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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/248
15 and 17 June 2005

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: ECUADOR

Continued reform would improve resilience and sustain economic growth

Since the early 1990s, Ecuador has taken substantial steps to liberalize and improve the predictability and transparency of its trade regime through autonomous, regional and multilateral initiatives, with all the tariff lines bound and MFN rates progressively reduced, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Ecuador.

However, the report notes that some non-tariff barriers persist, notably non-automatic import licensing, as well as lengthy customs procedures and the use of reference prices. Foreign investment generally receives national treatment but there are constraints to private investment in some sectors.

The report says that addressing these en other trade and investment barriers would help sustain economic growth and enhance the ability of Ecuador’s economy to respond to external shocks in the absence of an independent monetary policy.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (12 pages, 97KB)
  > Economic environment (13 pages, 448KB)
  > Trade and investment regimes (12 pages, 131KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (49 pages, 547KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (40 pages, 380KB)
  > Appendix tables (33 pages, 1353KB)
    
• Government report (24 pages, 390KB)
    
• Chairperson's concluding remarks
    
• Minutes of the meeting are available approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.
    

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

The Philippines: 5 and 7 July 2005
Egypt: 26 and 28 July 2005
Trinidad and Tobago: 14 and 16 September 2005