FINAL REPORT: STANDARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE TRADE

The 'Standards for Sustainable Trade' project, implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) for the European Commission, investigated how regional cooperation can reduce technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures for developing countries. The report concludes that while regional centers of excellence can offset national capacity gaps, the WTO's TBT Agreement is often unrealistic for developing nations, which act as 'standards takers' rather than 'makers' due to a lack of institutional and scientific resources.

• Developing countries are generally 'standards takers' rather than 'makers' because they lack the human and financial resources to track or influence international standards development. The TBT Agreement's requirement to base regulations on international standards is unrealistic given this capacity gap.
• The TBT Agreement's provisions for avoiding inappropriate international standards (Article 2.5) or demonstrating technical equivalence (Article 2.7) are largely ineffective for developing countries because they lack the scientific and legal capacity to provide the necessary evidence.
• Technical assistance under Article 11 of the TBT Agreement is insufficient and potentially disruptive if not integrated into long-term national development strategies, as it may displace other funding priorities in official development assistance programs.
• In Southern and Eastern Africa, a 'standards divide' exists where most countries lack the basic institutional capacity to benefit from TBT and SPS Agreements, with South Africa being the only surveyed country possessing the necessary infrastructure.
• Regional cooperation in Southern and Eastern Africa could address capacity gaps through the establishment of a regional centre for capacity building (RCCB) and the use of existing blocks like SADC, EAC, and COMESA to harmonize standards and share scientific resources.
• South American countries, despite high regional integration via Mercosur and the Andean Pact, suffer from institutional weaknesses in national leadership and a failure to integrate NGO-led sustainability standards into national bodies.
• In South Asia, political tensions and a lack of awareness regarding social and environmental issues hinder regional cooperation, though common export sectors like textiles, leather, tea, and fish provide a basis for potential collaboration via the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI).
• The WTO dispute settlement process is often an inappropriate or inaccessible tool for developing countries to resolve TBT issues due to high costs and political risks; a collaborative mediation mechanism outside the WTO is recommended.
• Efforts to increase developing country participation in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are too focused on technical committee membership; instead, influence should be sought within governing bodies like the ISO Technical Management Board (TMB).
• The project identified four primary obstacles to implementation: the extreme complexity of TBT/SPS chains, a lack of detailed sector-specific information, the need to build trust between unfamiliar actors, and 'survey-fatigue' among participants.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2004). FINAL REPORT: STANDARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE TRADE. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/standards_final_report_2004.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. FINAL REPORT: STANDARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE TRADE. 2004. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/standards_final_report_2004.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=FINAL REPORT: STANDARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE TRADE |date=31 January 2004 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/standards_final_report_2004.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2004final, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{FINAL REPORT: STANDARDS FOR SUSTAINABLE TRADE}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2004}, month = jan, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/standards_final_report_2004.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }