Exporters polled on trade barriers

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The export marketing bureau of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has posted the latest list of potential trade barriers issued by the World Trade Organization (WTO), seeking comments from local exporters to avoid possible problems in future trade regulations.

In its latest update on Thursday late afternoon, the trade department’s export marketing bureau said that a total of 285 notifications has been received from the intergovernmental organization which regulates and facilitates international trade.

This covers various sectors including agriculture, chemical technology, domestic and commercial equipment, electrical engineering, environment, health protection, safety, fuels, food technology, metallurgy, telecommunications, video and audio, paints and health care technology.

Sought for comment, DTI Assistant Secretary Ann Claire Cabochan told the Inquirer that all 164 members of the WTO, including the Philippines, are obliged to notify draft technical regulations to the organization’s technical barriers to trade (TBT) committee.

“Under the TBT agreement, which is an annex to the WTO agreement, members are, as a general rule, allowed to come up with regulations to protect life, health and the environment provided that there are verifiable bases for such regulations and that they are not more trade restrictive than necessary,” Cabochan said.

“The notifying member then gives other members the opportunity to comment within a sixty day-period, the objective being that they are considered in the finalization of the draft regulations,” she added.

The DTI’s website currently shows a list of the draft regulations per particular sector, allowing local exporters to scrutinize the draft regulations and if any of their products or services will be affected.