The government and exporters are working together to tackle the imposition of non-tariff barriers (NTB) by developed and developing countries, including the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
The Ministry of Commerce and organisations like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), Federation of Indian Exports Organisation (FIEO), Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) and SME Export Promotion Council of India have identified, in the last nine months, G8 countries have slapped 19 such measures that are against WTO norms. Besides, in the last two years, Asean countries have issued 250 notifications that have created problems for Indian businesses and exporters to get market access in these countries.
A senior official of the Ministry of Commerce, who did not want to be quoted, told Business Standard that the government had already swung into action to look at India’s offensive interest and focus on tariff and non-tariff barriers in different countries.
EEPC Chairman Aman Chadha said engineering products like castings from India were under the scanner to check radioactive contamination by the US customs. Chadha said: “We also realised that it was a matter of time that this problem would afflict other engineering products, particularly steel-based engineering goods. When our castings exporters incurred huge costs to bring back their containers and had to pay demurrage charges at US ports, we advised our members to follow a 12-step procedure to remove the possibilities of radioactive contamination.”
He added: “However, warnings take time to change behaviour. While the castings and foundry industry changed its behaviour, the other sectors did not, since these were not affected in the first round. In fact, in late 2008 and early 2009, our steel products being exported from West and North of India faced the problem of radioactive contamination in European Countries, notably in Germany.”
FIEO President A Sakhtivel and Director-General Ajai Sahai suggested WTO simultaneously work towards reduction of NTB to ensure trade liberalisation in the real sense.
Chandrakant Salunkhe, president of SME Export Promotion Council, said NTB measures by the US, European Union and even by China, such as provisions of Bio Terrorism Act, labelling norms, non-scientific quarantine measures, food safety and drug control certification, were adding costs and putting additional burden on SMEs.
Biswajit Dhar, director-general of Research and Information System for Developing Countries, emphasised the need for a closer cooperation between the government and businesses and exporters to tackle the issues arising out of NTB measures by developed and advanced developing countries. “The recent decision arrived at the UN meeting in Copenhagen to cut emission needs to be studied carefully. If there will be non-compliance of those targets by India, there is every possibility that exporters may be prohibited from market access in developed countries,” he said.
