NEW DELHI: India, Brazil and the EU have come together to press for convergence of all national standards with the relevant international standard to check arbitrariness in rules that often leads to rejection of shipments by importing countries.
In a recent submission at the WTO, the group has argued that members should agree to a review of their technical regulations at regular intervals and make necessary changes to harmonise them with relevant international standards.
India had earlier asked the WTO to include in its integrated database non-tariff measures (all restrictions not related to tariffs) of all countries so that members are aware of standards in other countries. “India wants the issue of arbitrary quality standards to be addressed in the ongoing Doha round of WTO talks as our exporters face a huge problem due to whimsical standard-setting by the Western countries,” a commerce department official said.
Fieo director general Ajay Sahai pointed out that at times Indian exporters have to divert their cargo from countries with unusually stringent standards that could lead to rejection of particular consignment to a neighbouring country where it would be acceptable. However, this diversion has a cost as exporters have to give huge discounts.
”Indian exporters are not only dealing with different standards but are also not able to enter certain markets despite attaining widely recognised international standards as their standards are more stringent,” Mr Sahai said.
As per the agreement proposed by the three countries, international organisations, such as the International Organisation for Standards (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Codex Alimentarius, could be considered relevant international standard-setting bodies. It had also called for an audit to find out on how the multiplicity of international standards and technical regulations affect trade flows of developing countries.
”Indian exporters are not only dealing with different standards but are also not able to enter certain markets despite attaining widely recognised international standards as their standards are more stringent,” Mr Sahai said.
The on-going Doha multilateral trade round, which kicked off in November 2001, is aimed at wider openings in international markets for goods and services and tightening of rules for a better functioning of the multilateral rule-based system.
Source : The Economic Times