CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

significantly reduce the gains from trade, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) (2012) has noted that these types of measures can even be more restrictive than tariffs. Though this is the case, this study argues that there could be a kind of “first-mover” advantage for CF under the UK-CF EPA, by meeting any new regulatory requirements. The Global Database on Non-Tariff Measures (TRAINS) was utilised to give an indication of the extent of the barriers that may exist for exports. 28 It is noted, however, that given the different legal and regulatory structures that may obtain across jurisdictions, the data is not suitable for cross-country comparisons. The data is useful to show the extent of the measures that are in existence in a given country at any point in time. Though a cross-country comparison cannot definitively indicate that there are overall more effective restrictions to trade in a given country than in another, it can give an indication of the total number of barriers that do exist in one country versus another. The database also does not present the measures in the European Union in the current edition in a disaggregated way to identity the United Kingdom as distinct from the European Union. Given this difficulty, the Consultant will look specifically at the Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures as well as Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) notified to the WTO for the United Kingdom to identify the measures that are in fact in place as at January 1, 2021 in the United Kingdom. Given that the period of analysis for this Study runs from 2008 to 2020, the data obtained from TRAINs will still be relevant as it is indicative of the situation existing in the UK prior to its departure from the European Union (EU-28). What the data shows is that the European Union, relative to any other region, generally registers the least number of NTMs.

28 The latest available version will be utilized in this study.

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