At a seminar yesterday entitled "A Study of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs)," panellists urged the Thai government to resist the implementation of NTMs in global trading, because this would hurt not only Thailand's exports, but also those of WTO members.

Speakers at the seminar said the WTO should have a central unit for controlling and monitoring rising NTMs in international trading. In addition, the unit should draw up plans to implement fair trade practices and prevent controversial trading between its partners.

Aside from tariff reductions under the WTO agreement, its 150 members have to draw up measures to protect their local businesses - and non-tariff measures are an important tool.

The study, by the Centre for International Trade Studies (CITS) with support from the Thailand Research Fund, is aimed at increasing the government and private sector's awareness of rising NTMs.

The study said Thailand's market share to major export markets would decrease from 56.7 per cent last year to 53.5 per cent this year, due to rising non-tariff barriers. Those major export markets include the European Union, the United States and Japan, because they have stringent NTMs.

Buntoon Wongseelashote, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce's Trade Rules and International Trade Committee, yesterday said the government should negotiate with other countries under the WTO to set a single standard.

"Too many import standards are created by individual nations. Rising technical barriers to trade are obstructions to each country's export growth," he said.

"Technical barriers to trade" refers to any regulations or requirements (for testing, labelling, packaging, marketing or certification) applied to imports in ways that restrict trade. It also refers to any measures beyond tariffs that protect domestic industries, such as anti-dumping duties, sanitary standards and quantitative import restrictions.

Despite the absence of exact values to show how much each country loses because of NTMs, Buntoon called such restrictive measures a major fiscal burden for manufacturers and traders.

"The government must help improve domestic goods standards to meet international requirements and cooperate to set a single international standard," he said.

He said the Thai government lacked sufficient personnel to enforce existing measures.

CITS director Aat Pisanwanich said Thailand must have a central organisation to monitor new non-tariff barriers, so exporters would not face unexpected trouble.

For instance, last year 75 Thai food items exported to the European Union were not accepted, because the products failed to meet the standard required under the EU's Rapid Alert for Food and Feed System.

"Under trade liberalisation, import tariffs would be cut to zero, but non-tariff barriers would increase sharply in international trade, because each country would want to protect its domestic market and consumers," Aat said.

The study found the major Thai products that face non-tariff barriers are agricultural products and industrial goods like electric appliances, furniture, automobiles, medicines and cosmetics.

In addition, private enterprises were told to be aware of new measures in the international trading system, including ISO 26000 and Authorised Economic Operators.

ISO 26000 will require companies to increase their corporate social responsibility and operate in a manner that meets or exceeds the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectations that society has of a business. The new standard will be enforced from July 2009.

Authorised Economic Operators is aimed at enhancing security against terrorism. The EU is schedule to impose the measure also in July 2009.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation