Synopsis "2013 Report on Technical Barriers to Trade"
This book describes and advances U.S. efforts to identify and eliminate standards-related measures that act as significant barrier to U.S. trade. The report consists of following key components: An introduction to standards-related measures, including the genesis of this report and the growing importance of standards-related measures in international trade (Section III); An overview of standards-related trade obligations, in particular rules governing standards-related measures under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) and U.S. free trade agreements (Section IV); A description of the U.S. legal framework for implementing its standards-related trade obligations (Section V); A discussion of standards, including the role of international standards in facilitating trade and fulfilling legitimate public policy objectives and federal agencies' participation in standards development (Section VI) An elaboration on conformity assessment procedures, including federal agencies' use of conformity assessment and the possibility for international systems of conformity assessment to facilitate trade (Section VII); A description of how the U.S. Government identifies technical barriers to trade and the process of interagency and stakeholder consultation it employs to determine how to address them (Section VIII); An explanation of how the United States engages with its trading partners to address standards-related measures that act as barriers and prevent creation of new barriers through multilateral, regional, and bilateral channels, including the WTO's Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Committee) and cooperative activities under the APEC Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance, among others (Section IX); A summary of current trends regarding standards-related measures trends relating to standards-related measures (Section X); and An identification and description of significant standards-related trade barriers currently facing U.S. exporters, along with U.S. government initiatives to eliminate or reduce the impact of these barriers (Section XI) in 17countries - Argentina, Brazil, China, Chile, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam - as well as the European Union (EU).
