In recent years, global trade protectionism has continued to heat up, and has shown characteristics such as diversification, concealment, complexity, regionalization, and politicization. Among them, technical trade barriers have become a normalized means, which has brought negative consequences to the sustainable development of international trade. Big challenge.
The so-called technical trade barriers are when countries importing and exporting goods in international trade implement trade import controls by promulgating laws, decrees, regulations, and regulations to establish technical (including quality, environmental) standards. , certification system, inspection system, intellectual property restrictions, quota restrictions, social responsibilities and other methods to improve the technical requirements of imported products, increase the difficulty of import, and ultimately achieve the purpose of restricting imports. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) is a WTO-related agreement on technical barriers to trade. It has been implemented since the formal establishment of the WTO on January 1, 1995. The original intention of the implementation of this agreement is to safeguard national security, prevent fraud, protect the health and safety of humans, animals and plants, and protect the environment. However, many countries have adopted various environmental protection regulations and measures under various names, thus becoming a substitute for tariffs and non-tariffs. The concealment of barriers is a common means of trade barriers.
Paying attention to WTO/TBT notifications in a timely manner and responding to technical trade measures in advance will help companies and industries develop with high quality, avoid international trade risks, and improve international market competitiveness. .
01 The number of textile and apparel TBT notifications has declined in 2020
According to the author’s calculations, in 2016 ~In 2020, the average annual growth rate of the number of global TBT notifications was 4.28%. During the same period, the average annual growth rate of the number of textile and clothing TBT notifications was 19.27%. Judging from the overall trend, the growth momentum in the number of TBT notifications in the textile and apparel category is much higher than that in other fields.
Figure 1: The number of global TBT notifications and the proportion of textile and clothing categories in recent years
Data source: WTO
In 2020, the number of textile and apparel TBT notifications has dropped rapidly. According to the review, in 2020, the WTO issued a total of 3,354 TBT notifications, including 2,044 new notifications on technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, 52 revised notifications, 1,186 addendums, and 72 corrigendum notifications. The number of TBT notifications in 2020 increased slightly by 0.54% compared with the previous year. During the same period, the WTO issued a total of 44 textile and apparel TBT notifications, accounting for 1.31% of all notifications. Compared with the same period last year, the number of notifications dropped by more than double. Among them, 33 were notified on textiles and 11 were notified on clothing.
The number of TBT notifications has declined. The main reason is that “black swan” events continued in 2020. The outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has caused severe challenges to the global economy and global governance. The global textile industry The activity of trade in apparel products has declined, and countries are focusing more on dealing with political frictions in local areas, oil price crashes, circuit breaker in the U.S. stock market, and global epidemic prevention and control.
02 The African region has become more active in submitting textile and apparel TBT notifications
In 2020, the WTO The top 10 members that submitted the total number of TBT notifications are: the United States, Brazil, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, China, Israel, Egypt, and the European Union. The number of notifications from the top ten members accounted for 61% of the total number of notifications. The Americas and Africa are the main regions that submit TBT notifications to the WTO.
Table 1: Top 10 members of TBT notifications
Data source: WTO
At the same time, in the notification of the TBT agreement on textiles and clothing issued by the WTO in 2020, the Americas and Africa are also the main ones. Countries and regions such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, the United States, Taiwan, Penghu, Jinma and Taiwan separate customs areas, and Turkey rank among the top eight. The number of notifications issued by these countries and regions accounts for 75% of the total number of textile and apparel notifications. It is worth noting that in 2020, the top five countries and regions that submitted textile and apparel TBT agreement notifications to the WTO are all from Africa, and the number of notifications submitted is increasing year by year.
Figure 2: Countries and regions notified by the 2020 Textile and Clothing TBT Agreement
Data source: WTO
Africa is one of the emerging markets for my country’s textile and clothing exports, and has maintained a certain growth trend in recent years. According to my country’s customs data, my country’s textile and clothing exports to Africa reached US$18.365 billion in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 2.39%; in 2018 it was US$19.018 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.54%; in 2019, the export scale continued to expand, reaching US$20.617 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.41% . In 2020, affected by the epidemic and the global economy, my country’s textile and clothing exports to Africa have declined, but Africa still accounts for about 6% of my country’s textile and clothing exports.
For my country’s textile and apparel export enterprises, especially those exporting to America and Africa, they must pay attention to and pay attention to WTO/TBT notifications and keep abreast of relevant issues such as technology and standards. information, improve production quality, and take countermeasures to avoid or reduce losses.
03 New changes in the field of textile and clothing TBT notifications
In recent years, TBT notifications have presented technical regulations for ecological and environmental protection. and the increasing number of mandatory standards and regional technical laws.��Integration enhancement and other characteristics. The focus of textile and clothing TBT notifications has also changed. In previous years, notifications mainly focused on standards, regulations, etc., but in the past two years, in addition to standards and regulations, textile and clothing TBT notifications have focused more on technology and operations. standards, production safety and environmental protection. The range of products involved is also getting wider and wider. In addition to clothing products, home textiles and industrial textiles are also receiving more and more attention. Especially with the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, more standards and specifications for epidemic prevention materials have appeared in TBT agreement notifications. Although at present, my country is the main support for the supply of anti-epidemic materials in the international market, and various countries have a large demand for the import of anti-epidemic materials from my country, enterprises exporting anti-epidemic materials need to be reminded to pay close attention to changes in relevant standards in the international market to avoid market risks. </p
