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Lowering Regulatory Trade Costs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2023

Jacques Pelkmans
Jacques Pelkmans*
Affiliation:
Centre for European Policy Studies; College of Europe; and Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Negotiations on ‘deeper’ trade agreements and estimates of tariff equivalents have increased the awareness that regulatory trade costs are (too) high. This paper discusses ways to effectively lower such costs, reviewing the potential role of trade agreements and international regulatory cooperation, and the approaches that have been taken in different world regions. Attention is also paid to cost reduction via global technical standardization. Key issues are how to reduce the prevalence of national standards setting and how to best promote international standards. In both dimensions, Europe is argued to play a frontrunner role.

Type
Original Article
Information
World Trade Review , Volume 22 , Special Issue 3-4: Double Special Issue: Trade Policy, Openness, and Development in Honour of L. Alan Winters , October 2023 , pp. 497 - 507
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The World Trade Organization

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Footnotes

*

This article is a synthesis of a longer working paper, Pelkmans (2023).

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