The use of standards and technical regulations as instruments of commercial policy in
unilateral, regional, and global trade contexts has increased as tariff and quota barriers
continue to decline (Maskus and Wilson, 2001). Standards and technical regulations are
principally used to mitigate food, animal and plant safety risks, and to provide common
norms for product characteristics. However, these technical requirements also can
constitute barriers to trade by imposing unnecessary costly and time consuming tests or
by laying out various requirements in different markets. These technical requirements
are of particular concern to developing countries that are seeking to penetrate
industrialized country markets.
The World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade Survey is the first attempt to globally
investigate the impacts of technical requirements. The intent of the survey is to solicit
input from agricultural, manufacturing, and trade firms in various emerging market
countries regarding technical barriers encountered abroad, which impact their ability to
successfully export products.
The data collected covers 689 firms in over twenty industries in 17 developing countries.
One of the main goals of this survey project is the evaluation of the impact of standards
and technical barriers to trade at the firm level. This paper will provide a comprehensive
description of the World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade Survey dataset. This paper
also will provide an overview of domestic and foreign technical regulations, international
standards, and other various impediments to business and export surrounding the firms in
developing countries as well as their response to the situation. The comparison is made
across countries and industries regarding standards and regulations, and their impacts on
firms’ production and conformance activities. Information on technical regulations
specific to five major export markets also enables us to compare the stringency and
importance of technical regulations by export markets such as the EU, the US, Japan,
Canada, and Australia.