Beyond the Information Technology Agreement : Harmonization of Standards and Trade in Electronics

Portugal-Perez, Alberto ; Reyes, Jose-Daniel ; Wilson, John S.

关键词: ACCESSION;    ACCESSORIES;    ACCOUNTING;    ADVERTISING;    APPLIANCES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4916
RP-ID  :  WPS4916

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Product standards can have a dual impacton production and trade costs. Standards may imposeadditional costs on exporters as it may be necessary toadapt products for specific markets (cost-effect). Incontrast, standards can reduce exporters' informationcosts if they convey information on industrial requirementsor consumer tastes that would be costly to collect in theabsence of standards (informational-effect). Using a newWorld Bank database of European standards for electronicproducts, the authors examine the impact ofinternationally-harmonized European standards on EuropeanUnion imports. They find that European Union standards forelectronic products that are harmonized to internationalstandards have a positive and significant effect on trade.The results suggest that efforts to promote trade inelectronic products could be complemented by steps topromote standards harmonization. This might include, forexample, re-starting talks to extend the InformationTechnology Agreement to non-tariff measures and commitmentsto harmonize national standards in electronic products.