India attaches
great importance to addressing the issue of non-tariff barriers
particularly on products of export interest to us, Shri Arun
Jaitley, Minister of Commerce Industry, has said in a written
reply in the Lok Sabha today. With the falling of tariff barriers
consequent upon the WTO coming into existence in 1995, Non-Tariff
Barriers (NTBs) are resorted to by several countries. They are
in the form of restrictive standards, burdensome regulations
and procedures, market restrictions including labeling practices,
environmental regulations, restrictive sanitary and phyto-sanitary
conditions etc. The NTBs affect the capacity of many countries
including India to trade in the global market, he said.
As a first step
towards addressing this issue, the government has collected
information on the major NTBs by interacting with exporters
and intense research on this issue. The problems arising due
to NTBs are being duly taken up with the authorities of the
country concerned, bilaterally with a view to their early and
mutually satisfactory resolution. Certain issues, that are not
resolved this way, have been taken up for resolution through
WTO’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism. In the WTO negotiations,
India has co-sponsored proposals along with some other developing
countries to disallow use of measures by developed countries
that make exports difficult for developing countries, the Minister
said.
