Standards and regulatory cooperation in Regional Trade Agreements: What the effects on trade?

Santeramo, Fabio and Lamonaca, Emilia (2021): Standards and regulatory cooperation in Regional Trade Agreements: What the effects on trade?

Abstract

The agenda of trade negotiation in the agri-food sector is characterised by an exponential increase of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). Their joint effect on trade is puzzling and still an open empirical question. Once assessed the trade effect of standards provided in SPS measures, the study evaluates how regulatory cooperation and commitments beyond WTO requirements affect trade between signatories of RTAs. Trade between signatories seems obstructed by non discriminatory (multilateral) SPS measures. However, SPS-specific commitments negotiated in joint SPS committees within RTAs tend to create conditions to meet standards, contributing to boost trade.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: RTA, SPS measures, Agri-food, Trade policy
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy > O24 - Trade Policy ; Factor Movement Policy ; Foreign Exchange Policy; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O57 - Comparative Studies of Countries; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy

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