use of technical regulations as instruments of commercial policy in the context of multilateral, regional, and global trade. These nontariff barriers are of special concern to developing countries, which may bear additional costs in meeting mandatory standards. Many industr...

A compilation of submissions to the Workshop and Policy Dialogue organized under the auspices of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour and Inwent (Capacity Building International, Germany) in Berlin, Germany on 21-22 November 2005...

The book provides information, and guidance for policymakers, the development community, and others in the critical area of "behind the border" barriers to trade. With a view to promoting efforts to strengthen Africa's capacity to meet trade standards, and comply with technical regulations, the book...

The paper analyses the effects of patents as indicators for innovations and standards on the German-French trade flows. The results show that primarily Germany's innovative capacity can explain its export performance in France and not its strength in standards. Second, the stocks of international st...

Peru is among the leading exporters of asparagus. Considering the Peruvian asparagus value chain, the National Institute for the Protection of Competition and Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), together with the Peruvian Standardization and Non-tarriff Barriers Surveillance Commision, decided to anal...

Utilizing matched firm-trade data, this study examines the effect of technical barriers to trade (TBTs) on trade margins and quality upgrading in Chinese manufacturing. We find that TBTs are associated with higher probability of exit. Surviving exporters enjoy larger sales and charge higher expor...