Non-Trade Barriers Non-Trade Barriers (NTBs) The WTO considers measures like quotces, import licensing, sanitary regulations, prohibitions, etc as Non-tariff measures (NTMs). According to the OECD, non-trade barriers (NTBs) are defined as the instruments that are in violation of the WTO law. The OECD includes those policy measures that limit trade with no implied judgement on the legitimacy or otherwise of these measures as NTMs .

However, on many occasions NTMs were considered as NTBs However, on many occasions NTMs were considered as NTBs. Baldwin defined NTM as, “any measure (public or private) that causes internationally traded goods and services, or resources devoted to production of these goods and services, to be allocated in such a way as to reduce potential real word income.”

According to him, the following are the NTMs: According to him, the following are the NTMs: *Quotas and restrictive state-trading policies. *Export subsidies and taxes. *Discriminatory government and private procurement policies. *Select indirect taxes. *Selective domestic subsidies. *Restrictive customs procedures.

Anti-dumping regulations *Anti-dumping regulations. *Restrictive administrative and technical regulations. *Restrictive business practices *Controls over foreign investment *Restrictive immigration policies *Selective monetary controls and discriminatory exchange-rate policies

Measures to control the volume of imports *Measures to control the volume of imports *Measures to control the price of imported goods *Monitoring measures include price and volume investigations and surveillance *Technical barriers imposed at the border *Non-tariff charges and related policies affecting imports *Technical barriers to trade

The Kennedy Round and Tokyo Round of trade negotiations discussed the NTMs and anti-dumping issues in detail. When the Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) was discussed, the NTBs were dealt with comprehensively.

However, many members sought to exclude the following NTBs under WTO framework regulations: *NTBs relating to WTO Agreements such as customs valuation, Import Licensing, Sanitary and phytosanitary measures, etc that are not subject to a specific negotiating mandate. *NTBs relating to other WTO Agreements which are also the subject of a negotiating mandate

*NTBs that are already part of the Doha Declaration such as Trade Facilitation, Transparency in Government Procurement, services, etc NTBs are considered important as about 530 entries, almost half of the total entries made between 1995 and 2005, are NTBs.