Transparency in Non-tariff Measures: An International Comparison
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We construct an index of transparency in non-tariff measures based on notifications to the World Trade Organization under the agreements on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and on technical barriers to trade, the existence of a trade portal giving ready access to trade-relevant regulations, the existence of NTM data collected under the Multi-Agency Support Team classification, and the results of an experiment conducted between 2015 and 2016 where we asked for specific regulations concerning the import of a particular product on behalf of a private company. The resulting country ranking shows that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries are, by and large, the most transparent, but also shows that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states score well compared to other developing countries.
