RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
World Trade Report 2005
Trade, standards and the WTO
The attention given to the trade impact of standards has sometimes obscured the important role that standards play in increasing economic efficiency and dealing with market failures. It is in performing these functions that they create societal benefits. The World Trade Report 2005 seeks to shed light on the various functions and consequences of standards.
See also:
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Press release
An important point to emerge from economic theory is that there is no
monotonic relationship between welfare and trade volumes. Changes in
trade flows do not always bear a matching relationship to changes in
welfare. The empirical evidence also suggests that standards can have
both positive and negative effects on trade flows.
An important and recurring theme in the Report concerns the role of
international cooperation in managing trade and the public policy
challenges facing standards regimes, whether these emanate from the
trade rules or from rules and processes involved in the setting and
administration of standards.
The Report focuses on three key areas: (i) the economics of standards in
relation to international trade; (ii) the institutional setting in which
standard-setting and conformity assessment occurs; and (iii) the role of
WTO agreements in reconciling the legitimate policy uses of standards
with an open, non-discriminatory trading system. While much of the
analysis deals with product standards, a large number of the issues
discussed also apply in the field of services.
The 2005 Report includes analytical essays on “offshoring services”,
“air transport services” and “the use of quantitative economic analysis
in dispute settlement”.
> Complete report (377 pages; 2757KB)
> Foreword, executive summary and related material (35 pages; 271KB)
I- Recent and selected medium-Term Trade Developments
> A. Recent trends in International trade (12 pages; 288KB)
> B. selected medium-term developments (15 pages; 242KB)
II- Trade, standards and the WTO
> A. Introduction (2 pages; 39KB)
> B. The economics of standards and trade (44 pages; 518KB)
> C. Institutions and policy issues (53 pages; 694KB)
> D. Standards in the multilateral trading system (30 pages; 285KB)
> E. Conclusion (10 pages; 137KB)
III- Thematic essays
> A. Quantitative economics in WTO dispute settlement (41 pages; 492KB)
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B. International
trade in air transport:
recent developments and policy issues (53 pages;
437KB)
> C. Offshoring services: recent developments and prospects (37 pages; 389KB)
> Tariff profiles (26 pages; 269KB)
> Technical notes (5 pages; 77KB)