Profiling of Conformity Assessment Procedures (TBT Measures): Special Reference to Sectoral Domination Across Country Grouping

The negotiations on the Technical Barriers to Trade (also known as Standards Code) began in Tokyo Round (1973–1979) under the GATT, however, with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) it came into existence as a legally binding Agreement. In succinct terms, the TBT agreement assumes a pivotal role in maintaining equilibrium between the promotion of legitimate societal objectives and disciplining measures of members notified to WTO with the intent to erect impediments. Among the trio of measures encompassed by the TBT agreement, Conformity Assessment Procedures (CAPs) serve as how it is established whether the prerequisites, as outlined by Technical Regulations (TRs) or Standards, have been dutifully met or flouted.
The Conformity Assessment Procedures (CAPs) have become a significant tool used skilfully by wealthy and advanced countries. CAPs are used to restrict foreign products' entry into their territory. Despite the widespread and fervent deployment of CAPs, the academic discourse concerning these measures remains sparse. This study endeavours to bridge this intellectual gap by analysing the TBT notifications at the 4-digit level of the Harmonised System (HS) using the online databases of the Centre for WTO Studies on the TBT and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures.

The empirical findings unveil a trend, revealing that from 1996 to 2021, the primary proponents of CAPs and TRs were predominantly the high-income and middle-income nations. Intriguingly, a discernible shift occurred post-2001 and 2008, with developing and least developed countries increasingly engaging in the usage of CAP measures. The paper will endeavour to unravel the underlying rationale behind this noteworthy transition. It is argued that some of these measures are being applied to protect (ring-fencing) the growing markets across the developing and least developed countries. Leading to a situation wherein, markets across the developing and least-developed countries would be isolated and would continue to remain under the control of the developed and technologically leading countries. Contrary to the popular perception that the CAPs are used to serve legitimate concerns such as consumer welfare, the paper finds that CAPs are being used to prevent imports and thus shelter domestic companies from competition. The paper suggests a new role for the CAPs as it was found that CAPs were being used for protecting the third-countries markets and preserving the same for the domestic producers by way of increased exports to these protected markets of only those developed economies with similar regulatory and standards requirements. This would certainly widen the wedge between the developed and low-income countries and between leading firms in a sector and larger small and medium enterprises (SMEs).